diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 85bcb314..4e86eacc 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -1,20 +1,22 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 # Build the owpengram-server container image (stamping the current git state into
 # the binary - .containerignore excludes .git, so go build can't see the repo and
-# the values are passed in here), then restart the owpengram-server and
-# owpengram-admin systemd services so they pick up the freshly built image.
-# Container creation/lifecycle beyond the pod itself is owned by those systemd
-# units, not this script.
+# the values are passed in here), then restart the owpengram-server@ and
+# owpengram-admin@ systemd template service instances so they pick up the
+# freshly built image. Container creation/lifecycle beyond the pod itself is
+# owned by those systemd units, not this script.
 #
 # Usage:  ./build.sh [extra podman build args...]
 #   IMAGE=my/tag ./build.sh     override the image tag   (default: owpengram-server)
 #   POD=name ./build.sh         override the pod name    (default: owpengram)
+#   INSTANCE=name ./build.sh    override the systemd instance name (default: ghj209a)
 #   NO_DEPLOY=1 ./build.sh      build the image only, don't restart the services
 set -euo pipefail
 cd "$(dirname "$0")"
 
 IMAGE="${IMAGE:-owpengram-server}"
 POD="${POD:-owpengram}"
+INSTANCE="${INSTANCE:-ghj209a}"
 
 podman build \
   --build-arg GIT_COMMIT="$(git rev-parse HEAD)" \
@@ -43,5 +45,5 @@ if ! podman pod exists "$POD"; then
     -p 12500-12999:12500-12999/udp
 fi
 
-systemctl restart owpengram-server.service owpengram-admin.service
-systemctl --no-pager status owpengram-server.service owpengram-admin.service
+systemctl restart "owpengram-server@${INSTANCE}.service" "owpengram-admin@${INSTANCE}.service"
+systemctl --no-pager status "owpengram-server@${INSTANCE}.service" "owpengram-admin@${INSTANCE}.service"