diff --git a/app.json b/app.json
index a65ae0b1..37164c50 100644
--- a/app.json
+++ b/app.json
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
     "CLOUDINARY_URL": {
       "required": true
     },
-    "DATABASE_URL": "WILL_NOT_BE_USED",
+    "DATABASE_URL": {
+      "required": true
+    },
     "DEPLOY_TASKS": "db:cleardb_env",
     "LANG": {
       "required": true
diff --git a/config/database.yml.heroku b/config/database.yml.heroku
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f0886077
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/database.yml.heroku
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+production:
+  url: <%= ENV["CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL"].sub(/^mysql/, "mysql2") %>
diff --git a/lib/tasks/cleardb.rake b/lib/tasks/cleardb.rake
index 4534e7ef..ca2a32ae 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/cleardb.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/cleardb.rake
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 namespace :db do
-  desc 'setup DATABASE_URL from CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL in .env'
-  task cleardb_env: :environment do
+  desc 'setup DATABASE_URL from CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL in config/database.yml'
+  task 'cleardb_env' do
     unless ENV['CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL'].nil?
-      cleardb_url = ENV['CLEARDB_DATABASE_URL'].gsub(/^mysql:\/\//, 'mysql2://')
-      dot_env = File.open(Rails.root.join(".env"), 'w')
-      dot_env.puts "DATABASE_URL=\"#{cleardb_url}\""
-      dot_env.close
+      FileUtils.copy_file('config/database.yml.heroku', 'config/database.yml')
     end
   end
 end