diff --git a/piker/_daemon.py b/piker/_daemon.py
index f4acf9f3..f1ced6e9 100644
--- a/piker/_daemon.py
+++ b/piker/_daemon.py
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ from .log import (
 )
 from .brokers import get_brokermod
 
+from pprint import pformat
+from functools import partial
+
 
 log = get_logger(__name__)
 
@@ -313,6 +316,9 @@ async def open_piker_runtime(
 
 @acm
 async def open_pikerd(
+    tsdb: bool,
+    es: bool,
+
     loglevel: str | None = None,
 
     # XXX: you should pretty much never want debug mode
@@ -349,12 +355,54 @@ async def open_pikerd(
     ):
         assert root_actor.accept_addr == reg_addr
 
+        if tsdb:
+            from piker.data._ahab import start_ahab
+            from piker.data.marketstore import start_marketstore
+
+            log.info('Spawning `marketstore` supervisor')
+            ctn_ready, config, (cid, pid) = await service_nursery.start(
+                start_ahab,
+                'marketstored',
+                start_marketstore,
+
+            )
+            log.info(
+                f'`marketstored` up!\n'
+                f'pid: {pid}\n'
+                f'container id: {cid[:12]}\n'
+                f'config: {pformat(config)}'
+            )
+
+        if es:
+            from piker.data._ahab import start_ahab
+            from piker.data.elastic import start_elasticsearch
+
+            log.info('Spawning `elasticsearch` supervisor')
+            ctn_ready, config, (cid, pid) = await service_nursery.start(
+                partial(
+                    start_ahab,
+                    'elasticsearch',
+                    start_elasticsearch,
+                    start_timeout=30.0
+                )
+            )
+
+            log.info(
+                f'`elasticsearch` up!\n'
+                f'pid: {pid}\n'
+                f'container id: {cid[:12]}\n'
+                f'config: {pformat(config)}'
+            )
+
         # assign globally for future daemon/task creation
         Services.actor_n = actor_nursery
         Services.service_n = service_nursery
         Services.debug_mode = debug_mode
+
+
         try:
             yield Services
+
         finally:
             # TODO: is this more clever/efficient?
             # if 'samplerd' in Services.service_tasks:
@@ -388,6 +436,8 @@ async def maybe_open_runtime(
 
 @acm
 async def maybe_open_pikerd(
+    tsdb: bool = False,
+    es: bool = False,
     loglevel: Optional[str] = None,
     registry_addr: None | tuple = None,
 
@@ -436,6 +486,8 @@ async def maybe_open_pikerd(
     # presume pikerd role since no daemon could be found at
     # configured address
     async with open_pikerd(
+        tsdb=tsdb,
+        es=es,
         loglevel=loglevel,
         debug_mode=kwargs.get('debug_mode', False),
         registry_addr=registry_addr,
diff --git a/piker/cli/__init__.py b/piker/cli/__init__.py
index 5bc6b2f4..9b6f225c 100644
--- a/piker/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/piker/cli/__init__.py
@@ -90,6 +90,8 @@ def pikerd(
     async def main():
         async with (
             open_pikerd(
+                tsdb=tsdb,
+                es=es,
                 loglevel=loglevel,
                 debug_mode=pdb,
                 registry_addr=reg_addr,
@@ -97,44 +99,6 @@ def pikerd(
             ),  # normally delivers a ``Services`` handle
             trio.open_nursery() as n,
         ):
-            if tsdb:
-                from piker.data._ahab import start_ahab
-                from piker.data.marketstore import start_marketstore
-
-                log.info('Spawning `marketstore` supervisor')
-                ctn_ready, config, (cid, pid) = await n.start(
-                    start_ahab,
-                    'marketstored',
-                    start_marketstore,
-
-                )
-                log.info(
-                    f'`marketstored` up!\n'
-                    f'pid: {pid}\n'
-                    f'container id: {cid[:12]}\n'
-                    f'config: {pformat(config)}'
-                )
-
-            if es:
-                from piker.data._ahab import start_ahab
-                from piker.data.elasticsearch import start_elasticsearch
-
-                log.info('Spawning `elasticsearch` supervisor')
-                ctn_ready, config, (cid, pid) = await n.start(
-                    partial(
-                        start_ahab,
-                        'elasticsearch',
-                        start_elasticsearch,
-                        start_timeout=30.0
-                    )
-                )
-
-                log.info(
-                    f'`elasticsearch` up!\n'
-                    f'pid: {pid}\n'
-                    f'container id: {cid[:12]}\n'
-                    f'config: {pformat(config)}'
-                )
 
             await trio.sleep_forever()
 
@@ -241,7 +205,7 @@ def services(config, tl, ports):
 
 def _load_clis() -> None:
     from ..data import marketstore  # noqa
-    from ..data import elasticsearch
+    from ..data import elastic
     from ..data import cli  # noqa
     from ..brokers import cli  # noqa
     from ..ui import cli  # noqa