diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 9a689b6c..4ce94e06 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
     "@types/graphql-iso-date": "^3.3.1",
     "@types/isomorphic-fetch": "^0.0.34",
     "@types/lodash": "^4.14.119",
+    "@types/mkdirp": "^0.5.2",
     "@types/node": "^10.12.18",
     "@types/node-emoji": "^1.8.0",
     "@types/pg": "^7.4.11",
diff --git a/src/core/BaseModel.ts b/src/core/BaseModel.ts
index d615d75f..5b3278a2 100644
--- a/src/core/BaseModel.ts
+++ b/src/core/BaseModel.ts
@@ -50,9 +50,13 @@ export abstract class BaseModel implements BaseGraphQLObject {
 
   @VersionColumn() version!: number;
 
+  getId() {
+    return shortid.generate();
+  }
+
   @BeforeInsert()
   setId() {
-    this.id = shortid.generate();
+    this.id = this.getId();
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/core/Context.ts b/src/core/Context.ts
index 39cde895..4103cfbd 100644
--- a/src/core/Context.ts
+++ b/src/core/Context.ts
@@ -5,11 +5,7 @@ import { Connection } from 'typeorm';
 export interface Context {
   connection: Connection;
   request: Request;
-  user: {
-    email: string;
-    id: string;
-    permissions: string[];
-  };
+  user?: any;
   dataLoader: {
     initialized: boolean;
     loaders: { [key: string]: { [key: string]: any } };
diff --git a/src/core/app.ts b/src/core/app.ts
index 96cd6885..38e7465c 100644
--- a/src/core/app.ts
+++ b/src/core/app.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { printSchema, GraphQLSchema } from 'graphql';
 import { Binding } from 'graphql-binding';
 import { Server as HttpServer } from 'http';
 import { Server as HttpsServer } from 'https';
+import * as mkdirp from 'mkdirp';
 import * as path from 'path';
 import { buildSchema, useContainer as TypeGraphQLUseContainer } from 'type-graphql'; // formatArgumentValidationError
 import { Connection, ConnectionOptions, useContainer as TypeORMUseContainer } from 'typeorm';
@@ -22,9 +23,9 @@ import { generateBindingFile } from './binding';
 
 export interface AppOptions {
   container?: any; // TODO: fix types - Container from typeDI
-
   host?: string;
   generatedFolder?: string;
+  middlewares?: any[]; // TODO: fix
   port?: string | number;
   warthogImportPath?: string;
 }
@@ -49,9 +50,16 @@ export class App {
       TypeORMUseContainer(this.appOptions.container);
     }
 
-    this.appHost = this.appOptions.host || process.env.APP_HOST || 'localhost';
+    const host: string | undefined = this.appOptions.host || process.env.APP_HOST;
+    if (!host) {
+      throw new Error('`host` is required');
+    }
+
+    this.appHost = host;
     this.appPort = parseInt(String(this.appOptions.port || process.env.APP_PORT), 10) || 4000;
     this.generatedFolder = this.appOptions.generatedFolder || path.join(process.cwd(), 'generated');
+
+    mkdirp.sync(this.generatedFolder);
   }
 
   async establishDBConnection(): Promise<Connection> {
@@ -65,10 +73,10 @@ export class App {
     return this.connection;
   }
 
-  async getBinding(): Promise<Binding> {
+  async getBinding(options: { origin?: string; token?: string } = {}): Promise<Binding> {
     return getRemoteBinding(`http://${this.appHost}:${this.appPort}/graphql`, {
-      origin: 'seed-script', // TODO: allow this to be passed in
-      token: 'faketoken' // TODO: allow this to be passed in
+      origin: 'warthog',
+      ...options
     });
   }
 
@@ -93,10 +101,10 @@ export class App {
     if (!this.schema) {
       this.schema = await buildSchema({
         authChecker,
-        globalMiddlewares: [DataLoaderMiddleware], // ErrorLoggerMiddleware
+        // TODO: ErrorLoggerMiddleware
+        globalMiddlewares: [DataLoaderMiddleware, ...(this.appOptions.middlewares || [])],
         resolvers: [process.cwd() + '/**/*.resolver.ts']
-        // TODO
-        // scalarsMap: [{ type: GraphQLDate, scalar: GraphQLDate }]
+        // TODO: scalarsMap: [{ type: GraphQLDate, scalar: GraphQLDate }]
       });
     }
 
@@ -129,21 +137,16 @@ export class App {
     await this.generateBinding();
 
     this.graphQLServer = new ApolloServer({
-      context: (options: { request: Request }) => {
+      context: (options: { request: Request; context?: any }) => {
         const context: Context = {
           connection: this.connection,
           dataLoader: {
             initialized: false,
             loaders: {}
           },
-          request: options.request,
-          user: {
-            email: 'admin@test.com',
-            id: 'abc12345',
-            permissions: ['user:read', 'user:update', 'user:create', 'user:delete', 'photo:delete']
-          }
+          request: options.request
         };
-        return context;
+        return { ...context, ...(options.context || {}) };
       },
       schema: this.schema
     });
diff --git a/src/core/binding.ts b/src/core/binding.ts
index 0991abf3..433308ce 100644
--- a/src/core/binding.ts
+++ b/src/core/binding.ts
@@ -10,18 +10,18 @@ import * as path from 'path';
 
 // require('ts-node').register();
 
-import { StringMap } from '..';
+import { StringMapOptional } from '..';
 
 const debug = Debug('binding');
 
-interface LinkOptions {
-  token: string;
+interface LinkOptions extends StringMapOptional {
+  token?: string;
   origin: string;
 }
 
 export class Link extends HttpLink {
   constructor(uri: string, options: LinkOptions) {
-    let headers: StringMap = { ...options };
+    let headers = { ...options };
     if (headers.token) {
       headers['Authorization'] = `Bearer ${headers.token}`;
       delete headers.token;
diff --git a/src/core/types.ts b/src/core/types.ts
index 8fa5389d..0e3f39ce 100644
--- a/src/core/types.ts
+++ b/src/core/types.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 export type Omit<T, K extends keyof T> = Pick<T, Exclude<keyof T, K>>;
 
 export type StringMap = { [key: string]: string };
+export type StringMapOptional = { [key: string]: string | undefined };
 
 export type DateTime = string;
 export type IDType = string;
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 803d3d31..0a45a9b9 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -377,6 +377,13 @@
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/minimatch/-/minimatch-3.0.3.tgz#3dca0e3f33b200fc7d1139c0cd96c1268cadfd9d"
   integrity sha512-tHq6qdbT9U1IRSGf14CL0pUlULksvY9OZ+5eEgl1N7t+OA3tGvNpxJCzuKQlsNgCVwbAs670L1vcVQi8j9HjnA==
 
+"@types/mkdirp@^0.5.2":
+  version "0.5.2"
+  resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/mkdirp/-/mkdirp-0.5.2.tgz#503aacfe5cc2703d5484326b1b27efa67a339c1f"
+  integrity sha512-U5icWpv7YnZYGsN4/cmh3WD2onMY0aJIiTE6+51TwJCttdHvtCYmkBNOobHlXwrJRL0nkH9jH4kD+1FAdMN4Tg==
+  dependencies:
+    "@types/node" "*"
+
 "@types/node-emoji@^1.8.0":
   version "1.8.0"
   resolved "https://registry.npmjs.org/@types/node-emoji/-/node-emoji-1.8.0.tgz#6bc88a880cdcb3c165e2828d056db242e8829a8b"