diff --git a/deploy/app/auth.py b/deploy/app/auth.py
index 263f24ed..215bff83 100644
--- a/deploy/app/auth.py
+++ b/deploy/app/auth.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 from . import dbfile
 from .constants import C
+from .paths import DEFAULT_CREDENTIALS_FILE
 
 COOKIE_MAXAGE = 60*60*24*180
 SMTP_ATTRIBS = ['SMTP_USERNAME', 'SMTP_PASSWORD', 'SMTP_PORT', 'SMTP_HOST']
@@ -23,10 +24,7 @@
 
 
 def credentials_file():
-    try:
-        name = os.environ[ C.PLANTTRACER_CREDENTIALS ]
-    except KeyError as e:
-        raise RuntimeError(f"Environment variable {C.PLANTTRACER_CREDENTIALS} must be defined") from e
+    name = os.environ.get(C.PLANTTRACER_CREDENTIALS,DEFAULT_CREDENTIALS_FILE)
     if not os.path.exists(name):
         logging.error("Cannot find %s (PLANTTRACER_CREDENTIALS=%s)",os.path.abspath(name),name)
         raise FileNotFoundError(name)
diff --git a/deploy/app/paths.py b/deploy/app/paths.py
index a6109c88..faa137dd 100644
--- a/deploy/app/paths.py
+++ b/deploy/app/paths.py
@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@
 DEPLOY_DIR      = dirname(APP_DIR)
 ROOT_DIR        = dirname(DEPLOY_DIR)
 
-ETC_DIR         = join(APP_DIR, 'etc')
+ETC_DIR         = join(DEPLOY_DIR, 'etc')
 STATIC_DIR      = join(APP_DIR, 'static')
 TEMPLATE_DIR    = join(APP_DIR, 'templates')
 SCHEMA_FILE     = join(ETC_DIR, 'schema.sql')
 SCHEMA_TEMPLATE = join(ETC_DIR, 'schema_{schema}.sql')
 
+DEFAULT_CREDENTIALS_FILE = join(ETC_DIR,'credentials.ini')
 SCHEMA0_FILE     = SCHEMA_TEMPLATE.format(schema=0)
 SCHEMA1_FILE     = SCHEMA_TEMPLATE.format(schema=1)