diff --git a/src/database.rs b/src/database.rs
index a90de44..ca05c46 100644
--- a/src/database.rs
+++ b/src/database.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use cfg_if::cfg_if;
+use leptos::logging::log;
 
 cfg_if! {
 if #[cfg(feature = "ssr")] {
@@ -25,12 +26,59 @@ lazy_static! {
 
 /// Initialize the database pool
 ///
-/// Will panic if the DATABASE_URL environment variable is not set, or if there is an error creating the pool.
+/// Uses DATABASE_URL environment variable to connect to the database if set,
+/// otherwise builds a connection string from other environment variables.
+/// 
+/// Will panic if either the DATABASE_URL or POSTGRES_HOST environment variables
+/// are not set, or if there is an error creating the pool.
 ///
 /// # Returns
 /// A database pool object, which can be used to get pooled connections
 fn init_db_pool() -> PgPool {
-    let database_url = env::var("DATABASE_URL").expect("DATABASE_URL must be set");
+    let database_url = env::var("DATABASE_URL").unwrap_or_else(|_| {
+        // Build the database URL from environment variables
+        // Construct a separate log_url to avoid logging the password
+        let mut log_url = "postgres://".to_string();
+        let mut url = "postgres://".to_string();
+
+        if let Ok(user) = env::var("POSTGRES_USER") {
+            url.push_str(&user);
+            log_url.push_str(&user);
+
+            if let Ok(password) = env::var("POSTGRES_PASSWORD") {
+                url.push_str(":");
+                log_url.push_str(":");
+                url.push_str(&password);
+                log_url.push_str("********");
+            }
+
+            url.push_str("@");
+            log_url.push_str("@");
+        }
+
+        let host = env::var("POSTGRES_HOST").expect("DATABASE_URL or POSTGRES_HOST must be set");
+
+        url.push_str(&host);
+        log_url.push_str(&host);
+
+        if let Ok(port) = env::var("POSTGRES_PORT") {
+            url.push_str(":");
+            url.push_str(&port);
+            log_url.push_str(":");
+            log_url.push_str(&port);
+        }
+
+        if let Ok(dbname) = env::var("POSTGRES_DB") {
+            url.push_str("/");
+            url.push_str(&dbname);
+            log_url.push_str("/");
+            log_url.push_str(&dbname);
+        }
+
+        log!("Connecting to database: {}", log_url);
+        url
+    });
+
     let manager = ConnectionManager::<PgConnection>::new(database_url);
     PgPool::builder()
         .build(manager)