diff --git a/commands/clone-api-plugins.js b/commands/clone-api-plugins.js
index 5f2dd01..ed5a91e 100644
--- a/commands/clone-api-plugins.js
+++ b/commands/clone-api-plugins.js
@@ -3,20 +3,19 @@ import fs from "fs";
 import inquirer from "inquirer";
 import isProjectOfType from "../utils/isProjectOfType.js";
 import Logger from "../utils/logger.js";
-import wget from "../utils/wget.js";
+import getFileFromCore from "../utils/getFileFromCore.js";
 
 /**
  * @summary Get and parse local plugins.json file
  * @returns {Object} - return the local plugins.json as object
  */
 async function getRemotePluginsJson() {
-  const remotePackageJsonUrl = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/reactioncommerce/reaction/trunk/plugins.json";
-  try {
-    const pluginsJson = await wget(remotePackageJsonUrl);
+  const pluginsJson = await getFileFromCore("plugins.json");
 
+  try {
     return JSON.parse(pluginsJson);
   } catch (error) {
-    Logger.error("Unable to get local plugins.json");
+    Logger.error("Unable to parse remote plugins.json");
     Logger.error(error);
     throw error;
   }
diff --git a/commands/create-project-api.js b/commands/create-project-api.js
index 60b5915..cb61628 100644
--- a/commands/create-project-api.js
+++ b/commands/create-project-api.js
@@ -1,14 +1,10 @@
 import { mkdir, writeFile } from "fs/promises";
 import { parse, stringify } from "envfile";
 import simpleGit from "simple-git";
-import wget from "../utils/wget.js";
 import getFilesFromRepo from "../utils/getFilesFromRepo.js";
 import pathExists from "../utils/pathExists.js";
 import Logger from "../utils/logger.js";
-
-
-const reactionAppRoot = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/reactioncommerce/reaction/trunk/apps/reaction";
-const reactionRoot = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/reactioncommerce/reaction/trunk/";
+import getFileFromCore, { reactionRoot } from "../utils/getFileFromCore.js";
 
 /**
  * @summary create project directory
@@ -29,8 +25,7 @@ async function makeProject(projectName) {
 async function getNodeMonVersionFromRoot() {
   const rootPackage = await getFileFromCore("package.json", reactionRoot);
   const packageData = JSON.parse(rootPackage);
-  const nodeMon = packageData.devDependencies.nodemon;
-  return nodeMon;
+  return packageData.devDependencies.nodemon;
 }
 
 
@@ -64,22 +59,10 @@ async function updatePackageJson(packageJson, projectName) {
   delete packageData.bugs;
   packageData.main = "./index.js";
   packageData.nodemonConfig.watch.push("custom-packages");
-  const nodemon = await getNodeMonVersionFromRoot();
-  packageData.devDependencies.nodemon = nodemon;
+  packageData.devDependencies.nodemon = await getNodeMonVersionFromRoot();
   return JSON.stringify(packageData, null, 2);
 }
 
-/**
- * @summary get a single file via HTTP
- * @param {String} fileName - The file to get
- * @param {String} rootDir - path to root for file
- * @returns {Promise<string|*>} The contents of the file
- */
-async function getFileFromCore(fileName, rootDir = reactionAppRoot) {
-  const contents = await wget(`${rootDir}/${fileName}`);
-  return contents;
-}
-
 /**
  * @summary update dotenv file to point to local mongo
  * @param {String} envData - file extracted from the reaction repo
@@ -88,8 +71,7 @@ async function getFileFromCore(fileName, rootDir = reactionAppRoot) {
 function updateEnv(envData) {
   const env = parse(envData);
   env.MONGO_URL = "mongodb://localhost:27017/reaction";
-  const updatedEnv = stringify(env);
-  return updatedEnv;
+  return stringify(env);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/utils/getFileFromCore.js b/utils/getFileFromCore.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4805a5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/getFileFromCore.js
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import wget from "./wget.js";
+import Logger from "./logger.js";
+
+export const reactionAppRoot = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/reactioncommerce/reaction/trunk/apps/reaction";
+export const reactionRoot = "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/reactioncommerce/reaction/trunk/";
+
+/**
+ * @summary get a single file via HTTP
+ * @param {String} fileName - The file to get
+ * @param {String} rootDir - path to root for file
+ * @returns {Promise<string|*>} The contents of the file
+ */
+export default async function getFileFromCore(fileName, rootDir = reactionAppRoot) {
+  try {
+    return wget(`${rootDir}/${fileName}`);
+  } catch (error) {
+    Logger.error(`Unable to get file from ${rootDir}/${fileName}`);
+    throw error;
+  }
+}