diff --git a/app/server/tests/test_config.py b/app/server/tests/test_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f1bcfd84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/server/tests/test_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+from contextlib import contextmanager
+from importlib import reload
+from os import environ
+
+from django.test import TestCase
+
+from app import settings
+
+
+class TestDatabaseUrl(TestCase):
+    def test_sslmode_defaults_to_required(self):
+        with setenv('DATABASE_URL', 'pgsql://u:p@h/d'):
+            self._assert_sslmode_is('require')
+
+    def test_sslmode_not_set_for_sqlite(self):
+        with setenv('DATABASE_URL', 'sqlite:///some/path'):
+            self._assert_sslmode_is(None)
+
+    def test_sslmode_can_be_set_via_database_url(self):
+        with setenv('DATABASE_URL', 'pgsql://u:p@h/d?sslmode=disabled'), \
+             setenv('IS_HEROKU', 'False'):
+            self._assert_sslmode_is('disabled')
+
+    def _assert_sslmode_is(self, expected):
+        reload(settings)
+        actual = settings.DATABASES['default'].get('OPTIONS', {}).get('sslmode')
+        self.assertEqual(actual, expected)
+
+
+@contextmanager
+def setenv(key, value):
+    environ[key] = value
+    yield
+    del environ[key]
+