diff --git a/docs/developing-locally.rst b/docs/developing-locally.rst
index 16247d082e..cdc2d9220d 100644
--- a/docs/developing-locally.rst
+++ b/docs/developing-locally.rst
@@ -55,7 +55,9 @@ First things first.
 
 #. Set the environment variables for your database(s): ::
 
-    $ export DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:<password>@127.0.0.1:5432/<DB name given to createdb>
+    $ export POSTGRES_USER=
+    $ export POSTGRES_PASSWORD=
+    $ export POSTGRES_DB=<DB name given to createdb>
     # Optional: set broker URL if using Celery
     $ export CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://localhost:6379/0
 
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.drone.yml b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.drone.yml
index d6c13e62bf..aea70aafb4 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.drone.yml
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.drone.yml
@@ -28,8 +28,6 @@ steps:
   pull: if-not-exists
   {%- if cookiecutter.use_docker == 'y' %}
   image: docker:25.0
-  environment:
-    DATABASE_URL: pgsql://$POSTGRES_USER:$POSTGRES_PASSWORD@postgres/$POSTGRES_DB
   commands:
   - docker-compose -f docker-compose.local.yml build
   - docker-compose -f docker-compose.docs.yml build
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 0d8ed0cada..982a990cf0 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -60,7 +60,11 @@ jobs:
       CELERY_BROKER_URL: 'redis://localhost:6379/0'
       {%- endif %}
       # postgres://user:password@host:port/database
-      DATABASE_URL: 'postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres'
+      POSTGRES_USER: 'postgres'
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: 'postgres'
+      POSTGRES_DB: 'postgres'
+      POSTGRES_HOST: 'postgres'
+
     {%- endif %}
 
     steps:
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 71216bc7a2..7f41459962 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -42,8 +42,6 @@ pytest:
   image: python:3.12
   services:
     - postgres:{{ cookiecutter.postgresql_version }}
-  variables:
-    DATABASE_URL: pgsql://$POSTGRES_USER:$POSTGRES_PASSWORD@postgres/$POSTGRES_DB
   before_script:
     - pip install -r requirements/local.txt
   script:
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile
index 3e0859c247..e203cfeb38 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/Dockerfile
@@ -121,8 +121,7 @@ RUN chown -R django:django ${APP_HOME}
 
 USER django
 
-RUN DATABASE_URL="" \
-  {%- if cookiecutter.use_celery == "y" %}
+RUN {%- if cookiecutter.use_celery == "y" %}
   CELERY_BROKER_URL="" \
   {%- endif %}
   DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE="config.settings.test" \
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/entrypoint b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/entrypoint
index dd07f2d2a6..1b309baeb4 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/entrypoint
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/compose/production/django/entrypoint
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ if [ -z "${POSTGRES_USER}" ]; then
     base_postgres_image_default_user='postgres'
     export POSTGRES_USER="${base_postgres_image_default_user}"
 fi
-export DATABASE_URL="postgres://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@${POSTGRES_HOST}:${POSTGRES_PORT}/${POSTGRES_DB}"
 
 python << END
 import sys
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py
index f1039b7484..a294d2f34d 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/config/settings/base.py
@@ -45,16 +45,21 @@
 # DATABASES
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/settings/#databases
-{% if cookiecutter.use_docker == "y" -%}
-DATABASES = {"default": env.db("DATABASE_URL")}
-{%- else %}
-DATABASES = {
-    "default": env.db(
-        "DATABASE_URL",
-        default="postgres://{% if cookiecutter.windows == 'y' %}localhost{% endif %}/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}",
-    ),
-}
-{%- endif %}
+
+if db_url := env.db("DATABASE_URL", default=None):
+    DATABASES = {"default": db_url}
+else:
+    DATABASES = {
+            "default": {
+                "ENGINE": "django.db.backends.postgresql",
+                "NAME": env.str("POSTGRES_DB"),
+                "USER": env.str("POSTGRES_USER"),
+                "PASSWORD": env.str("POSTGRES_PASSWORD"),
+                "HOST": env.str("POSTGRES_HOST", default="{% if cookiecutter.windows == 'y' or cookiecutter.use_docker == 'n' %}localhost{%else%}postgres{% endif %}"),
+                "PORT": env.str("POSTGRES_PORT", default="5432"),
+            },
+    }
+
 DATABASES["default"]["ATOMIC_REQUESTS"] = True
 # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/stable/ref/settings/#std:setting-DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD
 DEFAULT_AUTO_FIELD = "django.db.models.BigAutoField"