diff --git a/docker/with-external-db/docker-compose-with-db.yml b/docker/with-external-db/docker-compose-with-db.yml
index f5354a73..513d713c 100644
--- a/docker/with-external-db/docker-compose-with-db.yml
+++ b/docker/with-external-db/docker-compose-with-db.yml
@@ -48,9 +48,9 @@ services:
     user: postgres
     volumes:
       - ./pg-init-scripts:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
-      - ./ssl-certificates/root.crt:/var/lib/postgresql/root.crt
-      - ./ssl-certificates/server.crt:/var/lib/postgresql/server.crt
-      - ./ssl-certificates/server.key:/var/lib/postgresql/server.key
+      - ${ROOT_CERT_PATH}:/var/lib/postgresql/root.crt
+      - ${SERVER_CERT_PATH}:/var/lib/postgresql/server.crt
+      - ${SERVER_KEY_PATH}:/var/lib/postgresql/server.key
     ports:
       - 5432:5432
     # Edit the environment variables in postgres.env to change the database name, username, password, etc.
diff --git a/docker/with-external-db/example.env b/docker/with-external-db/example.env
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a580be18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/with-external-db/example.env
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# SSL certificates and key
+ROOT_CERT_PATH="<path/to/root.crt>"
+SERVER_CERT_PATH="<path/to/server.crt>"
+SERVER_KEY_PATH="<path/to/server.key>"