diff --git a/server/src/main/kotlin/dev/ulfrx/recipe/Database.kt b/server/src/main/kotlin/dev/ulfrx/recipe/Database.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7cde44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/main/kotlin/dev/ulfrx/recipe/Database.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+package dev.ulfrx.recipe
+
+import io.ktor.server.application.Application
+import org.flywaydb.core.Flyway
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory
+
+object Database {
+    private val log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Database::class.java)
+
+    fun migrate(app: Application) {
+        val url = app.environment.config.property("database.url").getString()
+        val user = app.environment.config.property("database.user").getString()
+        val password = app.environment.config.property("database.password").getString()
+
+        log.info("Connecting to {} as {} and running Flyway migrations", url, user)
+
+        runCatching {
+            Flyway.configure()
+                .dataSource(url, user, password)
+                .locations("classpath:db/migration")
+                .baselineOnMigrate(true)
+                .validateOnMigrate(true)
+                .cleanDisabled(true)
+                .load()
+                .migrate()
+        }.onFailure { ex ->
+            log.error("Flyway migration failed — cannot start server", ex)
+            throw IllegalStateException("Database unreachable or migration failed", ex)
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/server/src/main/resources/application.conf b/server/src/main/resources/application.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c82668d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/src/main/resources/application.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+ktor {
+    deployment {
+        port = 8080
+        port = ${?PORT}
+    }
+    application {
+        modules = [ dev.ulfrx.recipe.ApplicationKt.module ]
+    }
+}
+
+database {
+    url = "jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/recipe"
+    url = ${?DATABASE_URL}
+    user = "recipe"
+    user = ${?DATABASE_USER}
+    password = "recipe"
+    password = ${?DATABASE_PASSWORD}
+}
diff --git a/server/src/main/resources/db/migration/.gitkeep b/server/src/main/resources/db/migration/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29