diff --git a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/configGenerator.ts b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/configGenerator.ts
index 664742086..0da22c9e2 100644
--- a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/configGenerator.ts
+++ b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/configGenerator.ts
@@ -177,17 +177,18 @@ export async function generateNetworkSpec(
     } else {
       networkSpec.relaychain.chainSpecPath = chainSpecPath;
     }
-  } else {
-    // Create the chain spec
-    networkSpec.relaychain.chainSpecCommand = config.relaychain
-      .chain_spec_command
-      ? config.relaychain.chain_spec_command
-      : DEFAULT_CHAIN_SPEC_COMMAND.replace(
-          "{{DEFAULT_COMMAND}}",
-          networkSpec.relaychain.defaultCommand,
-        );
   }
 
+  // even if we have a chain_spec_path we need to set
+  // the command to generate the raw version
+
+  networkSpec.relaychain.chainSpecCommand = config.relaychain.chain_spec_command
+    ? config.relaychain.chain_spec_command
+    : DEFAULT_CHAIN_SPEC_COMMAND.replace(
+        "{{DEFAULT_COMMAND}}",
+        networkSpec.relaychain.defaultCommand,
+      );
+
   const relayChainBootnodes: string[] = [];
 
   for (const node of config.relaychain.nodes || []) {
diff --git a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/orchestrator.ts b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/orchestrator.ts
index 85f917680..96dbad0e4 100644
--- a/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/orchestrator.ts
+++ b/javascript/packages/orchestrator/src/orchestrator.ts
@@ -297,8 +297,7 @@ export async function start(
         namespace,
         networkSpec.relaychain.defaultImage,
         chainName,
-        networkSpec.relaychain.chainSpecCommand ||
-          networkSpec.relaychain.defaultCommand,
+        networkSpec.relaychain.chainSpecCommand!,
         chainSpecFullPath,
       );
     } else {