diff --git a/.env b/.env
index 1f8e41b185..e16784221f 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -14,7 +14,5 @@ SMTP_TLS=False
 SMTP_PORT=1025
 
 # Postgres
-POSTGRES_SERVER=localhost
-POSTGRES_DB=app
-POSTGRES_USER=postgres
 POSTGRES_PASSWORD=changethis
+DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@localhost:5432/app
diff --git a/backend/app/alembic/env.py b/backend/app/alembic/env.py
index fb993cf48c..919eebf5de 100755
--- a/backend/app/alembic/env.py
+++ b/backend/app/alembic/env.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
 
 def get_url():
-    return str(settings.SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI)
+    return str(settings.DATABASE_URL)
 
 
 def run_migrations_offline():
diff --git a/backend/app/core/config.py b/backend/app/core/config.py
index 75c9fae271..1f3c2873c2 100644
--- a/backend/app/core/config.py
+++ b/backend/app/core/config.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
     HttpUrl,
     PostgresDsn,
     computed_field,
+    field_validator,
     model_validator,
 )
 from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
@@ -27,23 +28,16 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
 
     PROJECT_NAME: str
     SENTRY_DSN: HttpUrl | None = None
-    POSTGRES_SERVER: str
-    POSTGRES_PORT: int = 5432
-    POSTGRES_USER: str
-    POSTGRES_PASSWORD: str = ""
-    POSTGRES_DB: str = ""
+    DATABASE_URL: PostgresDsn
 
-    @computed_field  # type: ignore[prop-decorator]
-    @property
-    def SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI(self) -> PostgresDsn:
-        return PostgresDsn.build(
-            scheme="postgresql+psycopg",
-            username=self.POSTGRES_USER,
-            password=self.POSTGRES_PASSWORD,
-            host=self.POSTGRES_SERVER,
-            port=self.POSTGRES_PORT,
-            path=self.POSTGRES_DB,
-        )
+    @field_validator("DATABASE_URL", mode="before")
+    @classmethod
+    def _use_psycopg_driver(cls, value: str | PostgresDsn) -> str:
+        database_url = str(value)
+        for scheme in ("postgres://", "postgresql://"):
+            if database_url.startswith(scheme):
+                return database_url.replace(scheme, "postgresql+psycopg://", 1)
+        return database_url
 
     SMTP_TLS: bool = True
     SMTP_SSL: bool = False
@@ -85,7 +79,8 @@ def _check_default_secret(self, var_name: str, value: str | None) -> None:
     @model_validator(mode="after")
     def _enforce_non_default_secrets(self) -> Self:
         self._check_default_secret("SECRET_KEY", self.SECRET_KEY)
-        self._check_default_secret("POSTGRES_PASSWORD", self.POSTGRES_PASSWORD)
+        for host in self.DATABASE_URL.hosts():
+            self._check_default_secret("DATABASE_URL password", host["password"])
         self._check_default_secret(
             "FIRST_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD", self.FIRST_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD
         )
diff --git a/backend/app/core/db.py b/backend/app/core/db.py
index ba991fb36d..f19ac0d3bf 100644
--- a/backend/app/core/db.py
+++ b/backend/app/core/db.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 from app.core.config import settings
 from app.models import User, UserCreate
 
-engine = create_engine(str(settings.SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI))
+engine = create_engine(str(settings.DATABASE_URL))
 
 
 # make sure all SQLModel models are imported (app.models) before initializing DB
diff --git a/compose.yml b/compose.yml
index b785dd9675..dd549712e7 100644
--- a/compose.yml
+++ b/compose.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ services:
   db:
     image: postgres:18
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U ${POSTGRES_USER} -d ${POSTGRES_DB}"]
+      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U postgres -d app"]
       interval: 10s
       retries: 5
       start_period: 30s
@@ -29,8 +29,7 @@ services:
       - app-db-data:/var/lib/postgresql
     environment:
       - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?Variable not set}
-      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER:?Variable not set}
-      - POSTGRES_DB=${POSTGRES_DB:?Variable not set}
+      - POSTGRES_DB=app
 
   adminer:
     image: adminer
@@ -62,10 +61,7 @@ services:
       SMTP_USER: ${SMTP_USER:-}
       SMTP_PASSWORD: ${SMTP_PASSWORD:-}
       EMAILS_FROM_EMAIL: ${EMAILS_FROM_EMAIL}
-      POSTGRES_SERVER: db
-      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:?Variable not set}
-      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:?Variable not set}
-      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?Variable not set}
+      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://postgres:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:?Variable not set}@db:5432/app
       SENTRY_DSN: ${SENTRY_DSN:-}
 
     healthcheck:
diff --git a/deployment.md b/deployment.md
index 83be48adc0..331ccbac17 100644
--- a/deployment.md
+++ b/deployment.md
@@ -80,8 +80,6 @@ You can set several other environment variables:
 * `SMTP_USER`: The SMTP server user to send emails.
 * `SMTP_PASSWORD`: The SMTP server password to send emails.
 * `EMAILS_FROM_EMAIL`: The email account to send emails from.
-* `POSTGRES_USER`: The Postgres user, you can leave the default.
-* `POSTGRES_DB`: The database name to use for this application. You can leave the default of `app`.
 * `SENTRY_DSN`: The DSN for Sentry, if you are using it.
 
 ## GitHub Actions Environment Variables