diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index ca863cea..665f8701 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Run `make setup-dev-env` to install local developer tools and run necessary
 services, such as mongodb, for the end-to-end tests.
 
 ## Unit Tests
-Run `make test-unit` to run the unit tests.
+For further details see [DEVELOPMENT.md](DEVELOPMENT.md#L84)
 
 ## End-to-End Tests
 End-to-End tests (e2e) are tests from the user perspective that validate that
diff --git a/DEVELOPMENT.md b/DEVELOPMENT.md
index 6a4d82b5..d08bfcc8 100644
--- a/DEVELOPMENT.md
+++ b/DEVELOPMENT.md
@@ -80,3 +80,24 @@ Starting application at 127.0.0.1:3000
 
 And you'll be up and running. As you edit and save code, the `buffalo dev` command will notice and automatically
 re-compile and restart the server.
+
+# Run unit tests
+
+In order to run unit tests, services they depend on must be running first:
+
+```console
+make alldeps
+```
+
+and database created:
+
+```console
+buffalo db create
+buffalo db migrate up
+```
+
+then you can run the unit tests:
+
+```console
+make test-unit
+```
diff --git a/cmd/proxy/.env b/cmd/proxy/.env
index 8e7b14f7..22ebef05 100644
--- a/cmd/proxy/.env
+++ b/cmd/proxy/.env
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 ATHENS_MONGO_STORAGE_URL=mongodb://127.0.0.1:27017
+GO_ENV=test_postgres
+POP_PATH=$PWD/cmd/proxy
diff --git a/scripts/test_unit.sh b/scripts/test_unit.sh
index 6f9a21cd..e9c86e72 100755
--- a/scripts/test_unit.sh
+++ b/scripts/test_unit.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 # test_unit.sh
+
+source cmd/proxy/.env
+
 # Run the unit tests with the race detector and code coverage enabled
 set -xeuo pipefail
-
 go test -race -coverprofile cover.out -covermode atomic ./...