diff --git a/steering/settings.py b/steering/settings.py
index 1400a1da08defda29ad4a2e409ce5272901d53cb..d03ea66890037b2b39d61726a6c99177fe3054bf 100644
--- a/steering/settings.py
+++ b/steering/settings.py
@@ -41,26 +41,17 @@ CORS_ALLOW_HEADERS = list(default_headers) + [
     "content-disposition",
 ]
 
-# if we are in a virtual environment, we use SQLite and enable debug
-if os.getenv("VIRTUAL_ENV"):
-    DEBUG = True
-    DATABASES = {
-        "default": {
-            "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.sqlite3",
-            "NAME": BASE_DIR / "db.sqlite3",
-        }
-    }
-else:
-    DATABASES = {
-        "default": {
-            "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql",
-            "NAME": os.getenv("POSTGRES_DB", default="steering"),
-            "USER": os.getenv("POSTGRES_USER", default="steering"),
-            "PASSWORD": os.getenv("POSTGRES_PASSWORD", default="aura"),
-            "HOST": os.getenv("POSTGRES_HOST", default="steering-postgres"),
-            "PORT": os.getenv("POSTGRES_PORT", default="5432"),
-        },
-    }
+# ENGINE is 'sqlite3' by default and NAME is 'db.sqlite3' by default
+DATABASES = {
+    "default": {
+        "ENGINE": f"django.db.backends.{os.getenv('DATABASE_ENGINE', default='sqlite3')}",
+        "NAME": os.getenv("POSTGRES_DB", default=BASE_DIR / "db.sqlite3"),
+        "USER": os.getenv("POSTGRES_USER", default="steering"),
+        "PASSWORD": os.getenv("POSTGRES_PASSWORD", default="aura"),
+        "HOST": os.getenv("POSTGRES_HOST", default="steering-postgres"),
+        "PORT": os.getenv("POSTGRES_PORT", default="5432"),
+    },
+}
 
 CACHE_BACKEND = "locmem://"