diff --git a/docs/source/setup.rst b/docs/source/setup.rst
index a4e70fbfcb7..19e3f9ac3fe 100644
--- a/docs/source/setup.rst
+++ b/docs/source/setup.rst
@@ -156,8 +156,6 @@ Example:
 
    ./setup_xml.py /some_safe_disk_area/Joe.Schmo/expdir/test
 
-Additional options for setting up Rocoto are available with `setup_xml.py -h` that allow users to change the number of failed tries, number of concurrent cycles and tasks as well as Rocoto's verbosity levels.
-
 ****************************************
 Step 4: Confirm files from setup scripts
 ****************************************
diff --git a/workflow/rocoto/workflow_xml.py b/workflow/rocoto/workflow_xml.py
index 856cade2b94..4e43ff8ec17 100644
--- a/workflow/rocoto/workflow_xml.py
+++ b/workflow/rocoto/workflow_xml.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 from datetime import datetime
 from pygw.timetools import to_timedelta
 from collections import OrderedDict
-from typing import Dict
 from applications import AppConfig
 from rocoto.workflow_tasks import get_wf_tasks
 import rocoto.rocoto as rocoto
@@ -13,10 +12,9 @@
 
 class RocotoXML:
 
-    def __init__(self, app_config: AppConfig, rocoto_config: Dict) -> None:
+    def __init__(self, app_config: AppConfig) -> None:
 
         self._app_config = app_config
-        self.rocoto_config = rocoto_config
 
         self._base = self._app_config.configs['base']
 
@@ -62,7 +60,7 @@ def _get_definitions(self) -> str:
         entity['ROTDIR'] = self._base['ROTDIR']
         entity['JOBS_DIR'] = self._base['BASE_JOB']
 
-        entity['MAXTRIES'] = self.rocoto_config['maxtries']
+        entity['MAXTRIES'] = self._base.get('ROCOTO_MAXTRIES', 2)
 
         # Put them all in an XML key-value syntax
         strings = []
@@ -77,9 +75,9 @@ def _get_workflow_header(self):
         """
 
         scheduler = self._app_config.scheduler
-        cyclethrottle = self.rocoto_config['cyclethrottle']
-        taskthrottle = self.rocoto_config['taskthrottle']
-        verbosity = self.rocoto_config['verbosity']
+        cyclethrottle = self._base.get('ROCOTO_CYCLETHROTTLE', 3)
+        taskthrottle = self._base.get('ROCOTO_TASKTHROTTLE', 25)
+        verbosity = self._base.get('ROCOTO_VERBOSITY', 10)
 
         expdir = self._base['EXPDIR']
 
diff --git a/workflow/setup_xml.py b/workflow/setup_xml.py
index 8ecc4552092..09212b59d96 100755
--- a/workflow/setup_xml.py
+++ b/workflow/setup_xml.py
@@ -28,15 +28,6 @@ def input_args():
     parser.add_argument('expdir', help='full path to experiment directory containing config files',
                         type=str, default=os.environ['PWD'])
 
-    parser.add_argument('--maxtries', help='maximum number of retries', type=int,
-                        default=2, required=False)
-    parser.add_argument('--cyclethrottle', help='maximum number of concurrent cycles', type=int,
-                        default=3, required=False)
-    parser.add_argument('--taskthrottle', help='maximum number of concurrent tasks', type=int,
-                        default=25, required=False)
-    parser.add_argument('--verbosity', help='verbosity level of Rocoto', type=int,
-                        default=10, required=False)
-
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
     return args
@@ -54,10 +45,6 @@ def check_expdir(cmd_expdir, cfg_expdir):
 if __name__ == '__main__':
 
     user_inputs = input_args()
-    rocoto_param_dict = {'maxtries': user_inputs['maxtries'],
-                         'cyclethrottle': user_inputs['cyclethrottle'],
-                         'taskthrottle': user_inputs['taskthrottle'],
-                         'verbosity': user_inputs['verbosity']}
 
     cfg = Configuration(user_inputs.expdir)
 
@@ -67,5 +54,5 @@ def check_expdir(cmd_expdir, cfg_expdir):
     app_config = AppConfig(cfg)
 
     # Create Rocoto Tasks and Assemble them into an XML
-    xml = RocotoXML(app_config, rocoto_param_dict)
+    xml = RocotoXML(app_config)
     xml.write()