diff --git a/.github/workflows/checks.yml b/.github/workflows/checks.yml
index 4bab5d232..f298c129e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/checks.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/checks.yml
@@ -23,13 +23,20 @@ jobs:
           --health-retries 5
 
     steps:
+    - name: Install container dependencies
+      run: |
+        sudo apt-get update \
+        && sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+        libcurl4-openssl-dev
     - uses: actions/checkout@v3
     - name: Set up Python 3.9
       uses: actions/setup-python@v3
       with:
         python-version: "3.9"
-    - name: Install dependencies
+    - name: Install application dependencies
       run: make bootstrap
+      env:
+        SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_TEST_URI: postgresql://postgres:password@db:5432/test_notification_api
     # - name: Run style checks
     #   run: flake8 .
     # - name: Check imports alphabetized