diff --git a/config.yaml b/config.yaml
index e57728c..592d0e2 100755
--- a/config.yaml
+++ b/config.yaml
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ service:
   response_formatter: default  # formats analysis payloads of response messages
   upload_formatter: projecting  # formats analysis payloads of objects uploaded to storage
   # Note: This is not really the right place for this. It should be configured on a per-service basis.
-  operation: default
-#  operation: image_classification  # FIXME: operation needs to be specified in deployment config for services that are called without an operation specified
+  operation: $OPERATION|default
+  # operation needs to be specified in deployment config for services that are called without an operation specified
   operations:
     conversion:
       input:
diff --git a/pyinfra/component_factory.py b/pyinfra/component_factory.py
index 85727b1..02697b1 100644
--- a/pyinfra/component_factory.py
+++ b/pyinfra/component_factory.py
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@ class ComponentFactory:
 
     @lru_cache(maxsize=None)
     def get_operation2file_patterns(self):
+        if self.config.service.operation is not "default":
+            self.config.service.operations["default"] = self.config.service.operations[self.config.service.operation]
         return self.config.service.operations
 
     @lru_cache(maxsize=None)