diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 39e9ffb..93ff3b8 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ jobs:
           PGUSER: pgx
           PGDATABASE: pgx-test
           PGHOST: 127.0.0.1
+          PGX_FORCE_TESTS: true
           TERM: xterm
       - image: circleci/postgres:9.6-alpine
         environment:
diff --git a/pgx_test/src/pgx_test.ml b/pgx_test/src/pgx_test.ml
index 774d89a..4a4c04d 100644
--- a/pgx_test/src/pgx_test.ml
+++ b/pgx_test/src/pgx_test.ml
@@ -17,6 +17,12 @@ module Make_tests (IO : Pgx.IO) = struct
 
   type async_test = unit -> unit IO.t
 
+  let force_tests =
+    try
+      Unix.getenv "PGX_FORCE_TESTS" |> ignore;
+      true
+    with Not_found -> false
+
   let set_to_default_db () =
     Unix.putenv "PGDATABASE" default_database
 
@@ -36,7 +42,7 @@ module Make_tests (IO : Pgx.IO) = struct
       with_conn ?database (fun _ ->
         return ()))
     >>= function
-    | Error (Unix.Unix_error (Unix.ENOENT, _, _)) ->
+    | Error (Unix.Unix_error (Unix.ENOENT, _, _)) when not force_tests ->
       OUnit2.skip_if true "Could not connect to a PostgreSQL server";
       assert false
     | Error exn ->