diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 6fb15d0..e6cd430 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -17,7 +17,10 @@ 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_DB=openproject
+POSTGRES_USER=postgres
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD=p4ssw0rd
+DATABASE_URL="postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@db/${POSTGRES_DB}?pool=20&encoding=unicode&reconnect=true"
 RAILS_MIN_THREADS=4
 RAILS_MAX_THREADS=16
 PGDATA="/var/lib/postgresql/data"
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 5422e5d..5ac6e70 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -38,8 +38,9 @@ services:
     volumes:
       - "${PGDATA:-pgdata}:/var/lib/postgresql/data"
     environment:
+      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:-openproject}
+      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-postgres}
       POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-p4ssw0rd}
-      POSTGRES_DB: openproject
     networks:
       - backend