diff --git a/designateclient/cli/base.py b/designateclient/cli/base.py
index 0b9077b..3fb3323 100644
--- a/designateclient/cli/base.py
+++ b/designateclient/cli/base.py
@@ -27,31 +27,11 @@ from designateclient.v1 import Client
 
 @six.add_metaclass(abc.ABCMeta)
 class Command(CliffCommand):
-
     def run(self, parsed_args):
-        kwargs = {
-            'endpoint': self.app.options.os_endpoint,
-            'username': self.app.options.os_username,
-            'user_id': self.app.options.os_user_id,
-            'user_domain_id': self.app.options.os_user_domain_id,
-            'user_domain_name': self.app.options.os_user_domain_name,
-            'password': self.app.options.os_password,
-            'tenant_name': self.app.options.os_tenant_name,
-            'tenant_id': self.app.options.os_tenant_id,
-            'domain_name': self.app.options.os_domain_name,
-            'domain_id': self.app.options.os_domain_id,
-            'project_name': self.app.options.os_project_name,
-            'project_id': self.app.options.os_project_id,
-            'project_domain_name': self.app.options.os_project_domain_name,
-            'project_domain_id': self.app.options.os_project_domain_id,
-            'auth_url': self.app.options.os_auth_url,
-            'token': self.app.options.os_token,
-            'endpoint_type': self.app.options.os_endpoint_type,
-            'service_type': self.app.options.os_service_type,
-            'insecure': self.app.options.insecure,
-        }
-
-        self.client = Client(**kwargs)
+        self.client = Client(
+            region_name=self.app.options.os_region_name,
+            service_type=self.app.options.os_service_type,
+            session=self.app.session)
 
         try:
             return super(Command, self).run(parsed_args)
diff --git a/designateclient/shell.py b/designateclient/shell.py
index d88d0db..9e25a35 100644
--- a/designateclient/shell.py
+++ b/designateclient/shell.py
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ import traceback
 
 from cliff.app import App
 from cliff.commandmanager import CommandManager
+from keystoneclient.auth.identity import generic
+from keystoneclient import session as ks_session
 
 from designateclient.version import version_info as version
 
@@ -202,6 +204,40 @@ class DesignateShell(App):
             # --debug forces traceback
             self.dump_stack_trace = True
 
+    def initialize_app(self, argv):
+        super(DesignateShell, self).initialize_app(argv)
+        self.session = self.get_session()
+
+    def get_session(self):
+        session = ks_session.Session()
+
+        auth_args = {
+            'auth_url': self.options.os_auth_url,
+            'domain_id': self.options.os_domain_id,
+            'domain_name': self.options.os_domain_name,
+            'project_id': self.options.os_project_id,
+            'project_name': self.options.os_project_name,
+            'project_domain_name': self.options.os_project_domain_name,
+            'project_domain_id': self.options.os_project_domain_id,
+            'tenant_id': self.options.os_tenant_id,
+            'tenant_name': self.options.os_tenant_name,
+        }
+
+        if self.options.os_token:
+            auth_args['token'] = self.options.os_token
+            session.auth = generic.Token(**auth_args)
+        else:
+            password_args = {
+                'username': self.options.os_username,
+                'user_id': self.options.os_user_id,
+                'user_domain_id': self.options.os_user_domain_id,
+                'user_domain_name': self.options.os_user_domain_name,
+                'password': self.options.os_password
+            }
+            auth_args.update(password_args)
+            session.auth = generic.Password(**auth_args)
+        return session
+
     def run(self, argv):
         try:
             return super(DesignateShell, self).run(argv)