diff --git a/gh-actions/start.sh b/gh-actions/start.sh
index 7bd37e1..1425934 100755
--- a/gh-actions/start.sh
+++ b/gh-actions/start.sh
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ if [ ! -d "$folder" ] ; then
           context: ../../../../
         ports:
             - 8082:8080
-        environment: 
+        environment:
             TEUTHOLOGY_API_SERVER_HOST: 0.0.0.0
             TEUTHOLOGY_API_SERVER_PORT: 8080
+            TEUTHOLOGY_API_SQLITE_URI: sqlite:////teuthology_api/teuthology.db
         depends_on:
             - teuthology
             - paddles
diff --git a/start_container.sh b/start_container.sh
index 7f6af77..6628cf0 100755
--- a/start_container.sh
+++ b/start_container.sh
@@ -7,10 +7,10 @@ PORT=${TEUTHOLOGY_API_SERVER_PORT:-"8082"}
 VENV=${VENV:-"venv"}
 
 source ${VENV}/bin/activate
-cd /teuthology_api/src/
-
 alembic -x verbose=1 upgrade head
 
+cd /teuthology_api/src/
+
 if [ "$DEPLOYMENT" = "development" ]; then
   uvicorn teuthology_api.main:app --reload --port $PORT --host $HOST
 else