diff --git a/envipath/settings.py b/envipath/settings.py
index d891bb07..29fcca60 100644
--- a/envipath/settings.py
+++ b/envipath/settings.py
@@ -260,6 +260,8 @@ CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND = 'redis://localhost:6379/1'
 CELERY_ACCEPT_CONTENT = ['json']
 CELERY_TASK_SERIALIZER = 'json'
 
+MODEL_BUILDING_ENABLED = os.environ.get('MODEL_BUILDING_ENABLED', 'False') == 'True'
+
 DEFAULT_RF_MODEL_PARAMS = {
     'base_clf': RandomForestClassifier(
         n_estimators=100,
@@ -312,3 +314,12 @@ if SENTRY_ENABLED:
         # see https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/python/data-management/data-collected/ for more info
         send_default_pii=True,
     )
+
+# compile into digestible flags
+FLAGS = {
+    'MODEL_BUILDING': MODEL_BUILDING_ENABLED,
+    'CELERY': FLAG_CELERY_PRESENT,
+    'PLUGINS': PLUGINS_ENABLED,
+    'SENTRY': SENTRY_ENABLED,
+    'ENVIFORMER': ENVIFORMER_PRESENT,
+}
diff --git a/epdb/views.py b/epdb/views.py
index e635fad6..1477b762 100644
--- a/epdb/views.py
+++ b/epdb/views.py
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ def get_base_context(request, for_user=None) -> Dict[str, Any]:
             'writeable_packages': PackageManager.get_all_writeable_packages(current_user),
             'available_groups': GroupManager.get_groups(current_user),
             'available_settings': SettingManager.get_all_settings(current_user),
-            'enabled_features': [],
+            'enabled_features': s.FLAGS,
             'debug': s.DEBUG,
         },
     }
@@ -572,11 +572,14 @@ def package_models(request, package_uuid):
         context['model_types'] = {
             'ML Relative Reasoning': 'ml-relative-reasoning',
             'Rule Based Relative Reasoning': 'rule-based-relative-reasoning',
-            'EnviFormer': 'enviformer',
         }
 
-        for k, v in s.CLASSIFIER_PLUGINS.items():
-            context['model_types'][v.display()] = k
+        if s.FLAGS.get('ENVIFORMER', False):
+            context['model_types']['EnviFormer'] = 'enviformer'
+
+        if s.FLAGS.get('PLUGINS', False):
+            for k, v in s.CLASSIFIER_PLUGINS.items():
+                context['model_types'][v.display()] = k
 
         return render(request, 'collections/objects_list.html', context)
 
diff --git a/templates/actions/collections/model.html b/templates/actions/collections/model.html
index a384080b..94d1a952 100644
--- a/templates/actions/collections/model.html
+++ b/templates/actions/collections/model.html
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{% if meta.can_edit %}
+{% if meta.can_edit and meta.enabled_features.MODEL_BUILDING %}
     <li>
         <a role="button" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#new_model_modal">
             <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-plus"></span> New Model</a>
diff --git a/templates/modals/collections/new_model_modal.html b/templates/modals/collections/new_model_modal.html
index 628a6b0c..1d23d58e 100644
--- a/templates/modals/collections/new_model_modal.html
+++ b/templates/modals/collections/new_model_modal.html
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@
                                 class="form-control">
                             <option value="MACCS" selected>MACCS Fingerprinter</option>
                         </select>
-                        {% if 'plugins' in meta.enabled_features %}
+                        {% if meta.enabled_features.PLUGINS %}
                         <!-- Property Plugins go here -->
                         <label for="ml-relative-reasoning-additional-fingerprinter">Fingerprinter</label>
                         <select id="ml-relative-reasoning-additional-fingerprinter"
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@
                         </select>
                         {% endif %}
                         <label for="ml-relative-reasoning-threshold">Threshold</label>
-                        <input type="number" min="0" , max="1" step="0.05" value="0.5"
+                        <input type="number" min="0" max="1" step="0.05" value="0.5"
                                id="ml-relative-reasoning-threshold"
                                name="ml-relative-reasoning-threshold" class="form-control">
 
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
                                name="enviformer-threshold" class="form-control">
                     </div>
 
-                    {% if 'applicability_domain' in enabled_features %}
+                    {% if meta.enabled_features.APPLICABILITY_DOMAIN %}
                     <div class="modal-body hide" data-step="3" data-title="Advanced Options II">
                         <div class="jumbotron">Selection of parameter values for the Applicability Domain process.
                             Number of Neighbours refers to a requirement on the minimum number of compounds from the