diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 024eb667ba69e7bed3260dd1bbb07eaba5376a26..0df268f835fb1c2f19aeb608dca9912b9e503106 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ coverage.xml
 dist
 htmlcov
 junit.xml
+api_database.db
diff --git a/geomagio/api/db/database.py b/geomagio/api/db/database.py
index 78c12bcd753c9ab5b15911cc9a90fd0d5b32fc59..bb7dfc86e97a7e2a528d1895c0825251c2a64bef 100644
--- a/geomagio/api/db/database.py
+++ b/geomagio/api/db/database.py
@@ -14,11 +14,7 @@ class Tables(str, Enum):
 
 
 database_url = os.getenv("DATABASE_URL", "sqlite:///./api_database.db")
-data_host = os.getenv("DATA_HOST")
+if database_url == "":
+    database_url = "sqlite:///./api_database.db"
 
-try:
-    engine = create_engine(database_url)
-except Exception as e:
-    print("error creating engine:", e)
-    if "mage" in data_host:
-        pass
+engine = create_engine(database_url)