diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 992ef5529a..6b12f4c40e 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@ DB_NAME=database_name
 DB_USER=database_user
 DB_PASSWORD=database_password
 
+# Or you can use a DSN (database source name) 
+# In this case you can leave empty variables DB_NAME, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_HOST 
+# DATABASE_URL=mysql://database_user:database_password@database_host:database_port/database_name
+
 # Optional variables
 # DB_HOST=localhost
 # DB_PREFIX=wp_
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6472445590..8bc0b56155 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -27,10 +27,12 @@ Much of the philosophy behind Bedrock is inspired by the [Twelve-Factor App](htt
     $ composer create-project roots/bedrock
     ```
 2. Update environment variables in the `.env` file:
-  * `DB_NAME` - Database name
-  * `DB_USER` - Database user
-  * `DB_PASSWORD` - Database password
-  * `DB_HOST` - Database host
+  * Database variables
+    * `DB_NAME` - Database name
+    * `DB_USER` - Database user
+    * `DB_PASSWORD` - Database password
+    * `DB_HOST` - Database host
+    * You can also use a variable `DATABASE_URL` instead of using all the database variables above, that contains a DSN (ex: `mysql://user:password@127.0.0.1:3306/db_name`)
   * `WP_ENV` - Set to environment (`development`, `staging`, `production`)
   * `WP_HOME` - Full URL to WordPress home (https://example.com)
   * `WP_SITEURL` - Full URL to WordPress including subdirectory (https://example.com/wp)
diff --git a/config/application.php b/config/application.php
index bb06227d15..a4144d7655 100644
--- a/config/application.php
+++ b/config/application.php
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@
 $dotenv = new Dotenv\Dotenv($root_dir);
 if (file_exists($root_dir . '/.env')) {
     $dotenv->load();
-    $dotenv->required(['DB_NAME', 'DB_USER', 'DB_PASSWORD', 'WP_HOME', 'WP_SITEURL']);
+    $dotenv->required(['WP_HOME', 'WP_SITEURL']);
+    if (!env('DATABASE_URL')) {
+        $dotenv->required(['DB_NAME', 'DB_USER', 'DB_PASSWORD']);
+    }
 }
 
 /**
@@ -60,6 +63,17 @@
 Config::define('DB_COLLATE', '');
 $table_prefix = env('DB_PREFIX') ?: 'wp_';
 
+if (env('DATABASE_URL')) {
+    $database_dsn = parse_url(env('DATABASE_URL'));
+    $db_name = substr($database_dsn['path'], 1);
+    $db_host = isset($database_dsn['port']) ? $database_dsn['host'] . ":" . $database_dsn['port'] : $database_dsn['host'];
+
+    Config::define('DB_NAME', $db_name);
+    Config::define('DB_USER', $database_dsn['user']);
+    Config::define('DB_PASSWORD', $database_dsn['pass'] ?? null);
+    Config::define('DB_HOST', $db_host);
+}
+
 /**
  * Authentication Unique Keys and Salts
  */