diff --git a/swh/search/api/server.py b/swh/search/api/server.py
index b725143..eba474a 100644
--- a/swh/search/api/server.py
+++ b/swh/search/api/server.py
@@ -1,69 +1,91 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2019  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
+import logging
 import os
 
 from swh.core import config
 from swh.core.api import (RPCServerApp, error_handler,
                           encode_data_server as encode_data)
 
 from .. import get_search
 from ..elasticsearch import ElasticSearch
 
 
 def _get_search():
     global search
     if not search:
         search = get_search(**app.config['search'])
         print('got search', repr(search.__class__))
 
     return search
 
 
 app = RPCServerApp(__name__,
                    backend_class=ElasticSearch,
                    backend_factory=_get_search)
 
 search = None
 
 
 @app.errorhandler(Exception)
 def my_error_handler(exception):
     return error_handler(exception, encode_data)
 
 
 @app.route('/')
 def index():
     return 'SWH Search API server'
 
 
+api_cfg = None
+
+
 def load_and_check_config(config_file, type='elasticsearch'):
     """Check the minimal configuration is set to run the api or raise an
        error explanation.
 
     Args:
         config_file (str): Path to the configuration file to load
         type (str): configuration type. For 'local' type, more
                     checks are done.
 
     Raises:
         Error if the setup is not as expected
 
     Returns:
         configuration as a dict
 
     """
     if not config_file:
         raise EnvironmentError('Configuration file must be defined')
 
     if not os.path.exists(config_file):
         raise FileNotFoundError('Configuration file %s does not exist' % (
             config_file, ))
 
     cfg = config.read(config_file)
     if 'search' not in cfg:
         raise KeyError("Missing 'search' configuration")
 
     return cfg
+
+
+def make_app_from_configfile():
+    """Run the WSGI app from the webserver, loading the configuration from
+       a configuration file.
+
+       SWH_CONFIG_FILENAME environment variable defines the
+       configuration path to load.
+
+    """
+    global api_cfg
+    if not api_cfg:
+        config_file = os.environ.get('SWH_CONFIG_FILENAME')
+        api_cfg = load_and_check_config(config_file)
+        app.config.update(api_cfg)
+    handler = logging.StreamHandler()
+    app.logger.addHandler(handler)
+    return app
diff --git a/swh/search/api/wsgi.py b/swh/search/api/wsgi.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02c4901
--- /dev/null
+++ b/swh/search/api/wsgi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2019  The Software Heritage developers
+# See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
+# License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
+# See top-level LICENSE file for more information
+
+from .server import make_app_from_configfile
+
+application = make_app_from_configfile()