diff --git a/docs/contributing.rst b/docs/contributing.rst
--- a/docs/contributing.rst
+++ b/docs/contributing.rst
@@ -92,6 +92,17 @@ Note that on unix systems, the temporary
 and the test suite creates repositories in the temporary directory. Linux
 systems with /tmp mounted noexec will thus fail.
 
+Tests can be run on PostgreSQL like::
+
+    sudo -u postgres createuser 'kallithea-test' --pwprompt  # password password
+    sudo -u postgres createdb 'kallithea-test' --owner 'kallithea-test'
+    REUSE_TEST_DB='postgresql://kallithea-test:password@localhost/kallithea-test' py.test
+
+Tests can be run on MariaDB/MySQL like::
+
+    echo "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON \`kallithea-test\`.* TO 'kallithea-test'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password'" | sudo -u mysql mysql
+    TEST_DB='mysql://kallithea-test:password@localhost/kallithea-test?charset=utf8' py.test
+
 You can also use ``tox`` to run the tests with all supported Python versions.
 
 When running tests, Kallithea generates a `test.ini` based on template values
diff --git a/kallithea/tests/conftest.py b/kallithea/tests/conftest.py
--- a/kallithea/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/kallithea/tests/conftest.py
@@ -59,8 +59,12 @@ def pytest_configure():
             'formatter': 'color_formatter_sql',
         },
     }
-    if os.environ.get('TEST_DB'):
-        ini_settings['[app:main]']['sqlalchemy.url'] = os.environ.get('TEST_DB')
+    create_database = os.environ.get('TEST_DB')  # TODO: rename to 'CREATE_TEST_DB'
+    if create_database:
+        ini_settings['[app:main]']['sqlalchemy.url'] = create_database
+    reuse_database = os.environ.get('REUSE_TEST_DB')
+    if reuse_database:
+        ini_settings['[app:main]']['sqlalchemy.url'] = reuse_database
 
     test_ini_file = os.path.join(TESTS_TMP_PATH, 'test.ini')
     inifile.create(test_ini_file, None, ini_settings)
@@ -70,7 +74,7 @@ def pytest_configure():
 
     # set KALLITHEA_NO_TMP_PATH=1 to disable re-creating the database and test repos
     if not int(os.environ.get('KALLITHEA_NO_TMP_PATH', 0)):
-        create_test_env(TESTS_TMP_PATH, context.config())
+        create_test_env(TESTS_TMP_PATH, context.config(), reuse_database=bool(reuse_database))
 
     # set KALLITHEA_WHOOSH_TEST_DISABLE=1 to disable whoosh index during tests
     if not int(os.environ.get('KALLITHEA_WHOOSH_TEST_DISABLE', 0)):
diff --git a/kallithea/tests/fixture.py b/kallithea/tests/fixture.py
--- a/kallithea/tests/fixture.py
+++ b/kallithea/tests/fixture.py
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ class Fixture(object):
 # Global test environment setup
 #==============================================================================
 
-def create_test_env(repos_test_path, config):
+def create_test_env(repos_test_path, config, reuse_database):
     """
     Makes a fresh database and
     install test repository into tmp dir
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ def create_test_env(repos_test_path, con
 
     dbmanage = DbManage(dbconf=dbconf, root=config['here'],
                         tests=True)
-    dbmanage.create_tables()
+    dbmanage.create_tables(reuse_database=reuse_database)
     # for tests dynamically set new root paths based on generated content
     dbmanage.create_settings(dbmanage.prompt_repo_root_path(repos_test_path))
     dbmanage.create_default_user()