diff --git a/settings.py b/settings.py
index c019bed1a9..105d64be9f 100644
--- a/settings.py
+++ b/settings.py
@@ -166,6 +166,15 @@ MAKO_TEMPLATES = {}
 
 LOGGING_ENV = "dev" # override this in different environments
 
+DATABASES = {
+    'default': {
+        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
+        'NAME': '../mitx.db',
+    }
+}
+
+SECRET_KEY = 'unsecure'
+
 # Default dev cache (i.e. no caching)
 CACHES = {
     'default': {