diff --git a/engine/common/src/main/java/org/enso/common/ContextFactory.java b/engine/common/src/main/java/org/enso/common/ContextFactory.java
index 732280d943..2b42526bfd 100644
--- a/engine/common/src/main/java/org/enso/common/ContextFactory.java
+++ b/engine/common/src/main/java/org/enso/common/ContextFactory.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package org.enso.common;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 import org.enso.logger.Converter;
 import org.enso.logger.JulHandler;
@@ -50,7 +51,7 @@ public final class ContextFactory {
   private String executionEnvironment;
   private String checkForWarnings;
   private int warningsLimit = 100;
-  private java.util.Map<String, String> options = java.util.Collections.emptyMap();
+  private java.util.Map<String, String> options = new HashMap<>();
   private boolean enableDebugServer;
 
   private ContextFactory() {}
diff --git a/engine/runner/src/main/java/org/enso/runner/Main.java b/engine/runner/src/main/java/org/enso/runner/Main.java
index 36ce9065d7..465fc570bf 100644
--- a/engine/runner/src/main/java/org/enso/runner/Main.java
+++ b/engine/runner/src/main/java/org/enso/runner/Main.java
@@ -960,6 +960,7 @@ public class Main {
                 .messageTransport(replTransport())
                 .enableDebugServer(true)
                 .logLevel(logLevel)
+                .executionEnvironment("live")
                 .logMasking(logMasking)
                 .enableIrCaches(enableIrCaches)
                 .disableLinting(true)