diff --git a/piker/service/_daemon.py b/piker/service/_daemon.py
index 7cd7cdd1..edab10a5 100644
--- a/piker/service/_daemon.py
+++ b/piker/service/_daemon.py
@@ -79,10 +79,17 @@ async def maybe_spawn_daemon(
     lock = Services.locks[service_name]
     await lock.acquire()
 
+    if not pikerd_kwargs:
+        # XXX NOTE, pin to apprope `tractor` branch!
+        rtvs: dict = tractor.get_runtime_vars()
+        registry_addrs: list[tuple] = list(
+            map(tuple, rtvs['_registry_addrs'])
+        )
+
     try:
         async with find_service(
             service_name,
-            registry_addrs=[('127.0.0.1', 6116)],
+            registry_addrs=registry_addrs,
         ) as portal:
             if portal is not None:
                 lock.release()
@@ -99,6 +106,7 @@ async def maybe_spawn_daemon(
         # process tree
         async with maybe_open_pikerd(
             loglevel=loglevel,
+            registry_addrs=registry_addrs,
             **pikerd_kwargs,
 
         ) as pikerd_portal: