diff --git a/crates/colony-cli/src/client.rs b/crates/colony-cli/src/client.rs
index b1a00df..ab64800 100644
--- a/crates/colony-cli/src/client.rs
+++ b/crates/colony-cli/src/client.rs
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ impl ColonyClient {
             .get(self.url(&format!("/api/inbox?{}", self.config.user_query())))
             .send().await.unwrap_or_else(|e| { eprintln!("colony unreachable: {e}"); process::exit(1); });
         if !res.status().is_success() { self.handle_error(res).await; }
-        res.json().await.unwrap()
+        res.json().await.unwrap_or_else(|e| { eprintln!("failed to parse inbox response: {e}"); process::exit(1); })
     }
 
     pub async fn ack_inbox(&self, ids: &[i64]) -> serde_json::Value {
diff --git a/ui/colony/.colony.toml b/ui/colony/.colony.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d41df4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/colony/.colony.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+api_url = "https://apes.unslope.com"
+user = "neeraj"