diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 80bd864cc..d01888d84 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -27,4 +27,5 @@ Gaia can be configured using :
 ### environment variables
 
 * `DOCKER_DAEMON_URL` / `gaia.dockerDaemonUrl` (default `unix:///var/run/docker.sock`) : configure docker daemon url for Gaia runner
-* `EXTERNAL_URL` / `gaia.externalUrl` (default `http://localhost:8080`) : configure Gaia url for embedded terraform backend support
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+* `EXTERNAL_URL` / `gaia.externalUrl` (default `http://localhost:8080`) : configure Gaia url for embedded terraform backend support
+* `MONGODB_URI`  / `gaia.mongodb.uri` (default `mongodb://localhost/gaia`) : configure Gaia database access
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diff --git a/src/main/resources/application.properties b/src/main/resources/application.properties
index 8034f60c4..79ef8a4ef 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -2,4 +2,8 @@ logging.level.org.springframework.web=TRACE
 
 spring.data.rest.basePath=/api
 
-management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=*
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+management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=*
+
+spring.data.mongodb.uri=${gaia.mongodb.uri}
+
+gaia.mongodb.uri=mongodb://localhost/gaia
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