diff --git a/cli/cmd/encore/gen.go b/cli/cmd/encore/gen.go
index f69c9c2135..798c0ba9e7 100644
--- a/cli/cmd/encore/gen.go
+++ b/cli/cmd/encore/gen.go
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ func init() {
 		Short: "Generates an API client for your app",
 		Long: `Generates an API client for your app.
 
-By default generates the API based on your primary production environment.
-Use '--env=local' to generate it based on your local development version of the app.
+By default generates the API based on your local environment.
+Use '--env=<name>' to generate it based on your cloud environments.
 
 Supported language codes are:
   typescript: A TypeScript client using the Fetch API
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ which may require the user-facing wrapper code to be manually generated.`,
 	genClientCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&output, "output", "o", "", "The filename to write the generated client code to")
 	_ = genClientCmd.MarkFlagFilename("output", "go", "ts", "tsx", "js", "jsx")
 
-	genClientCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&envName, "env", "e", "", "The environment to fetch the API for (defaults to the primary environment)")
+	genClientCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&envName, "env", "e", "local", "The environment to fetch the API for (defaults to the local environment)")
 	_ = genClientCmd.RegisterFlagCompletionFunc("env", cmdutil.AutoCompleteEnvSlug)
 
 	genClientCmd.Flags().StringSliceVarP(&genServiceNames, "services", "s", nil, "The names of the services to include in the output")
diff --git a/cli/daemon/daemon.go b/cli/daemon/daemon.go
index 6ec12155f7..4c6ee5a5e7 100644
--- a/cli/daemon/daemon.go
+++ b/cli/daemon/daemon.go
@@ -85,7 +85,13 @@ func New(appsMgr *apps.Manager, mgr *run.Manager, cm *sqldb.ClusterManager, sm *
 // GenClient generates a client based on the app's API.
 func (s *Server) GenClient(ctx context.Context, params *daemonpb.GenClientRequest) (*daemonpb.GenClientResponse, error) {
 	var md *meta.Data
-	if params.EnvName == "local" {
+
+	envName := params.EnvName
+	if envName == "" {
+		envName = "local"
+	}
+
+	if envName == "local" {
 		// Determine the app root
 		app, err := s.apps.FindLatestByPlatformOrLocalID(params.AppId)
 		if errors.Is(err, apps.ErrNotFound) {
@@ -120,10 +126,6 @@ func (s *Server) GenClient(ctx context.Context, params *daemonpb.GenClientReques
 			return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to cache app metadata: %v", err)
 		}
 	} else {
-		envName := params.EnvName
-		if envName == "" {
-			envName = "@primary"
-		}
 		meta, err := platform.GetEnvMeta(ctx, params.AppId, envName)
 		if err != nil {
 			if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "env_not_found") || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "env_not_deployed") {