diff --git a/alembic.ini b/alembic.ini
index 90d1870..d4c3f46 100644
--- a/alembic.ini
+++ b/alembic.ini
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ version_path_separator = os  # Use os.pathsep. Default configuration used for ne
 # are written from script.py.mako
 # output_encoding = utf-8
 
-sqlalchemy.url = sqlite:////projects/simpletodoapplication-222fyi/app/storage/db/db.sqlite
+# This URL is overridden by the one from app.db.database in env.py
+sqlalchemy.url = driver://user:pass@localhost/dbname
 
 
 [post_write_hooks]
diff --git a/app/db/database.py b/app/db/database.py
index 1efbf98..9a259ed 100644
--- a/app/db/database.py
+++ b/app/db/database.py
@@ -4,10 +4,14 @@ from sqlalchemy import create_engine
 from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
 
-# Get base project directory - using current working directory approach which is more reliable for permissions
-PROJECT_DIR = Path.cwd()
+# Get base project directory - using current file location approach which is more reliable
+# Get the directory of this file
+CURRENT_FILE_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
 
-# Create database directory if it doesn't exist
+# Get project root (2 levels up from db directory)
+PROJECT_DIR = CURRENT_FILE_DIR.parent.parent
+
+# Create database directory in the project directory
 DB_DIR = PROJECT_DIR / "app" / "storage" / "db"
 # Ensure directory exists before accessing it
 os.makedirs(DB_DIR, exist_ok=True)