diff --git a/bw-dev b/bw-dev
index 2c2401179..b2ef129ee 100755
--- a/bw-dev
+++ b/bw-dev
@@ -38,26 +38,15 @@ function makeitblack {
     docker-compose run --rm web black celerywyrm bookwyrm
 }
 
-function copytos3 {
+function awscommand {
+    # expose env vars
     export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
     export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
     export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=${AWS_S3_REGION_NAME}
-    docker run --rm -it -v bookwyrm_media_volume:/images\
+    # first arg is mountpoint, second is the whole aws command
+    docker run --rm -it -v $1\
         -e AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID -e AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY -e AWS_DEFAULT_REGION\
-        amazon/aws-cli s3 cp /images s3://${AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME}/images\
-        --recursive --endpoint-url ${AWS_S3_ENDPOINT_URL} --acl public-read
-}
-
-function setcorstos3 {
-    export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=${AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID}
-    export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=${AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY}
-    export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=${AWS_S3_REGION_NAME}
-    docker run --rm -it -v $(pwd):/bw\
-        -e AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY -e AWS_DEFAULT_REGION -e AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID\
-        amazon/aws-cli s3api put-bucket-cors\
-        --bucket ${AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME}\
-        --endpoint-url ${AWS_S3_ENDPOINT_URL}\
-        --cors-configuration file:///bw/$@
+        amazon/aws-cli $2
 }
 
 CMD=$1
@@ -130,10 +119,17 @@ case "$CMD" in
         runweb python manage.py populate_streams
         ;;
     copy_media_to_s3)
-        copytos3
+        awscommand "bookwyrm_media_volume:/images"\
+            "s3 cp /images s3://${AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME}/images\
+            --endpoint-url ${AWS_S3_ENDPOINT_URL}\
+            --recursive --acl public-read"
         ;;
     set_cors_to_s3)
-        setcorstos3 $@
+        awscommand "$(pwd):/bw"\
+            "s3api put-bucket-cors\
+            --bucket ${AWS_STORAGE_BUCKET_NAME}\
+            --endpoint-url ${AWS_S3_ENDPOINT_URL}\
+            --cors-configuration file:///bw/$@"
         ;;
     *)
         echo "Unrecognised command. Try: build, clean, up, initdb, resetdb, makemigrations, migrate, bash, shell, dbshell, restart_celery, test, pytest, test_report, black, populate_feeds, copy_media_to_s3, set_cors_to_s3"