diff --git a/services/backup/src/config.rs b/services/backup/src/config.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3294aec07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/backup/src/config.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+use clap::{builder::FalseyValueParser, Parser};
+use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
+
+use crate::constants::{
+  DEFAULT_BLOB_SERVICE_URL, DEFAULT_GRPC_SERVER_PORT, DEFAULT_LOCALSTACK_URL,
+  SANDBOX_ENV_VAR,
+};
+
+#[derive(Parser)]
+#[command(version, about, long_about = None)]
+pub struct AppConfig {
+  /// gRPC server listening port
+  #[arg(long = "port", default_value_t = DEFAULT_GRPC_SERVER_PORT)]
+  pub listening_port: u64,
+  /// Run the service in sandbox
+  #[arg(long = "sandbox", default_value_t = false)]
+  // support the env var for compatibility reasons
+  #[arg(env = SANDBOX_ENV_VAR)]
+  #[arg(value_parser = FalseyValueParser::new())]
+  pub is_sandbox: bool,
+  /// AWS Localstack service URL, applicable in sandbox mode
+  #[arg(long, default_value_t = DEFAULT_LOCALSTACK_URL.to_string())]
+  pub localstack_url: String,
+  /// Blob service URL
+  #[arg(long, default_value_t = DEFAULT_BLOB_SERVICE_URL.to_string())]
+  pub blob_service_url: String,
+}
+
+/// Stores configuration parsed from command-line arguments
+/// and environment variables
+pub static CONFIG: Lazy<AppConfig> = Lazy::new(|| AppConfig::parse());
+
+/// Processes the command-line arguments and environment variables.
+/// Should be called at the beginning of the `main()` function.
+pub(super) fn parse_cmdline_args() {
+  // force evaluation of the lazy initialized config
+  Lazy::force(&CONFIG);
+}
diff --git a/services/backup/src/constants.rs b/services/backup/src/constants.rs
index 3497b91a7..6ed661e80 100644
--- a/services/backup/src/constants.rs
+++ b/services/backup/src/constants.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+// Configuration defaults
+
 pub const DEFAULT_GRPC_SERVER_PORT: u64 = 50051;
+pub const DEFAULT_LOCALSTACK_URL: &str = "http://localhost:4566";
+pub const DEFAULT_BLOB_SERVICE_URL: &str = "http://localhost:50053";
+
+// Environment variable names
+
+pub const SANDBOX_ENV_VAR: &str = "COMM_SERVICES_SANDBOX";
 pub const LOG_LEVEL_ENV_VAR: &str =
   tracing_subscriber::filter::EnvFilter::DEFAULT_ENV;
diff --git a/services/backup/src/main.rs b/services/backup/src/main.rs
index 61ff25338..3c3a62658 100644
--- a/services/backup/src/main.rs
+++ b/services/backup/src/main.rs
@@ -1,42 +1,46 @@
 use anyhow::Result;
 use std::net::SocketAddr;
 use tonic::transport::Server;
 use tracing::{info, Level};
 use tracing_subscriber::EnvFilter;
 
 use crate::service::{BackupServiceServer, MyBackupService};
 
+pub mod config;
 pub mod constants;
 pub mod service;
 
+// re-export this to be available as crate::CONFIG
+pub use config::CONFIG;
+
 fn configure_logging() -> Result<()> {
   let filter = EnvFilter::builder()
     .with_default_directive(Level::INFO.into())
     .with_env_var(constants::LOG_LEVEL_ENV_VAR)
     .from_env_lossy();
 
   let subscriber = tracing_subscriber::fmt().with_env_filter(filter).finish();
   tracing::subscriber::set_global_default(subscriber)?;
   Ok(())
 }
 
 async fn run_grpc_server() -> Result<()> {
-  let addr: SocketAddr =
-    format!("[::]:{}", constants::DEFAULT_GRPC_SERVER_PORT).parse()?;
+  let addr: SocketAddr = format!("[::]:{}", CONFIG.listening_port).parse()?;
   let backup_service = MyBackupService::default();
 
   info!("Starting gRPC server listening at {}", addr.to_string());
   Server::builder()
     .add_service(BackupServiceServer::new(backup_service))
     .serve(addr)
     .await?;
 
   Ok(())
 }
 
 #[tokio::main]
 async fn main() -> Result<()> {
+  config::parse_cmdline_args();
   configure_logging()?;
 
   run_grpc_server().await
 }