diff --git a/backend/src/activitypub/ActivityPub.js b/backend/src/activitypub/ActivityPub.js
index da1056362..aa447a2d7 100644
--- a/backend/src/activitypub/ActivityPub.js
+++ b/backend/src/activitypub/ActivityPub.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import router from './routes'
 import dotenv from 'dotenv'
 import Collections from './Collections'
 import uuid from 'uuid/v4'
+import CONFIG from '../config'
 const debug = require('debug')('ea')
 
 let activityPub = null
@@ -23,10 +24,7 @@ export default class ActivityPub {
   static init(server) {
     if (!activityPub) {
       dotenv.config()
-      activityPub = new ActivityPub(
-        process.env.CLIENT_URI || 'http://localhost:3000',
-        process.env.GRAPHQL_URI || 'http://localhost:4000',
-      )
+      activityPub = new ActivityPub(CONFIG.CLIENT_URI, CONFIG.GRAPHQL_URI)
 
       // integrate into running graphql express server
       server.express.set('ap', activityPub)
diff --git a/backend/src/activitypub/security/index.js b/backend/src/activitypub/security/index.js
index 7f619acbe..2ecdec022 100644
--- a/backend/src/activitypub/security/index.js
+++ b/backend/src/activitypub/security/index.js
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@ import dotenv from 'dotenv'
 import { resolve } from 'path'
 import crypto from 'crypto'
 import request from 'request'
+import CONFIG from './../../config'
 const debug = require('debug')('ea:security')
 
 dotenv.config({ path: resolve('src', 'activitypub', '.env') })
 
 export function generateRsaKeyPair(options = {}) {
-  const { passphrase = process.env.PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE } = options
+  const { passphrase = CONFIG.PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE } = options
   return crypto.generateKeyPairSync('rsa', {
     modulusLength: 4096,
     publicKeyEncoding: {
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ export function createSignature(options) {
     url,
     headers = {},
     algorithm = 'rsa-sha256',
-    passphrase = process.env.PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE,
+    passphrase = CONFIG.PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE,
   } = options
   if (!SUPPORTED_HASH_ALGORITHMS.includes(algorithm)) {
     throw Error(`SIGNING: Unsupported hashing algorithm = ${algorithm}`)
diff --git a/backend/src/activitypub/utils/index.js b/backend/src/activitypub/utils/index.js
index ee7ae2606..3927f4056 100644
--- a/backend/src/activitypub/utils/index.js
+++ b/backend/src/activitypub/utils/index.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { activityPub } from '../ActivityPub'
 import gql from 'graphql-tag'
 import { createSignature } from '../security'
 import request from 'request'
+import CONFIG from './../../config'
 const debug = require('debug')('ea:utils')
 
 export function extractNameFromId(uri) {
@@ -38,7 +39,7 @@ export function throwErrorIfApolloErrorOccurred(result) {
 export function signAndSend(activity, fromName, targetDomain, url) {
   // fix for development: replace with http
   url = url.indexOf('localhost') > -1 ? url.replace('https', 'http') : url
-  debug(`passhprase = ${process.env.PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE}`)
+  debug(`passhprase = ${CONFIG.PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE}`)
   return new Promise(async (resolve, reject) => {
     debug('inside signAndSend')
     // get the private key
diff --git a/backend/src/bootstrap/neo4j.js b/backend/src/bootstrap/neo4j.js
index 292983359..15c9c4533 100644
--- a/backend/src/bootstrap/neo4j.js
+++ b/backend/src/bootstrap/neo4j.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { v1 as neo4j } from 'neo4j-driver'
 import dotenv from 'dotenv'
+import CONFIG from './../config'
 
 dotenv.config()
 
@@ -7,9 +8,9 @@ let driver
 
 export function getDriver(options = {}) {
   const {
-    uri = process.env.NEO4J_URI || 'bolt://localhost:7687',
-    username = process.env.NEO4J_USERNAME || 'neo4j',
-    password = process.env.NEO4J_PASSWORD || 'neo4j',
+    uri = CONFIG.NEO4J_URI,
+    username = CONFIG.NEO4J_USERNAME,
+    password = CONFIG.NEO4J_PASSWORD,
   } = options
   if (!driver) {
     driver = neo4j.driver(uri, neo4j.auth.basic(username, password))
diff --git a/backend/src/config/index.js b/backend/src/config/index.js
index 7a0387560..aa8b3a5dc 100644
--- a/backend/src/config/index.js
+++ b/backend/src/config/index.js
@@ -8,9 +8,22 @@ const requiredConfigs = {
   PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE: process.env.PRIVATE_KEY_PASSPHRASE,
 }
 
+const neo4jConfigs = {
+  NEO4J_URI: process.env.NEO4J_URI || 'bolt://localhost:7687',
+  NEO4J_USERNAME: process.env.NEO4J_USERNAME || 'neo4j',
+  NEO4J_PASSWORD: process.env.NEO4J_PASSWORD || 'neo4j',
+}
+
+const serverConfigs = {
+  GRAPHQL_PORT: process.env.GRAPHQL_PORT || 4000,
+  CLIENT_URI: process.env.CLIENT_URI || 'http://localhost:3000',
+  GRAPHQL_URI: process.env.GRAPHQL_URI || 'http://localhost:4000',
+}
+
 const developmentConfigs = {
   DEBUG: process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && process.env.DEBUG === 'true',
   MOCKS: process.env.MOCKS === 'true',
+  DISABLED_MIDDLEWARES: process.env.DISABLED_MIDDLEWARES || '',
 }
 
 // check required configs and throw error
@@ -22,5 +35,7 @@ Object.entries(requiredConfigs).map(entry => {
 
 export default {
   ...requiredConfigs,
+  ...neo4jConfigs,
+  ...serverConfigs,
   ...developmentConfigs,
 }
diff --git a/backend/src/index.js b/backend/src/index.js
index 2095d171f..f28e58947 100644
--- a/backend/src/index.js
+++ b/backend/src/index.js
@@ -1,17 +1,18 @@
 import createServer from './server'
 import ActivityPub from './activitypub/ActivityPub'
+import CONFIG from './config'
 
 const serverConfig = {
-  port: process.env.GRAPHQL_PORT || 4000,
+  port: CONFIG.GRAPHQL_PORT,
   // cors: {
   //   credentials: true,
-  //   origin: [process.env.CLIENT_URI] // your frontend url.
+  //   origin: [CONFIG.CLIENT_URI] // your frontend url.
   // }
 }
 
 const server = createServer()
 server.start(serverConfig, options => {
   /* eslint-disable-next-line no-console */
-  console.log(`GraphQLServer ready at ${process.env.GRAPHQL_URI} 🚀`)
+  console.log(`GraphQLServer ready at ${CONFIG.GRAPHQL_URI} 🚀`)
   ActivityPub.init(server)
 })
diff --git a/backend/src/jwt/decode.js b/backend/src/jwt/decode.js
index d4485952d..b98357103 100644
--- a/backend/src/jwt/decode.js
+++ b/backend/src/jwt/decode.js
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken'
+import CONFIG from './../config'
 
 export default async (driver, authorizationHeader) => {
   if (!authorizationHeader) return null
   const token = authorizationHeader.replace('Bearer ', '')
   let id = null
   try {
-    const decoded = await jwt.verify(token, process.env.JWT_SECRET)
+    const decoded = await jwt.verify(token, CONFIG.JWT_SECRET)
     id = decoded.sub
   } catch (err) {
     return null
diff --git a/backend/src/jwt/encode.js b/backend/src/jwt/encode.js
index 49aa17bd0..97c6dcd66 100644
--- a/backend/src/jwt/encode.js
+++ b/backend/src/jwt/encode.js
@@ -1,15 +1,16 @@
 import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken'
 import ms from 'ms'
+import CONFIG from './../config'
 
 // Generate an Access Token for the given User ID
 export default function encode(user) {
-  const token = jwt.sign(user, process.env.JWT_SECRET, {
+  const token = jwt.sign(user, CONFIG.JWT_SECRET, {
     expiresIn: ms('1d'),
-    issuer: process.env.GRAPHQL_URI,
-    audience: process.env.CLIENT_URI,
+    issuer: CONFIG.GRAPHQL_URI,
+    audience: CONFIG.CLIENT_URI,
     subject: user.id.toString(),
   })
-  // jwt.verifySignature(token, process.env.JWT_SECRET, (err, data) => {
+  // jwt.verifySignature(token, CONFIG.JWT_SECRET, (err, data) => {
   //   console.log('token verification:', err, data)
   // })
   return token
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/index.js b/backend/src/middleware/index.js
index bef6ceac9..cdc1d298c 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/index.js
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/index.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import includedFieldsMiddleware from './includedFieldsMiddleware'
 import orderByMiddleware from './orderByMiddleware'
 import validationMiddleware from './validation'
 import notificationsMiddleware from './notifications'
+import CONFIG from './../config'
 
 export default schema => {
   let middleware = [
@@ -31,9 +32,8 @@ export default schema => {
 
   // add permisions middleware at the first position (unless we're seeding)
   // NOTE: DO NOT SET THE PERMISSION FLAT YOUR SELF
-  if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
-    const DISABLED_MIDDLEWARES = process.env.DISABLED_MIDDLEWARES || ''
-    const disabled = DISABLED_MIDDLEWARES.split(',')
+  if (CONFIG.DEBUG) {
+    const disabled = CONFIG.DISABLED_MIDDLEWARES.split(',')
     if (!disabled.includes('activityPub')) middleware.unshift(activityPubMiddleware)
     if (!disabled.includes('permissions'))
       middleware.unshift(permissionsMiddleware.generate(schema))
diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/nodes/locations.js b/backend/src/middleware/nodes/locations.js
index a0adeb57f..62d1e3a65 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/nodes/locations.js
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/nodes/locations.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import request from 'request'
 import { UserInputError } from 'apollo-server'
 import isEmpty from 'lodash/isEmpty'
 import asyncForEach from '../../helpers/asyncForEach'
+import CONFIG from './../../config'
 
 const fetch = url => {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
@@ -58,11 +59,12 @@ const createOrUpdateLocations = async (userId, locationName, driver) => {
   if (isEmpty(locationName)) {
     return
   }
-  const mapboxToken = process.env.MAPBOX_TOKEN
   const res = await fetch(
     `https://api.mapbox.com/geocoding/v5/mapbox.places/${encodeURIComponent(
       locationName,
-    )}.json?access_token=${mapboxToken}&types=region,place,country&language=${locales.join(',')}`,
+    )}.json?access_token=${CONFIG.MAPBOX_TOKEN}&types=region,place,country&language=${locales.join(
+      ',',
+    )}`,
   )
 
   if (!res || !res.features || !res.features[0]) {
diff --git a/backend/src/schema/resolvers/user_management.spec.js b/backend/src/schema/resolvers/user_management.spec.js
index 9dff9e388..690d93f86 100644
--- a/backend/src/schema/resolvers/user_management.spec.js
+++ b/backend/src/schema/resolvers/user_management.spec.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import Factory from '../seed/factories'
 import { GraphQLClient, request } from 'graphql-request'
 import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken'
 import { host, login } from '../jest/helpers'
+import CONFIG from './config'
 
 const factory = Factory()
 
@@ -185,7 +186,7 @@ describe('login', () => {
           }),
         )
         const token = data.login
-        jwt.verify(token, process.env.JWT_SECRET, (err, data) => {
+        jwt.verify(token, CONFIG.JWT_SECRET, (err, data) => {
           expect(data.email).toEqual('test@example.org')
           expect(err).toBeNull()
         })
diff --git a/backend/src/seed/reset-db.js b/backend/src/seed/reset-db.js
index 3197a6e18..095db240c 100644
--- a/backend/src/seed/reset-db.js
+++ b/backend/src/seed/reset-db.js
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 import { cleanDatabase } from './factories'
 import dotenv from 'dotenv'
+import CONFIG from './config'
 
 dotenv.config()
 
-if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') {
-  throw new Error(`YOU CAN'T CLEAN THE DATABASE WITH NODE_ENV=${process.env.NODE_ENV}`)
+if (!CONFIG.DEBUG) {
+  throw new Error(`YOU CAN'T CLEAN THE DATABASE WITH DEBUG=${CONFIG.DEBUG}`)
 }
 
 ;(async function() {