diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4b471c52..be460d29 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -18,3 +18,5 @@ site
 # distribution/packaging files
 *.egg-info/
 build/
+uv.lock
+.venv*
diff --git a/bin/stack-config b/bin/stack-config
index 31a700ed..66496991 100755
--- a/bin/stack-config
+++ b/bin/stack-config
@@ -1,6 +1,21 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#!/usr/bin/env -S uv run --script
+# /// script
+# requires-python = ">=3.12"
+# dependencies = [
+#   "jinja2",
+#   "jsonschema",
+#   "pyYAML",
+# ]
+# ///
 
-export UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT=.venv-`uname -m`
+import pathlib
+import sys
 
-STACKINATOR_ROOT=$(dirname `realpath $0`)/..
-uv run --directory $STACKINATOR_ROOT --with . python -m stackinator.main $@
+prefix = pathlib.Path(__file__).parent.parent.resolve()
+sys.path = [prefix.as_posix()] + sys.path
+
+from stackinator.main import main
+
+# Once we've set up the system path, run the tool's main method
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main())
diff --git a/docs/recipes.md b/docs/recipes.md
index 97dafe49..cbe71290 100644
--- a/docs/recipes.md
+++ b/docs/recipes.md
@@ -405,12 +405,24 @@ The `set` field is a list of environment variables key-value pairs that specify
 * It is not possible to set an initial value that is not `null` for a prefix path variable.
   Set such variables to `null` (unset it), then provide `append_path` and `prefix_path` operations below to set the individual paths.
 
-!!! note "using `${@VAR@}` to use environment variables"
+!!! info "use `${@VAR@}` to set environment variables at runtime"
     Sometimes you want to compose an environment variable **that has been set in the runtime environment** in your environment variable definition.
     For example, every user has a different `HOME` or `SCRATCH` value, and you might want to configure your view to store / read configuration from this path.
     The special syntax `${@VAR@}` will defer expanding the environment variable `VAR` until the view is loaded by uenv.
     The example above shows how to set the Juliaup install directory to be in the user's local scratch, i.e. a personalised private location for each user.
 
+!!! info "use `$@var@` to configure environment variables at configure time"
+    The special syntax `$@var@` can be used to substitute information about the view when configuring the recipe.
+    This is useful if you want to set an environment variable that refers to the mount point or mounted location of the view.
+
+    The following values are available:
+
+    | key | description |
+    | --- | ----------- |
+    | `mount` | the mount point of the image, e.g. `/user-environment` |
+    | `view_name` | the name of the view, e.g. `cuda-env` in the example above |
+    | `view_path` | the prefix path of the view, e.g. `/user-environment/env/cuda-env` |
+
 The `prepend_path` field takes a list of key-value pairs that define paths to prepend to a prefix path variable.
 
 * Each entry is a single path
diff --git a/stackinator/recipe.py b/stackinator/recipe.py
index 2827fc3e..ca8d2b3d 100644
--- a/stackinator/recipe.py
+++ b/stackinator/recipe.py
@@ -292,6 +292,22 @@ def environment_view_meta(self):
         view_meta = {}
         for _, env in self.environments.items():
             for view in env["views"]:
+                # recipe authors can substitute the name of the view, the mount
+                # and view path into environment variables using '$@key@' where
+                # key is one of view_name, mount and view_path.
+                substitutions = {
+                    "view_name": str(view["name"]),
+                    "mount": str(self.mount),
+                    "view_path": str(view["config"]["root"]),
+                }
+
+                def fill(s):
+                    return re.sub(
+                        r"\$@(\w+)@",
+                        lambda m: substitutions.get(m.group(1), m.group(0)),
+                        s,
+                    )
+
                 ev_inputs = view["extra"]["env_vars"]
                 env = envvars.EnvVarSet()
 
@@ -302,6 +318,9 @@ def environment_view_meta(self):
 
                 for v in ev_inputs["set"]:
                     ((name, value),) = v.items()
+                    if value is not None:
+                        value = fill(value)
+
                     # insist that the only 'set' operation on prefix variables is to unset/reset them
                     # this requires that users use append and prepend to build up the variables
                     if envvars.is_list_var(name) and value is not None:
@@ -313,12 +332,16 @@ def environment_view_meta(self):
                             env.set_scalar(name, value)
                 for v in ev_inputs["prepend_path"]:
                     ((name, value),) = v.items()
+                    if value is not None:
+                        value = fill(value)
                     if not envvars.is_list_var(name):
                         raise RuntimeError(f"{name} in the {view['name']} view is not a known prefix path variable")
 
                     env.set_list(name, [value], envvars.EnvVarOp.APPEND)
                 for v in ev_inputs["append_path"]:
                     ((name, value),) = v.items()
+                    if value is not None:
+                        value = fill(value)
                     if not envvars.is_list_var(name):
                         raise RuntimeError(f"{name} in the {view['name']} view is not a known prefix path variable")
 
@@ -326,7 +349,6 @@ def environment_view_meta(self):
 
                 view_meta[view["name"]] = {
                     "root": view["config"]["root"],
-                    "activate": view["config"]["root"] + "/activate.sh",
                     "description": "",  # leave the description empty for now
                     "recipe_variables": env.as_dict(),
                 }