diff --git a/superduper/backends/local/__init__.py b/superduper/backends/local/__init__.py
index 6298af57a..966cb0664 100644
--- a/superduper/backends/local/__init__.py
+++ b/superduper/backends/local/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 from .artifacts import FileSystemArtifactStore as ArtifactStore
+from .compute import LocalComputeBackend as ComputeBackend
 
 __all__ = ["ArtifactStore"]
diff --git a/superduper/backends/local/artifacts.py b/superduper/backends/local/artifacts.py
index c31f56a38..3d5baeed2 100644
--- a/superduper/backends/local/artifacts.py
+++ b/superduper/backends/local/artifacts.py
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ def __init__(
         flavour: t.Optional[str] = None,
     ):
         super().__init__(conn, name, flavour)
+        if conn.startswith('filesystem://'):
+            conn = conn[7:]
         if not os.path.exists(self.conn):
             logging.info('Creating artifact store directory')
             os.makedirs(self.conn, exist_ok=True)
diff --git a/superduper/backends/local/compute.py b/superduper/backends/local/compute.py
index 96048a858..29f40a5e1 100644
--- a/superduper/backends/local/compute.py
+++ b/superduper/backends/local/compute.py
@@ -18,10 +18,12 @@ def __init__(
         self,
         uri: t.Optional[str] = None,
         queue: BaseQueuePublisher = LocalQueuePublisher(),
+        kwargs: t.Dict = {},
     ):
         self.__outputs: t.Dict = {}
         self.uri = uri
         self.queue = queue
+        self.kwargs = kwargs
 
     @property
     def remote(self) -> bool:
diff --git a/superduper/base/build.py b/superduper/base/build.py
index c0e50ee79..ad0478fa2 100644
--- a/superduper/base/build.py
+++ b/superduper/base/build.py
@@ -17,19 +17,33 @@ class _Loader:
     not_supported: t.Tuple = ()
 
     @classmethod
-    def create(cls, uri):
-        """Helper method to create metadata backend."""
+    def match(cls, uri):
+        """Check if the uri matches the pattern."""
+        plugin, flavour = None, None
         for pattern in cls.patterns:
             if re.match(pattern, uri) is not None:
-                plugin, flavour = cls.patterns[pattern]
-                if cls.not_supported and (plugin, flavour) in cls.not_supported:
-                    raise ValueError(
-                        f"{plugin} with flavour {flavour} not supported "
-                        "to create metadata store."
-                    )
-                impl = getattr(load_plugin(plugin), cls.impl)
-                return impl(uri, flavour=flavour)
-        raise ValueError(f"{cls.__name__} No support for uri: {uri}")
+                selection = cls.patterns[pattern]
+                if isinstance(selection, tuple):
+                    plugin, flavour = selection
+                else:
+                    assert isinstance(selection, str)
+                    plugin = selection
+                break
+        if plugin is None:
+            raise ValueError(f"{cls.__name__} No support for uri: {uri}")
+        return plugin, flavour
+
+    @classmethod
+    def create(cls, uri):
+        """Helper method to create metadata backend."""
+        plugin, flavour = cls.match(uri)
+        if cls.not_supported and (plugin, flavour) in cls.not_supported:
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"{plugin} with flavour {flavour} not supported "
+                "to create metadata store."
+            )
+        impl = getattr(load_plugin(plugin), cls.impl)
+        return impl(uri, flavour=flavour)
 
 
 class _MetaDataLoader(_Loader):
@@ -92,9 +106,12 @@ def _build_compute(cfg):
 
     :param cfg: SuperDuper config.
     """
-    from superduper.backends.local.compute import LocalComputeBackend
 
-    return LocalComputeBackend()
+    backend = getattr(load_plugin(cfg.cluster.compute.backend), 'ComputeBackend')
+    return backend(
+        uri=cfg.cluster.compute.uri,
+        **cfg.cluster.compute.kwargs
+    )
 
 
 def build_datalayer(cfg=None, **kwargs) -> Datalayer:
diff --git a/superduper/base/config.py b/superduper/base/config.py
index af7c0f2c5..ab04c5df1 100644
--- a/superduper/base/config.py
+++ b/superduper/base/config.py
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ class Compute(BaseConfig):
     """
 
     uri: t.Optional[str] = None
-    compute_kwargs: t.Dict = dc.field(default_factory=dict)
+    kwargs: t.Dict = dc.field(default_factory=dict)
     backend: str = 'local'
 
 
diff --git a/superduper/components/model.py b/superduper/components/model.py
index 6752e616e..2b5e89d9d 100644
--- a/superduper/components/model.py
+++ b/superduper/components/model.py
@@ -504,7 +504,7 @@ def __post_init__(self, db, artifacts):
         super().__post_init__(db, artifacts)
         from superduper import CFG
 
-        compute_kwargs = CFG.cluster.compute.compute_kwargs
+        compute_kwargs = CFG.cluster.compute.kwargs
         self.compute_kwargs = self.compute_kwargs or compute_kwargs
         self._is_initialized = False
         if not self.identifier:
diff --git a/superduper/jobs/job.py b/superduper/jobs/job.py
index 05a464521..957f32807 100644
--- a/superduper/jobs/job.py
+++ b/superduper/jobs/job.py
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ def __init__(
         db: t.Optional['Datalayer'] = None,
         component: 'Component' = None,
     ):
-        self.compute_kwargs = compute_kwargs or CFG.cluster.compute.compute_kwargs
+        self.compute_kwargs = compute_kwargs or CFG.cluster.compute.kwargs
 
         super().__init__(args=args, kwargs=kwargs, db=db, identifier=identifier)