diff --git a/config/environment.rb b/config/environment.rb
index 7fe1dd82523..0af6391a727 100644
--- a/config/environment.rb
+++ b/config/environment.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 # Load the rails application
 require File.expand_path('application', __dir__)
 
+# https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/libpq-connect.html#LIBPQ-CONNSTRING
+ENV['DATABASE_URL'] ||= case Rails.env
+                       when 'production'
+                         'postgresql://'
+                       else
+                         "postgresql:///foreman-#{Rails.env}"
+                       end
+
 # Initialize the rails application
 Foreman::Application.initialize!
diff --git a/developer_docs/foreman_dev_setup.asciidoc b/developer_docs/foreman_dev_setup.asciidoc
index 503406fd311..bd877ec99a0 100644
--- a/developer_docs/foreman_dev_setup.asciidoc
+++ b/developer_docs/foreman_dev_setup.asciidoc
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ sudo -u postgres createuser --createdb $USER
 git clone https://github.com/{GITHUB_USER}/foreman.git -b develop
 cd foreman
 cp config/settings.yaml.example config/settings.yaml
-cp config/database.yml.example config/database.yml
 git remote add upstream git@github.com:theforeman/foreman.git
 ....
 
@@ -106,8 +105,6 @@ Foreman uses Bundler to install dependencies and get up and running. This is the
 
 [[Database]]
 == Setting the database
-It is important that config/database.yml is set to use the correct database in the “development” block.
-Rails (and subsequently Foreman) will use these connection settings under “development” to manage the database it uses and setup the necessary schema.
 
 Set up database schema:
 [source, ruby]
diff --git a/lib/tasks/backup.rake b/lib/tasks/backup.rake
index d2b0ef48ecc..0960c9a4642 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/backup.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/backup.rake
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ namespace :db do
     Make a dump of your database
 
     Foreman will make a dump of your database at the provided location, or it will put it in #{File.expand_path('../../db', __dir__)} if no destination file is provided.
-    A valid config/database.yml file with the database details is needed to perform this operation.
 
     Available conditions:
       * destination => path to dump output file (defaults to #{File.expand_path('../../db', __dir__)}/foreman.EPOCH.sql)
@@ -73,7 +72,6 @@ namespace :db do
     Import a database dump
 
     Foreman will import a database from the provided location.
-    A valid config/database.yml file with the database details is needed to perform this operation.
 
     Available conditions:
       * file => database dump file path