diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b96a292a2..ebf56145a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ test-with-docker: prepare-docker-build-image create-docker-test-db ## Run tests
 		--link "${DOCKER_CONTAINER_PREFIX}-db:postgres" \
 		-e UID=$(shell id -u) \
 		-e GID=$(shell id -g) \
-		-e TEST_DATABASE=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres/test_notification_api \
+		-e SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI=postgresql://postgres:postgres@postgres/test_notification_api \
 		-e GIT_COMMIT=${GIT_COMMIT} \
 		-e BUILD_NUMBER=${BUILD_NUMBER} \
 		-e BUILD_URL=${BUILD_URL} \
diff --git a/pytest.ini b/pytest.ini
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a76815501
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pytest.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+[pytest]
+testpaths = tests
+env =
+    D:SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI=postgresql://@localhost/test_notification_api
+    SECRET_KEY=secret-key
+    DANGEROUS_SALT=dangerous-salt
+    NOTIFY_ENVIRONMENT=test
+    ADMIN_CLIENT_SECRET=dev-notify-secret-key
+    ADMIN_BASE_URL=http://localhost:6012
+    FROM_NUMBER=from_number
+    MMG_URL=https://api.mmg.co.uk/json/api.php
+    MMG_API_KEY=mmg-secret-key
+    LOADTESTING_API_KEY=loadtesting
+    FIRETEXT_API_KEY=Firetext
+    STATSD_PREFIX=stats-prefix
+    NOTIFICATION_QUEUE_PREFIX=testing
+    REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0
+    FLASK_APP=application.py
+    FLASK_DEBUG=1
+    WERKZEUG_DEBUG_PIN=off
diff --git a/requirements_for_test.txt b/requirements_for_test.txt
index 71a8c290d..1e62201eb 100644
--- a/requirements_for_test.txt
+++ b/requirements_for_test.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 -r requirements.txt
 flake8==3.5.0
 pytest==3.4.0
+pytest-env==0.6.2
 pytest-mock==1.6.3
 pytest-cov==2.5.1
 pytest-xdist==1.22.0