diff --git a/contrib_bots/lib/readme.md b/contrib_bots/lib/readme.md
index a0b2deadcb..b5140c7793 100644
--- a/contrib_bots/lib/readme.md
+++ b/contrib_bots/lib/readme.md
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Here is an example of running the "follow-up" bot from
 inside a Zulip repo:
 
     cd ~/zulip/contrib_bots
-    python run.py lib/followup.py
+    python run.py lib/followup.py --config-file ~/.zuliprc-prod
 
 Once the bot code starts running, you will see a
 message explaining how to use the bot, as well as
@@ -40,6 +40,19 @@ to suppress these messages.
 The bot code will run continuously until you kill them with
 control-C (or otherwise).
 
+### Configuration
+
+For this document we assume you have some prior experience
+with using the Zulip API, but here is a quick review of
+what a `.zuliprc` files looks like.  You can connect to the
+API as your own human user, or you can go into the Zulip settings
+page to create a user-owned bot.
+
+    [api]
+    email=someuser@example.com
+    key=<your api key>
+    site=https://zulip.somewhere.com
+
 ## Architecture
 
 In order to make bot development easy, we separate
diff --git a/contrib_bots/run.py b/contrib_bots/run.py
index acf1b013de..7ab1508887 100644
--- a/contrib_bots/run.py
+++ b/contrib_bots/run.py
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@ def get_lib_module(lib_fn):
     module = importlib.import_module(module_name)
     return module
 
-def run_message_handler_for_bot(lib_module, quiet):
+def run_message_handler_for_bot(lib_module, quiet, config_file):
     # Make sure you set up your ~/.zuliprc
-    client = Client()
+    client = Client(config_file=config_file)
     restricted_client = RestrictedClient(client)
 
     message_handler = lib_module.handler_class()
@@ -76,6 +76,9 @@ def run():
     parser.add_option('--quiet', '-q',
         action='store_true',
         help='Turn off logging output.')
+    parser.add_option('--config-file',
+        action='store',
+        help='(alternate config file to ~/.zuliprc)')
     (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
 
     if len(args) == 0:
@@ -87,7 +90,11 @@ def run():
     if not options.quiet:
         logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stdout, level=logging.INFO)
 
-    run_message_handler_for_bot(lib_module, quiet=options.quiet)
+    run_message_handler_for_bot(
+        lib_module=lib_module,
+        config_file=options.config_file,
+        quiet=options.quiet
+    )
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     run()