diff --git a/src/tiled_ingestor/ingest.py b/src/tiled_ingestor/ingest.py
index b3df05a..bad1f75 100644
--- a/src/tiled_ingestor/ingest.py
+++ b/src/tiled_ingestor/ingest.py
@@ -2,19 +2,44 @@
 import logging
 import sys
 
+import h5py
 from tiled.catalog.register import identity, register
 from tiled.catalog import from_uri
 import tiled.config
+from tiled.adapters.hdf5 import HDF5Adapter, SWMR_DEFAULT
+from tiled.structures.core import Spec
+from tiled.utils import path_from_uri
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
 logging.basicConfig(stream=sys.stdout, level=logging.DEBUG)
 
+DLS_TOMO_SPEC = Spec("DLSNXTomo", "1")
+
+# In a future version of tiled, the register method will move from
+# server to client. This will allow us to remove a lot of code here, including
+# looking for the server config, connecting to the database, writing an
+# adapter that serves just to mark files with a particular spec.
+# See https://github.com/bluesky/tiled/pull/661
+
 
 def get_tiled_config(config_path: str):
     return tiled.config.parse_configs(config_path)
 
 
+def diamond_tomo_h5_read_adapter(
+    data_uri, swmr=SWMR_DEFAULT, libver="latest", specs=None, **kwargs
+):
+    # this serves as enough of an adapter to read a file, verify that it's
+    # the right type, and register a spec for it. It's like a piece of an
+    # adapter that wouldn't work for reading data set, but works for adding
+    # a spec to a dataset when registered externally.
+    specs = specs or []
+    specs.append(DLS_TOMO_SPEC)
+    filepath = path_from_uri(data_uri)
+    file = h5py.File(filepath, "r", swmr=swmr, libver=libver)
+    return HDF5Adapter.from_file(file, specs=specs, **kwargs)
+
+
 async def process_file(
     file_path: str,
     tiled_config: dict,
@@ -57,11 +82,10 @@ async def process_file(
         matching_tree["tree"] == "catalog"
     ), f"Matching tiled tree {tiled_config_tree_path} is not a catalog"
 
-    # using thre tree in the configuration, generate a catalog(adapter)
+    # using the tree in the configuration, generate a catalog(adapter)
     catalog_adapter = from_uri(
         matching_tree["args"]["uri"],
         readable_storage=matching_tree["args"]["readable_storage"],
-        adapters_by_mimetype=matching_tree["args"].get("adapters_by_mimetype"),
     )
 
     # Register with tiled. This writes entries into the database for all of the nodes down to the data node
@@ -71,6 +95,9 @@ async def process_file(
         path=file_path,
         prefix=path_prefix,
         overwrite=False,
+        adapters_by_mimetype={
+            "application/x-hdf5": "tiled_ingestor.ingest:diamond_tomo_h5_read_adapter"
+        },
     )
 
 
@@ -84,9 +111,9 @@ async def process_file(
         tiled_config = get_tiled_config("../mlex_tomo_framework/tiled/deploy/config")
         asyncio.run(
             process_file(
-                "../mlex_tomo_framework/data/tiled_storage/beamlines/8.3.2/recons/rec20240207_120829_test_no_xrays_n1313",
+                "../mlex_tomo_framework/data/tiled_storage/recons/nexus-example.nxs",
                 tiled_config,
-                path_prefix="/beamlines/8.3.2/recons/",
+                path_prefix="/recons",
             )
         )
     else:
@@ -94,13 +121,11 @@ async def process_file(
         import os
 
         pprint(os.environ)
-        tiled_config = get_tiled_config(
-            "/tiled_storage/beamlines/8.3.2/recons/rec20240207_120829_test_no_xrays_n1313"
-        )
+        tiled_config = get_tiled_config("../mlex_tomo_framework/tiled/deploy/config")
         asyncio.run(
             process_file(
-                # "/tiled_storage/beamlines/8.3.2/recons/rec20240207_120550_test_no_xrays_n257",
+                "/tiled_storage/recons/rec20240207_120550_test_no_xrays_n257",
                 tiled_config,
-                path_prefix="/beamlines/8.3.2/recons/",
+                path_prefix="/recons",
             )
         )