diff --git a/.github/workflows/code-quality.yaml b/.github/workflows/code-quality.yaml
index 1b015f1..08ea655 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/code-quality.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/code-quality.yaml
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@ on:
 permissions:
   contents: read
 
-env:
-  DATABASE_URL: ${{ vars.DATABASE_URL }}
-  OIDC_CONFIG_URL: ${{ vars.OIDC_CONFIG_URL }}
-
 jobs:
   build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e21c0d4..3d77d2f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -7,6 +7,5 @@ COPY . .
 RUN pip install .
 
 COPY ./app /code/app
-COPY ./.env /code/.env
 
 CMD ["uvicorn", "app.main:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "5000"]
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e051ed3..3f21a87 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -44,10 +44,10 @@ pip install .
 pip install -e ".[dev]"
 ```
 
-4. To prepare your environment, add a file called `.env` to the `comet-api` directory. Copy and paste the template below and replace the placeholder values with your own:
+4. To override default environment variables, add a file called `.env` to the `comet-api` directory and update as needed (optional):
 
 ```
-DATABASE_URL=[SOME_URL] # Ex: 'sqlite:///./db.sqlite3'
+DATABASE_URL=[SOME_URL] # Ex: 'postgresql://username:password@localhost:5432/database_name'
 OIDC_CONFIG_URL=[SOME_URL] # Ex: 'https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com/.well-known/openid-configuration'
 ```
 
diff --git a/app/config.py b/app/config.py
index 6e44c9d..d5f69ed 100644
--- a/app/config.py
+++ b/app/config.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 class Settings(BaseSettings):
     model_config = SettingsConfigDict(env_file=".env")
 
-    DATABASE_URL: str
-    OIDC_CONFIG_URL: str
+    DATABASE_URL: str = "sqlite:///./db.sqlite3"
+    OIDC_CONFIG_URL: str | None = None
 
 
 settings = Settings()