diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index ae3880d67e25804af152863f06ac78b60d791ae0..8e602d0f47c8537e0439236574f4864cd5e9f480 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -66,5 +66,5 @@ demo:now:
     - npm i -g --unsafe-perm now
     - cd ${HOME}/now
     - echo "FROM ${IMAGE_ORG}/${IMAGE_NAME}:${CI_COMMIT_SHA}" >> Dockerfile
-    - now --public --docker --token $NOW_TOKEN -e AWS_S3_ACCESS_KEY=$AWS_S3_ACCESS_KEY -e AWS_S3_SECRET_KEY=$AWS_S3_SECRET_KEY -e AWS_S3_REGION=$AWS_S3_REGION -e AWS_S3_BUCKET=$AWS_S3_BUCKET -e AWS_SES_SECRET_KEY=$AWS_SES_SECRET_KEY -e AWS_SES_ACCESS_KEY=$AWS_SES_ACCESS_KEY -e AWS_SES_REGION=$AWS_SES_REGION -e EMAIL_SENDER=$EMAIL_SENDER -e secret=$SECRET
+    - now --public --docker --token $NOW_TOKEN -e AWS_S3_ACCESS_KEY=$AWS_S3_ACCESS_KEY -e AWS_S3_SECRET_KEY=$AWS_S3_SECRET_KEY -e AWS_S3_REGION=$AWS_S3_REGION -e AWS_S3_BUCKET=$AWS_S3_BUCKET -e AWS_SES_SECRET_KEY=$AWS_SES_SECRET_KEY -e AWS_SES_ACCESS_KEY=$AWS_SES_ACCESS_KEY -e AWS_SES_REGION=$AWS_SES_REGION -e EMAIL_SENDER=$EMAIL_SENDER -e secret=$SECRET -e DATABASE=$DATABASE -e DB_USER=$DB_USER -e DB_PASS=$DB_PASS -e DB_HOST=$DB_HOST
     - now alias $NOW_URL xpub-faraday --token $NOW_TOKEN
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/xpub-faraday/config/default.js b/packages/xpub-faraday/config/default.js
index d6b8a057e65d92cac258106b300f973bcff68971..b080771fd16185d66c0083c21747b7f5efd01080 100644
--- a/packages/xpub-faraday/config/default.js
+++ b/packages/xpub-faraday/config/default.js
@@ -5,6 +5,20 @@ const logger = require('winston')
 
 // const environment = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development'
 
+const getDbConfig = () => {
+  if (process.env.DATABASE) {
+    return {
+      user: process.env.DB_USER,
+      password: process.env.DB_PASS,
+      database: process.env.DATABASE,
+      host: process.env.DB_HOST,
+      port: 5432,
+      ssl: true,
+    }
+  }
+  return {}
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   authsome: {
     mode: path.resolve(__dirname, 'authsome.js'),
@@ -17,7 +31,7 @@ module.exports = {
     components,
   },
   'pubsweet-server': {
-    db: {},
+    db: getDbConfig(),
     port: 3000,
     logger,
     uploads: 'uploads',