diff --git a/cmd/flags.go b/cmd/flags.go
index 19c3976bd..6a795d9bc 100644
--- a/cmd/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/flags.go
@@ -40,14 +40,22 @@ const (
 	flagDelay  = "delay"
 )
 
-func bind(cmd *cobra.Command, flag string) {
-	if err := viper.BindPFlag(flag, cmd.Flags().Lookup(flag)); err != nil {
+func bind(cmd *cobra.Command, key string, flagName ...string) {
+	name := key
+	if len(flagName) == 1 {
+		name = flagName[0]
+	}
+	if err := viper.BindPFlag(key, cmd.Flags().Lookup(name)); err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
 }
 
-func bindP(cmd *cobra.Command, flag string) {
-	if err := viper.BindPFlag(flag, cmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup(flag)); err != nil {
+func bindP(cmd *cobra.Command, key string, flagName ...string) {
+	name := key
+	if len(flagName) == 1 {
+		name = flagName[0]
+	}
+	if err := viper.BindPFlag(key, cmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup(name)); err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 80c862026..cfac66af1 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -56,9 +56,10 @@ func init() {
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().Bool(flagHeaders, false, flagHeadersDescription)
 
-	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().String(flagSqlite, "", flagSqliteDescription)
-
 	// config file options
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().String(flagSqlite, "", flagSqliteDescription)
+	bindP(rootCmd, "database.dsn", flagSqlite)
+
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringP("log", "l", "info", "Log level (fatal, error, warn, info, debug, trace)")
 	bindP(rootCmd, "log")
 
diff --git a/server/db/db.go b/server/db/db.go
index 539b5d752..bb404f4ab 100644
--- a/server/db/db.go
+++ b/server/db/db.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ var Instance *gorm.DB
 
 func New(driver, dsn string) (*gorm.DB, error) {
 	var dialect gorm.Dialector
+	log := util.NewLogger("db")
 
 	switch driver {
 	case "sqlite":
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ func New(driver, dsn string) (*gorm.DB, error) {
 		if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(file), os.ModePerm); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
+		log.INFO.Println("using sqlite database:", file)
 		// avoid busy errors
 		dialect = sqlite.Open(file + "?_pragma=busy_timeout(5000)")
 	// case "postgres":
@@ -37,7 +39,7 @@ func New(driver, dsn string) (*gorm.DB, error) {
 	}
 
 	return gorm.Open(dialect, &gorm.Config{
-		Logger: &Logger{util.NewLogger("db")},
+		Logger: &Logger{log},
 	})
 }