diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 32a0c17..e05c6a1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -25,8 +25,12 @@ Coöp Cloud + [PHP](https://php.org) + MariaDB (optional) + Nginx = 🥳
 4. `abra app YOURAPPDOMAIN config` 
    - be sure to change `$DOMAIN` to something that resolves to
    your Docker swarm box
-   - if you need to enable the optional database, uncomment `COMPOSE_FILE="compose.yml:compose.mariadb.yml"`
-5. `abra app YOURAPPDOMAIN deploy`
+   - if you need to enable the optional database, uncomment `COMPOSE_FILE="compose.yml:compose.mariadb.yml"` in which case configure your site to load the DB credentials from env:
+      - `getenv('DB_NAME');`
+      - `getenv('DB_HOST');`
+      - `getenv('DB_USER');`
+      - `@file_get_contents(getenv('DB_PASSWORD_FILE'));`
+5. Deploy with `abra app YOURAPPDOMAIN deploy`
 6. Copy your site files using something like: `abra app YOURAPPDOMAIN cp index.html app:/var/www/html/` or if you want to copy an entire directory: `tar -cf - -C my_site/path/here . | abra app YOURAPPDOMAIN cp - app:/var/www/html/`
 6. Use [restore functionality](https://docs.coopcloud.tech/backup-restore/) to import a SQL file into the db
 6. Open the configured domain in your browser to check all is good