diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index f009565..9b19238 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -12,3 +12,4 @@ jinja2==3.1.2
 jsonref==1.1.0
 pyld==2.0.3
 more-itertools==10.1.0
+dj-database-url==2.1.0
diff --git a/trustchain_idhub/settings.py b/trustchain_idhub/settings.py
index 274416d..7a3e043 100644
--- a/trustchain_idhub/settings.py
+++ b/trustchain_idhub/settings.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/ref/settings/
 import os
 
 from ast import literal_eval
+from dj_database_url import parse as db_url
 
 from pathlib import Path
 from django.contrib.messages import constants as messages
@@ -112,10 +113,15 @@ WSGI_APPLICATION = 'trustchain_idhub.wsgi.application'
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/ref/settings/#databases
 
 DATABASES = {
-    'default': {
-        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
-        'NAME': BASE_DIR / 'db.sqlite3',
-    }
+    # 'default': {
+    #     'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
+    #     'NAME': BASE_DIR / 'db.sqlite3',
+    # }
+    'default': config(
+        'DATABASE_URL',
+        default='sqlite:///' + os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
+        cast=db_url
+    )
     # 'default': config(
     #     'DATABASE_URL',
     #     default='sqlite:///' + os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),