diff --git a/ui/desktop/app/services/origin.js b/ui/desktop/app/services/origin.js
index 3e397240d..ba280a1ae 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/app/services/origin.js
+++ b/ui/desktop/app/services/origin.js
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ export default class OriginService extends Service {
     assert(`setOrigin expects a string, you passed ${origin}`, typeof origin === 'string');
     try {
       this.adapter.host = origin;
-      await this.store.query('scope', {});
       this.rendererOrigin = origin;
       if (origin !== await this.mainOrigin) {
         await this.ipc.invoke('setOrigin', origin);
diff --git a/ui/desktop/electron-app/package.json b/ui/desktop/electron-app/package.json
index 0b2588d8f..ee38c837a 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/electron-app/package.json
+++ b/ui/desktop/electron-app/package.json
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
     }
   },
   "dependencies": {
+    "axios": "^0.21.1",
     "electron-devtools-installer": "^3.1.1",
     "electron-is-dev": "^1.2.0",
     "electron-squirrel-startup": "^1.0.0",
diff --git a/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/content-security-policy.js b/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/content-security-policy.js
index 12c25834d..41bd1e148 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/content-security-policy.js
+++ b/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/content-security-policy.js
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-const runtimeSettings = require('./runtime-settings.js');
+const origin = require('./origin.js');
 const isDev = require('electron-is-dev');
 
 const csp = {
@@ -28,10 +28,9 @@ const generateCSPHeader = () => {
   const policy = Object.assign({}, csp);
 
   // If an origin is specified, add it to the connect-src directive
-  if (runtimeSettings.origin) {
+  if (origin.origin) {
     policy['connect-src'] = policy['connect-src'].slice();
-    policy['connect-src'].push(runtimeSettings.origin);
-    console.log(`[content-security-policy] Including user-specified origin "${runtimeSettings.origin}" to connect-src`);
+    policy['connect-src'].push(origin.origin);
   }
 
   return Object
diff --git a/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/handlers.js b/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/handlers.js
index fa3aaf8b1..8345d3ab3 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/handlers.js
+++ b/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/handlers.js
@@ -1,18 +1,21 @@
 const handle = require('./ipc-handler');
 const boundaryCli = require('./boundary-cli');
-const runtimeSettings = require('./runtime-settings.js');
+const origin = require('./origin.js');
 
 /**
  * Returns the current runtime origin, which is used by the main thread to
  * rewrite the CSP to allow requests.
  */
-handle('getOrigin', () => runtimeSettings.origin);
+handle('getOrigin', () => origin.origin);
 
 /**
  * Sets the origin to be used in the content security policy and triggers
  * a main window reload.
  */
-handle('setOrigin', (requestOrigin) => runtimeSettings.origin = requestOrigin);
+handle('setOrigin', async (requestOrigin) => {
+  await origin.validateOrigin(requestOrigin);
+  origin.origin = requestOrigin;
+});
 
 /**
  * Check for boundary cli existence
diff --git a/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/index.js b/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/index.js
index 6b1b5a548..fd434936e 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/index.js
+++ b/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/index.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ const {
 const { session, app, protocol, BrowserWindow, ipcMain } = require('electron');
 require('./handlers.js');
 
-const runtimeSettings = require('./runtime-settings.js');
+const origin = require('./origin.js');
 const { generateCSPHeader } = require('./content-security-policy.js');
 
 const isDev = require('electron-is-dev');
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ app.on('ready', async () => {
 
   // If the user-specified origin changes, reload the page so that
   // the CSP can be refreshed with the this source allowed
-  runtimeSettings.onOriginChange(() => mainWindow.loadURL(emberAppURL));
+  origin.onOriginChange(() => mainWindow.loadURL(emberAppURL));
 
   // If you want to open up dev tools programmatically, call
   // mainWindow.openDevTools();
diff --git a/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/runtime-settings.js b/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/origin.js
similarity index 61%
rename from ui/desktop/electron-app/src/runtime-settings.js
rename to ui/desktop/electron-app/src/origin.js
index def591318..3046c93f1 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/runtime-settings.js
+++ b/ui/desktop/electron-app/src/origin.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+const axios = require('axios');
+
 // Provides a singleton class instance to enable a consistent view of
 // runtime settings across the application.
 
@@ -19,6 +21,23 @@ class RuntimeSettings {
     this.triggerOriginChanged();
   }
 
+  /**
+   *
+   */
+  async validateOrigin(origin) {
+    // If the origin is the Electron origin, it is automatically valid.
+    if (origin === 'serve://boundary') return true;
+    // Otherwise, check if scopes can be loaded from the specified origin.
+    // Scopes are required by the desktop client, so this is a simple smoke
+    // test to see if the origin is API-compatible with the desktop client.
+    const scopesEndpoint = `${origin}/v1/scopes`;
+    try {
+      await axios.get(scopesEndpoint)
+    } catch (e) {
+      throw new Error(`Origin ${origin} could not be validated.`);
+    }
+  }
+
   // Quick and dirty event handler pattern to enable the application to respond
   // when the origin is changed.
   #originWatchers = [];
diff --git a/ui/desktop/electron-app/yarn.lock b/ui/desktop/electron-app/yarn.lock
index a9d1c1e6a..4c485a2b9 100644
--- a/ui/desktop/electron-app/yarn.lock
+++ b/ui/desktop/electron-app/yarn.lock
@@ -494,6 +494,13 @@ aws4@^1.8.0:
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/aws4/-/aws4-1.11.0.tgz#d61f46d83b2519250e2784daf5b09479a8b41c59"
   integrity sha512-xh1Rl34h6Fi1DC2WWKfxUTVqRsNnr6LsKz2+hfwDxQJWmrx8+c7ylaqBMcHfl1U1r2dsifOvKX3LQuLNZ+XSvA==
 
+axios@^0.21.1:
+  version "0.21.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/axios/-/axios-0.21.1.tgz#22563481962f4d6bde9a76d516ef0e5d3c09b2b8"
+  integrity sha512-dKQiRHxGD9PPRIUNIWvZhPTPpl1rf/OxTYKsqKUDjBwYylTvV7SjSHJb9ratfyzM6wCdLCOYLzs73qpg5c4iGA==
+  dependencies:
+    follow-redirects "^1.10.0"
+
 balanced-match@^1.0.0:
   version "1.0.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/balanced-match/-/balanced-match-1.0.0.tgz#89b4d199ab2bee49de164ea02b89ce462d71b767"
@@ -1267,6 +1274,11 @@ flora-colossus@^1.0.0:
     debug "^4.1.1"
     fs-extra "^7.0.0"
 
+follow-redirects@^1.10.0:
+  version "1.13.1"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/follow-redirects/-/follow-redirects-1.13.1.tgz#5f69b813376cee4fd0474a3aba835df04ab763b7"
+  integrity sha512-SSG5xmZh1mkPGyKzjZP8zLjltIfpW32Y5QpdNJyjcfGxK3qo3NDDkZOZSFiGn1A6SclQxY9GzEwAHQ3dmYRWpg==
+
 forever-agent@~0.6.1:
   version "0.6.1"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/forever-agent/-/forever-agent-0.6.1.tgz#fbc71f0c41adeb37f96c577ad1ed42d8fdacca91"