diff --git a/dev/config/default.js b/dev/config/default.js
index 34acfc10ec239916c915cdb8c5be0abdf9762286..bb9b31462d4575c586acc85b7285fa5d7b669a46 100644
--- a/dev/config/default.js
+++ b/dev/config/default.js
@@ -137,5 +137,4 @@ module.exports = {
   ],
   devServerIgnore: ['./dev/ignoreMe/*'],
   random: true,
-  subscriptionsDb: {},
 }
diff --git a/src/db/connectionConfig.js b/src/db/connectionConfig.js
index 0e7513d0f8f4bd41085d6844979ce01e38ffc41b..22fdeb6d95c63718aa7fe5e2579ac24bf3c94d1b 100644
--- a/src/db/connectionConfig.js
+++ b/src/db/connectionConfig.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ const config = require('config')
 
 const getDbConnectionConfig = (key = 'db') => {
   let { allowSelfSignedCertificates, caCert, ...connectionConfig } =
-    config.get(key)
+    (config.has(key) && config.get(key)) || {}
 
   // clone to get around an issue of knex deleting password from the original object
   let connection = { ...connectionConfig }