diff --git a/client/graphql.go b/client/graphql.go
index 3dacb8280bc9875e18c4eb0fda8b3908766833d6..6fabeadf085bb30aea7356e893ae0bc85856ea45 100644
--- a/client/graphql.go
+++ b/client/graphql.go
@@ -34,13 +34,7 @@ func Do(ctx context.Context, username string, svc string,
 	query GraphQLQuery, result interface{},
 ) error {
 	conf := config.ForContext(ctx)
-	origin, _ := conf.Get(svc, "api-origin")
-	if origin == "" {
-		origin = config.GetOrigin(conf, svc, false)
-	}
-	if origin == "" {
-		panic(fmt.Errorf("No %s origin specified in config.ini", svc))
-	}
+	origin := config.GetAPI(conf, svc, false)
 
 	var (
 		contentType string
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 0dbf1b3cbfba7d8376afa401794573ba4f76e305..2a88966bc8f9fae3ebfb37a77c285174b3c2554a 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -100,6 +100,11 @@
 	return config
 }
 
+// Returns the URL (scheme, host, port) at which the web application for a
+// given service can be found.
+//
+// Set "external" to true if the URL will be accessed by an external user (i.e.
+// outside of the LAN).
 func GetOrigin(conf ini.File, svc string, external bool) string {
 	if external {
 		origin, _ := conf.Get(svc, "origin")
@@ -111,6 +116,38 @@ 		return origin
 	}
 	origin, _ = conf.Get(svc, "origin")
 	return origin
+}
+
+// Returns the URL (scheme, host, port) at which the API for a given service
+// can be found. Does not include the /query path!
+//
+// Set "external" to true if the URL will be accessed by an external user (i.e.
+// outside of the LAN).
+func GetAPI(conf ini.File, svc string, external bool) string {
+	var candidates []string
+
+	if external {
+		candidates = []string{
+			"api-origin",
+			"origin",
+		}
+	} else {
+		candidates = []string{
+			"api-internal-origin",
+			"internal-origin",
+			"api-origin",
+			"origin",
+		}
+	}
+
+	for _, name := range candidates {
+		origin, ok := conf.Get(svc, name)
+		if ok {
+			return origin
+		}
+	}
+
+	panic(fmt.Errorf("No suitable origin configured for requested API"))
 }
 
 const DefaultQueueSize = 512