diff --git a/src/app_config.rs b/src/app_config.rs
index 5be0179c..9841c0c2 100644
--- a/src/app_config.rs
+++ b/src/app_config.rs
@@ -45,6 +45,10 @@ impl AppConfig {
         if let Some(config_dir) = &cli.config_dir {
             config.configuration_directory.clone_from(config_dir);
         }
+
+        config.configuration_directory = cli.config_dir.clone().unwrap_or(PathBuf::from("./sqlpage"));
+        config.database_url = default_database_url(&config.configuration_directory);
+
         config.validate()?;
         Ok(config)
     }
@@ -104,7 +108,7 @@ pub fn load_from_env() -> anyhow::Result<AppConfig> {
 
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize, PartialEq, Clone)]
 pub struct AppConfig {
-    #[serde(default = "default_database_url")]
+    #[serde(default)]
     pub database_url: String,
     pub max_database_pool_connections: Option<u32>,
     pub database_connection_idle_timeout_seconds: Option<f64>,
@@ -332,7 +336,7 @@ fn parse_socket_addr(host_str: &str) -> anyhow::Result<SocketAddr> {
         .with_context(|| format!("host '{host_str}' does not resolve to an IP"))
 }
 
-fn default_database_url() -> String {
+fn default_database_url(configuration_directory: &PathBuf) -> String {
     let prefix = "sqlite://".to_owned();
 
     if cfg!(test) {
@@ -341,7 +345,7 @@ fn default_database_url() -> String {
 
     #[cfg(not(feature = "lambda-web"))]
     {
-        let config_dir = cannonicalize_if_possible(&configuration_directory());
+        let config_dir = cannonicalize_if_possible(configuration_directory.as_path());
         let old_default_db_path = PathBuf::from(DEFAULT_DATABASE_FILE);
         let default_db_path = config_dir.join(DEFAULT_DATABASE_FILE);
         if let Ok(true) = old_default_db_path.try_exists() {