diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 6fb15d0..d1b3da9 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@ OPENPROJECT_HOST__NAME=localhost
 PORT=127.0.0.1:8080
 OPENPROJECT_RAILS__RELATIVE__URL__ROOT=
 IMAP_ENABLED=false
-DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:p4ssw0rd@db/openproject?pool=20&encoding=unicode&reconnect=true
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD=p4ssw0rd
+DATABASE_URL="postgres://postgres:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@db/openproject?pool=20&encoding=unicode&reconnect=true"
 RAILS_MIN_THREADS=4
 RAILS_MAX_THREADS=16
 PGDATA="/var/lib/postgresql/data"