diff --git a/deploy.sh b/deploy.sh
index 9d71ac3d..5b4888a9 100755
--- a/deploy.sh
+++ b/deploy.sh
@@ -264,6 +264,7 @@ WorkingDirectory=$INSTALL_DIR
 EnvironmentFile=$ENV_FILE
 Environment="RUST_LOG=info"
 Environment="LLM_PROXY__CONFIG_PATH=$CONFIG_DIR/config.toml"
+Environment="LLM_PROXY__DATABASE__PATH=$DATA_DIR/llm_proxy.db"
 ExecStart=$INSTALL_DIR/target/release/$APP_NAME
 Restart=on-failure
 RestartSec=5
diff --git a/src/config/mod.rs b/src/config/mod.rs
index 44e0151e..3f3b4078 100644
--- a/src/config/mod.rs
+++ b/src/config/mod.rs
@@ -139,11 +139,14 @@ impl AppConfig {
             .set_default("providers.ollama.models", Vec::<String>::new())?;
 
         // Load from config file if exists
-        let config_path = config_path.unwrap_or_else(|| {
-            std::env::current_dir()
-                .unwrap_or_else(|_| PathBuf::from("."))
-                .join("config.toml")
-        });
+        // Priority: explicit path arg > LLM_PROXY__CONFIG_PATH env var > ./config.toml
+        let config_path = config_path
+            .or_else(|| std::env::var("LLM_PROXY__CONFIG_PATH").ok().map(PathBuf::from))
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| {
+                std::env::current_dir()
+                    .unwrap_or_else(|_| PathBuf::from("."))
+                    .join("config.toml")
+            });
         if config_path.exists() {
             config_builder = config_builder.add_source(File::from(config_path.clone()).format(FileFormat::Toml));
         }