diff --git a/cli/catalogue/catalogue.go b/cli/catalogue/catalogue.go
index fc3fa6af..a1e7b3af 100644
--- a/cli/catalogue/catalogue.go
+++ b/cli/catalogue/catalogue.go
@@ -59,13 +59,15 @@ var CatalogueSkipList = map[string]bool{
 var catalogueGenerateCommand = &cli.Command{
 	Name:    "generate",
 	Aliases: []string{"g"},
-	Usage:   "Generate a new copy of the catalogue",
+	Usage:   "Generate a new copy of the recipe catalogue",
 	Flags: []cli.Flag{
 		internal.PushFlag,
 		internal.CommitFlag,
 		internal.CommitMessageFlag,
 		internal.DryFlag,
 		internal.SkipUpdatesFlag,
+		internal.RegistryUsernameFlag,
+		internal.RegistryPasswordFlag,
 	},
 	Description: `
 This command generates a new copy of the recipe catalogue which can be found on:
@@ -73,8 +75,8 @@ This command generates a new copy of the recipe catalogue which can be found on:
     https://recipes.coopcloud.tech
 
 It polls the entire git.coopcloud.tech/coop-cloud/... recipe repository
-listing, parses README and tags to produce recipe metadata and produces a
-apps.json file which is placed in your ~/.abra/catalogue/recipes.json.
+listing, parses README.md and git tags of those repositories to produce recipe
+metadata and produces a recipes JSON file.
 
 It is possible to generate new metadata for a single recipe by passing
 <recipe>. The existing local catalogue will be updated, not overwritten.
@@ -84,6 +86,9 @@ A new catalogue copy can be published to the recipes repository by passing the
 
     https://git.coopcloud.tech/coop-cloud/recipes
 
+It is quite easy to get rate limited by Docker Hub when running this command.
+If you have a Hub account you can have Abra log you in to avoid this. Pass
+"--username" and "--password".
 `,
 	ArgsUsage: "[<recipe>]",
 	Action: func(c *cli.Context) error {
@@ -133,7 +138,11 @@ A new catalogue copy can be published to the recipes repository by passing the
 				continue
 			}
 
-			versions, err := catalogue.GetRecipeVersions(recipeMeta.Name)
+			versions, err := catalogue.GetRecipeVersions(
+				recipeMeta.Name,
+				internal.RegistryUsername,
+				internal.RegistryPassword,
+			)
 			if err != nil {
 				logrus.Fatal(err)
 			}
diff --git a/cli/internal/common.go b/cli/internal/common.go
index 8450a92c..b0523dff 100644
--- a/cli/internal/common.go
+++ b/cli/internal/common.go
@@ -455,6 +455,26 @@ var SkipUpdatesFlag = &cli.BoolFlag{
 	Destination: &SkipUpdates,
 }
 
+var RegistryUsername string
+var RegistryUsernameFlag = &cli.StringFlag{
+	Name:        "username",
+	Aliases:     []string{"u"},
+	Value:       "",
+	Usage:       "Registry username",
+	EnvVars:     []string{"REGISTRY_USERNAME"},
+	Destination: &RegistryUsername,
+}
+
+var RegistryPassword string
+var RegistryPasswordFlag = &cli.StringFlag{
+	Name:        "password",
+	Aliases:     []string{"p"},
+	Value:       "",
+	Usage:       "Registry password",
+	EnvVars:     []string{"REGISTRY_PASSWORD"},
+	Destination: &RegistryUsername,
+}
+
 // SSHFailMsg is a hopefully helpful SSH failure message
 var SSHFailMsg = `
 Woops, Abra is unable to connect to connect to %s.
diff --git a/pkg/catalogue/catalogue.go b/pkg/catalogue/catalogue.go
index f6806e06..39745131 100644
--- a/pkg/catalogue/catalogue.go
+++ b/pkg/catalogue/catalogue.go
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ func ReadReposMetadata() (RepoCatalogue, error) {
 }
 
 // GetRecipeVersions retrieves all recipe versions.
-func GetRecipeVersions(recipeName string) (RecipeVersions, error) {
+func GetRecipeVersions(recipeName, registryUsername, registryPassword string) (RecipeVersions, error) {
 	versions := RecipeVersions{}
 
 	recipeDir := path.Join(config.RECIPES_DIR, recipeName)
@@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ func GetRecipeVersions(recipeName string) (RecipeVersions, error) {
 			if digest, exists = queryCache[img]; !exists {
 				logrus.Debugf("looking up image: %s from %s", img, path)
 				var err error
-				digest, err = client.GetTagDigest(cl, img)
+				digest, err = client.GetTagDigest(cl, img, registryUsername, registryPassword)
 				if err != nil {
 					logrus.Warn(err)
 					continue
diff --git a/pkg/client/registry.go b/pkg/client/registry.go
index 5780b054..2a57039c 100644
--- a/pkg/client/registry.go
+++ b/pkg/client/registry.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"net/http"
-	"os"
 	"strings"
 
 	"coopcloud.tech/abra/pkg/web"
@@ -42,7 +41,7 @@ func basicAuth(username, password string) string {
 }
 
 // getRegv2Token retrieves a registry v2 authentication token.
-func getRegv2Token(cl *client.Client, image reference.Named) (string, error) {
+func getRegv2Token(cl *client.Client, image reference.Named, registryUsername, registryPassword string) (string, error) {
 	img := reference.Path(image)
 	tokenURL := "https://auth.docker.io/token"
 	values := fmt.Sprintf("service=registry.docker.io&scope=repository:%s:pull", img)
@@ -53,11 +52,10 @@ func getRegv2Token(cl *client.Client, image reference.Named) (string, error) {
 		return "", err
 	}
 
-	username, userOk := os.LookupEnv("DOCKER_USERNAME")
-	password, passOk := os.LookupEnv("DOCKER_PASSWORD")
-	if userOk && passOk {
-		logrus.Debugf("using docker log in credentials for registry token request")
-		req.Header.Add("Authorization", fmt.Sprintf("Basic %s", basicAuth(username, password)))
+	if registryUsername != "" && registryPassword != "" {
+		logrus.Debugf("using registry log in credentials for token request")
+		auth := basicAuth(registryUsername, registryPassword)
+		req.Header.Add("Authorization", fmt.Sprintf("Basic %s", auth))
 	}
 
 	client := web.NewHTTPRetryClient()
@@ -94,7 +92,7 @@ func getRegv2Token(cl *client.Client, image reference.Named) (string, error) {
 }
 
 // GetTagDigest retrieves an image digest from a v2 registry
-func GetTagDigest(cl *client.Client, image reference.Named) (string, error) {
+func GetTagDigest(cl *client.Client, image reference.Named, registryUsername, registryPassword string) (string, error) {
 	img := reference.Path(image)
 	tag := image.(reference.NamedTagged).Tag()
 	manifestURL := fmt.Sprintf("https://index.docker.io/v2/%s/manifests/%s", img, tag)
@@ -104,7 +102,7 @@ func GetTagDigest(cl *client.Client, image reference.Named) (string, error) {
 		return "", err
 	}
 
-	token, err := getRegv2Token(cl, image)
+	token, err := getRegv2Token(cl, image, registryUsername, registryPassword)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}