diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index 34ab84df92e12f5fe2e2514dbedceaf3f368bef3..afc32a253c7c9e2f51fafb0f396d07b698e31b75 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -18,3 +18,8 @@ services:
     image: postgres:latest
     ports:
       - "5433:5432"
+    volumes:
+      - db-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+
+volumes:
+  db-data:
diff --git a/web/Dockerfile b/web/Dockerfile
index 808297d822ece305d65ab7c7d3386750695b5fa4..492397b1681a3a3662308317478d3b9d4b968617 100644
--- a/web/Dockerfile
+++ b/web/Dockerfile
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ FROM python:3.7
 
 ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE 1
 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED 1
+ENV WEB_DOCKER 1
 
 WORKDIR /metagenedb
 
diff --git a/web/metagenedb/settings.py b/web/metagenedb/settings.py
index b914db1b06a1ec4df7b96832a1b254b9c7ed12c2..11eaf3d76cad99d65d7ec229ff330decdac70fb4 100644
--- a/web/metagenedb/settings.py
+++ b/web/metagenedb/settings.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ SECRET_KEY = '01^q5^z**8vfdd$u4&b0w!2thaj=3b93+i*v$&kwmz6&ix6x8)'
 DEBUG = True
 
 # This can be used to toggle between your local testing db (db.sqlite3) and the PostgreSQL backend:
-DOCKER = True
+DOCKER = os.environ.get('WEB_DOCKER', False)
 
 if DEBUG:
    # This value is not safe for production usage. Refer to the Django documentation for more information.
@@ -91,8 +91,11 @@ if DOCKER:
 else:
     DATABASES = {
         'default': {
-            'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
-            'NAME': os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'db.sqlite3'),
+            'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.postgresql',
+            'NAME': 'postgres',
+            'USER': 'postgres',
+            'HOST': 'localhost',
+            'PORT': 5433,
         }
     }