diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 2e8913641..3b65ec120 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -624,7 +624,10 @@
             export HYDRA_HOME="$(pwd)/src/"
             mkdir -p .hydra-data
             export HYDRA_DATA="$(pwd)/.hydra-data"
-            export HYDRA_DBI='dbi:Pg:dbname=hydra;host=localhost;port=64444'
+            export LOGNAME="hydra-dev"
+            export PGPORT=64444
+            export PGHOST="localhost"
+            export HYDRA_DBI="dbi:Pg:dbname=hydra;host=$PGHOST;port=$PGPORT"
 
             popd >/dev/null
           '';
diff --git a/foreman/start-hydra.sh b/foreman/start-hydra.sh
index bb8cc9095..37bd1a7aa 100755
--- a/foreman/start-hydra.sh
+++ b/foreman/start-hydra.sh
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 # wait for postgresql to listen
-while ! pg_isready -h $(pwd)/.hydra-data/postgres -p 64444; do sleep 1; done
+while ! pg_isready ; do sleep 1; done
 
-createdb -h $(pwd)/.hydra-data/postgres -p 64444 hydra
+createdb hydra
 
 # create a db for the default user. Not sure why, but
 # the terminal is otherwise spammed with:
 #
 #     FATAL:  database "USERNAME" does not exist
-createdb -h $(pwd)/.hydra-data/postgres -p 64444 "$(whoami)" || true
+createdb "$(whoami)" || true
 
 hydra-init
 hydra-create-user alice --password foobar --role admin
diff --git a/foreman/start-postgres.sh b/foreman/start-postgres.sh
index c3fd7669e..630429ae2 100755
--- a/foreman/start-postgres.sh
+++ b/foreman/start-postgres.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 initdb ./.hydra-data/postgres
-exec postgres -D ./.hydra-data/postgres -k $(pwd)/.hydra-data/postgres -p 64444
+exec postgres -D ./.hydra-data/postgres -k $(pwd)/.hydra-data/postgres -p ${PGPORT}