diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-app.yml b/.github/workflows/python-app.yml
index 8d2f6a7..e7c2559 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-app.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-app.yml
@@ -9,13 +9,32 @@ on:
   pull_request:
     branches: ["main", "develop"]
 
-permissions:
-  contents: read
+env:
+  DB_NAME: db
+  DB_USER: user
+  DB_PASSWORD: postgres
+  DB_HOST: localhost
+  DB_PORT: 5432
 
 jobs:
   ci:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
+    services:
+      postgres:
+        image: postgres
+        env:
+          POSTGRES_DB: ${{ env.DB_NAME }}
+          POSTGRES_USER: ${{ env.DB_USER }}
+          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${{ env.DB_PASSWORD }}
+        options: >-
+          --health-cmd pg_isready
+          --health-interval 10s
+          --health-timeout 5s
+          --health-retries 5
+        ports:
+          - 5432:5432
+
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
@@ -38,4 +57,4 @@ jobs:
         run: poetry install --no-interaction --no-root
 
       - name: Run tests
-        run: make test
+        run: poetry run pytest -v .
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1b547b1..dd679c2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ lint:
 
 test:
 	rm test.db 2> /dev/null || true
-	poetry run pytest -sv .
+	DB_NAME="./test.db" poetry run pytest -sv .
 
 run: install
 	poetry run uvicorn src.main:app --host localhost --port 8000 --reload
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 00b29a0..8ff7643 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -682,6 +682,29 @@ files = [
 dev = ["pre-commit", "tox"]
 testing = ["pytest", "pytest-benchmark"]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "psycopg2"
+version = "2.9.9"
+description = "psycopg2 - Python-PostgreSQL Database Adapter"
+category = "main"
+optional = false
+python-versions = ">=3.7"
+files = [
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp310-cp310-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:38a8dcc6856f569068b47de286b472b7c473ac7977243593a288ebce0dc89516"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:426f9f29bde126913a20a96ff8ce7d73fd8a216cfb323b1f04da402d452853c3"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp311-cp311-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:ade01303ccf7ae12c356a5e10911c9e1c51136003a9a1d92f7aa9d010fb98372"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp311-cp311-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:121081ea2e76729acfb0673ff33755e8703d45e926e416cb59bae3a86c6a4981"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp312-cp312-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:d735786acc7dd25815e89cc4ad529a43af779db2e25aa7c626de864127e5a024"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:a7653d00b732afb6fc597e29c50ad28087dcb4fbfb28e86092277a559ae4e693"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp37-cp37m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:5e0d98cade4f0e0304d7d6f25bbfbc5bd186e07b38eac65379309c4ca3193efa"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:7e2dacf8b009a1c1e843b5213a87f7c544b2b042476ed7755be813eaf4e8347a"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:ff432630e510709564c01dafdbe996cb552e0b9f3f065eb89bdce5bd31fabf4c"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:bac58c024c9922c23550af2a581998624d6e02350f4ae9c5f0bc642c633a2d5e"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp39-cp39-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:c92811b2d4c9b6ea0285942b2e7cac98a59e166d59c588fe5cfe1eda58e72d59"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:de80739447af31525feddeb8effd640782cf5998e1a4e9192ebdf829717e3913"},
+    {file = "psycopg2-2.9.9.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:d1454bde93fb1e224166811694d600e746430c006fbb031ea06ecc2ea41bf156"},
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "pycodestyle"
 version = "2.11.1"
@@ -1443,4 +1466,4 @@ files = [
 [metadata]
 lock-version = "2.0"
 python-versions = "^3.11"
-content-hash = "2395519ececf3b1e8caf106ec9023236387dfcacf2c40f35fa7e298ba78831d7"
+content-hash = "9f4090d04340fc40cdf14a5c1c6b3875f792b19a57d2e2c3ac6098b17d11affa"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 146a61e..e541fb8 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ fastapi = "^0.111.0"
 sqlalchemy = "^2.0.30"
 uvicorn = "^0.29.0"
 flake8 = "^7.0.0"
+psycopg2 = "^2.9.9"
 
 
 [tool.poetry.group.dev.dependencies]
diff --git a/src/database.py b/src/database.py
index 7f23f0c..77c324c 100644
--- a/src/database.py
+++ b/src/database.py
@@ -1,12 +1,33 @@
-from sqlalchemy import create_engine
+from logging import info
+import os
+from sqlalchemy import create_engine, URL
 from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeBase, sessionmaker
 
-SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///./sql_app.db"
-# SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL = "postgresql://user:password@postgresserver/db"
 
-engine = create_engine(
-    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL, connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
-)
+DB_NAME = os.environ.get("DB_NAME", "./sql_app.db")
+DB_USER = os.environ.get("DB_USER")
+DB_PASS = os.environ.get("DB_PASSWORD")
+
+# set automatically by kubernetes
+# resolves to postgres service's host/port
+DB_HOST = os.environ.get("DB_HOST")
+DB_PORT = os.environ.get("DB_PORT")
+
+
+SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL = f"sqlite:///{DB_NAME}"
+
+if DB_HOST is not None:
+    info("Using PostgreSQL database")
+    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL = URL.create(
+        "postgresql",
+        username=DB_USER,
+        password=DB_PASS,
+        host=DB_HOST,
+        port=DB_PORT,
+        database=DB_NAME,
+    )
+
+engine = create_engine(SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL)
 SessionLocal = sessionmaker(autocommit=False, autoflush=False, bind=engine)
 
 
diff --git a/src/test_main.py b/src/test_main.py
index 14ce946..ea114b9 100644
--- a/src/test_main.py
+++ b/src/test_main.py
@@ -6,17 +6,11 @@
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
 from sqlalchemy.pool import StaticPool
 
-from .database import Base
+from .database import Base, SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL
 from .main import app, get_db
 
 
-SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL = "sqlite:///./test.db"
-
-engine = create_engine(
-    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL,
-    connect_args={"check_same_thread": False},
-    poolclass=StaticPool,
-)
+engine = create_engine(SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL, poolclass=StaticPool)
 TestingSessionLocal = sessionmaker(autocommit=False, autoflush=False, bind=engine)