diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index e5ef07f464a1ade71ba3bc69137e97b519add62e..7983595abb83961fe7e6694b753357d9cd9c929c 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,10 +1,20 @@
 language: node_js
- 
+
 before_install:
  - sudo apt-get install libgmp3-dev
+ - "mysql -e 'create database browserid;'"
 
 node_js:
  - 0.6
 
 notifications:
   irc: "irc.mozilla.org#identity"
+
+env:
+ - MYSQL_USER=root
+
+mysql:
+  adapter: mysql2
+  username: root
+  encoding: utf8
+  database: browserid
diff --git a/lib/configuration.js b/lib/configuration.js
index 78eead9e9a37dfb31eff37c96b9fdc452f775e46..f256a334c879d2039c551962cae84fdbae0efada 100644
--- a/lib/configuration.js
+++ b/lib/configuration.js
@@ -76,7 +76,10 @@ var conf = module.exports = convict({
   },
   database: {
     driver: 'string ["json", "mysql"] = "json"',
-    user: 'string?',
+    user: {
+      format: 'string?',
+      env: 'MYSQL_USER'
+    },
     create_schema: 'boolean = true',
     may_write: 'boolean = true',
     name: {