diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index 1809e0fe7..ec0d69fee 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ steps:
   - name: run federation tests
     image: node:15-alpine3.12
     environment:
-      LEMMY_DATABASE_URL: postgres://lemmy:password@database:5432/lemmy
+      LEMMY_DATABASE_URL: postgres://lemmy:password@database:5432
+      DO_WRITE_HOSTS_FILE: 1
     commands:
       - ls -la target/lemmy_server
       - apk add bash curl postgresql-client
diff --git a/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh b/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
index f59f2c5f5..a1ca4b8da 100755
--- a/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
+++ b/api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
@@ -12,17 +12,33 @@ export LEMMY_TEST_SEND_SYNC=1
 export RUST_BACKTRACE=1
 
 for INSTANCE in lemmy_alpha lemmy_beta lemmy_gamma lemmy_delta lemmy_epsilon; do
-  psql "$LEMMY_DATABASE_URL" -c "CREATE DATABASE $INSTANCE"
+  psql "${LEMMY_DATABASE_URL}/lemmy" -c "DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS $INSTANCE"
+  psql "${LEMMY_DATABASE_URL}/lemmy" -c "CREATE DATABASE $INSTANCE"
 done
 
-for INSTANCE in lemmy-alpha lemmy-beta lemmy-gamma lemmy-delta lemmy-epsilon; do
-  echo "127.0.0.1 $INSTANCE" >> /etc/hosts
-done
+if [ -z "$DO_WRITE_HOSTS_FILE" ]; then
+  if ! grep -q lemmy-alpha /etc/hosts; then
+    echo "Please add the following to your /etc/hosts file, then press enter:
+
+      127.0.0.1       lemmy-alpha
+      127.0.0.1       lemmy-beta
+      127.0.0.1       lemmy-gamma
+      127.0.0.1       lemmy-delta
+      127.0.0.1       lemmy-epsilon"
+    read -p ""
+  fi
+else
+  for INSTANCE in lemmy-alpha lemmy-beta lemmy-gamma lemmy-delta lemmy-epsilon; do
+    echo "127.0.0.1 $INSTANCE" >> /etc/hosts
+  done
+fi
+
+killall lemmy_server || true
 
 echo "start alpha"
 LEMMY_HOSTNAME=lemmy-alpha:8541 \
   LEMMY_PORT=8541 \
-  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL=postgres://lemmy:password@database:5432/lemmy_alpha \
+  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL="${LEMMY_DATABASE_URL}/lemmy_alpha" \
   LEMMY_FEDERATION__ALLOWED_INSTANCES=lemmy-beta,lemmy-gamma,lemmy-delta,lemmy-epsilon \
   LEMMY_SETUP__ADMIN_USERNAME=lemmy_alpha \
   LEMMY_SETUP__SITE_NAME=lemmy-alpha \
@@ -31,7 +47,7 @@ LEMMY_HOSTNAME=lemmy-alpha:8541 \
 echo "start beta"
 LEMMY_HOSTNAME=lemmy-beta:8551 \
   LEMMY_PORT=8551 \
-  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL=postgres://lemmy:password@database:5432/lemmy_beta \
+  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL="${LEMMY_DATABASE_URL}/lemmy_beta" \
   LEMMY_FEDERATION__ALLOWED_INSTANCES=lemmy-alpha,lemmy-gamma,lemmy-delta,lemmy-epsilon \
   LEMMY_SETUP__ADMIN_USERNAME=lemmy_beta \
   LEMMY_SETUP__SITE_NAME=lemmy-beta \
@@ -40,7 +56,7 @@ LEMMY_HOSTNAME=lemmy-beta:8551 \
 echo "start gamma"
 LEMMY_HOSTNAME=lemmy-gamma:8561 \
   LEMMY_PORT=8561 \
-  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL=postgres://lemmy:password@database:5432/lemmy_gamma \
+  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL="${LEMMY_DATABASE_URL}/lemmy_gamma" \
   LEMMY_FEDERATION__ALLOWED_INSTANCES=lemmy-alpha,lemmy-beta,lemmy-delta,lemmy-epsilon \
   LEMMY_SETUP__ADMIN_USERNAME=lemmy_gamma \
   LEMMY_SETUP__SITE_NAME=lemmy-gamma \
@@ -50,7 +66,7 @@ echo "start delta"
 # An instance with only an allowlist for beta
 LEMMY_HOSTNAME=lemmy-delta:8571 \
   LEMMY_PORT=8571 \
-  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL=postgres://lemmy:password@database:5432/lemmy_delta \
+  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL="${LEMMY_DATABASE_URL}/lemmy_delta" \
   LEMMY_FEDERATION__ALLOWED_INSTANCES=lemmy-beta \
   LEMMY_SETUP__ADMIN_USERNAME=lemmy_delta \
   LEMMY_SETUP__SITE_NAME=lemmy-delta \
@@ -60,7 +76,7 @@ echo "start epsilon"
 # An instance who has a blocklist, with lemmy-alpha blocked
 LEMMY_HOSTNAME=lemmy-epsilon:8581 \
   LEMMY_PORT=8581 \
-  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL=postgres://lemmy:password@database:5432/lemmy_epsilon \
+  LEMMY_DATABASE_URL="${LEMMY_DATABASE_URL}/lemmy_epsilon" \
   LEMMY_FEDERATION__BLOCKED_INSTANCES=lemmy-alpha \
   LEMMY_SETUP__ADMIN_USERNAME=lemmy_epsilon \
   LEMMY_SETUP__SITE_NAME=lemmy-epsilon \
diff --git a/api_tests/run-federation-test.sh b/api_tests/run-federation-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..2c707e7e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api_tests/run-federation-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+
+export LEMMY_DATABASE_URL=postgres://lemmy:password@localhost:5432
+
+pushd ..
+cargo +1.47.0 build
+rm target/lemmy_server || true
+cp target/debug/lemmy_server target/lemmy_server
+./api_tests/prepare-drone-federation-test.sh
+popd
+
+yarn
+yarn api-test || true
+
+killall lemmy_server
+
+for INSTANCE in lemmy_alpha lemmy_beta lemmy_gamma lemmy_delta lemmy_epsilon; do
+  psql "$LEMMY_DATABASE_URL" -c "DROP DATABASE $INSTANCE"
+done
\ No newline at end of file