diff --git a/app/__init__.py b/app/__init__.py
index 0fe4f2824d6f8f15c6a8717bf36fa04b83af9f60..eb3dc791a7bab658e7648059abc20d9f070887f8 100644
--- a/app/__init__.py
+++ b/app/__init__.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
 from flask_login import LoginManager
 from flask_migrate import Migrate
 from flask_bootstrap import Bootstrap
+import os
 
 # local imports
 from config import app_config
@@ -13,9 +14,16 @@ db = SQLAlchemy()
 login_manager = LoginManager()
 
 def create_app(config_name):
-    app = Flask(__name__, instance_relative_config=True)
-    app.config.from_object(app_config[config_name])
-    app.config.from_pyfile('config.py')
+    if os.getenv('FLASK_ENV') == "production":
+        app = Flask(__name__)
+        app.config.update(
+            SECRET_KEY=os.getenv('SECRET_KEY'),
+            SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI=os.getenv('SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI')
+        )
+    else:
+        app = Flask(__name__, instance_relative_config=True)
+        app.config.from_object(app_config[config_name])
+        app.config.from_pyfile('config.py')
 
     db.init_app(app)
     login_manager.init_app(app)