diff --git a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
index 01d480d1d..2ec156254 100644
--- a/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/application_controller.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
   end
 
   def after_sign_in_path_for(resource)
-    if resource.admin?
+    if REGISTRY_ENV == :admin && resource.admin?
       (session[:user_return_to].nil?) ? admin_root_path : session[:user_return_to].to_s
     else
       (session[:user_return_to].nil?) ? client_root_path : session[:user_return_to].to_s
diff --git a/app/models/ability.rb b/app/models/ability.rb
index 43f5b3090..75c2a1c23 100644
--- a/app/models/ability.rb
+++ b/app/models/ability.rb
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ class Ability
     alias_action :create, :read, :update, :destroy, :to => :crud
 
     user ||= User.new
-    if user.admin?
+    if REGISTRY_ENV == :admin && user.admin?
       can :manage, Domain
       can :switch, :registrar
       can :crud, DomainTransfer
diff --git a/config/initializers/env.rb b/config/initializers/env.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc68524d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/initializers/env.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# options: :admin, :client
+REGISTRY_ENV = :client