diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 1d6d8d7..0fccfd0 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1773,9 +1773,9 @@ checksum = "af150ab688ff2122fcef229be89cb50dd66af9e01a4ff320cc137eecc9bacc38"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "js-sys"
-version = "0.3.67"
+version = "0.3.68"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "9a1d36f1235bc969acba30b7f5990b864423a6068a10f7c90ae8f0112e3a59d1"
+checksum = "406cda4b368d531c842222cf9d2600a9a4acce8d29423695379c6868a143a9ee"
 dependencies = [
  "wasm-bindgen",
 ]
@@ -3951,9 +3951,9 @@ checksum = "9c8d87e72b64a3b4db28d11ce29237c246188f4f51057d65a7eab63b7987e423"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen"
-version = "0.2.90"
+version = "0.2.91"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "b1223296a201415c7fad14792dbefaace9bd52b62d33453ade1c5b5f07555406"
+checksum = "c1e124130aee3fb58c5bdd6b639a0509486b0338acaaae0c84a5124b0f588b7f"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
  "wasm-bindgen-macro",
@@ -3961,9 +3961,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-backend"
-version = "0.2.90"
+version = "0.2.91"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "fcdc935b63408d58a32f8cc9738a0bffd8f05cc7c002086c6ef20b7312ad9dcd"
+checksum = "c9e7e1900c352b609c8488ad12639a311045f40a35491fb69ba8c12f758af70b"
 dependencies = [
  "bumpalo",
  "log",
@@ -3988,9 +3988,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-macro"
-version = "0.2.90"
+version = "0.2.91"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3e4c238561b2d428924c49815533a8b9121c664599558a5d9ec51f8a1740a999"
+checksum = "b30af9e2d358182b5c7449424f017eba305ed32a7010509ede96cdc4696c46ed"
 dependencies = [
  "quote",
  "wasm-bindgen-macro-support",
@@ -3998,9 +3998,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-macro-support"
-version = "0.2.90"
+version = "0.2.91"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "bae1abb6806dc1ad9e560ed242107c0f6c84335f1749dd4e8ddb012ebd5e25a7"
+checksum = "642f325be6301eb8107a83d12a8ac6c1e1c54345a7ef1a9261962dfefda09e66"
 dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
@@ -4011,9 +4011,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-bindgen-shared"
-version = "0.2.90"
+version = "0.2.91"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "4d91413b1c31d7539ba5ef2451af3f0b833a005eb27a631cec32bc0635a8602b"
+checksum = "4f186bd2dcf04330886ce82d6f33dd75a7bfcf69ecf5763b89fcde53b6ac9838"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "wasm-streams"
@@ -4030,9 +4030,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "web-sys"
-version = "0.3.67"
+version = "0.3.68"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "58cd2333b6e0be7a39605f0e255892fd7418a682d8da8fe042fe25128794d2ed"
+checksum = "96565907687f7aceb35bc5fc03770a8a0471d82e479f25832f54a0e3f4b28446"
 dependencies = [
  "js-sys",
  "wasm-bindgen",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 6ef57b9..fd4d622 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ console_log = "1.0.0"
 time = "0.3.31"
 tower = "0.4.13"
 markdown-it = "0.6.0"
-web-sys = "0.3.67"
+web-sys = "0.3.68"
 config = { version = "0.14.0", features = ["toml"] }
 doku = "0.21.1"
 smart-default = "0.7.1"
diff --git a/scripts/federation.sh b/scripts/federation.sh
index d0f3145..335ebc6 100755
--- a/scripts/federation.sh
+++ b/scripts/federation.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,35 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e
 
+# You have to add the following lines to /etc/hosts to make this work:
+#
+# 127.0.0.1       ibis-alpha
+# 127.0.0.1       ibis-beta
+#
+# Then run this script and open http://ibis-alpha:8070/, http://ibis-beta:8080/ in your browser.
+
+DB_FOLDER="$(pwd)/target/federation_db"
+mkdir -p "$DB_FOLDER/"
+ALPHA_DB_PATH="$DB_FOLDER/alpha"
+BETA_DB_PATH="$DB_FOLDER/beta"
+
+# TODO: shouldnt wipe/recreate data if folder already exists
+./tests/scripts/start_dev_db.sh $ALPHA_DB_PATH
+./tests/scripts/start_dev_db.sh $BETA_DB_PATH
+
+ALPHA_DB_URL="postgresql://ibis:password@/ibis?host=$ALPHA_DB_PATH"
+BETA_DB_URL="postgresql://ibis:password@/ibis?host=$BETA_DB_PATH"
+echo $ALPHA_DB_URL
+
+# get rid of processes leftover from previous runs
+killall ibis || true
+
 # launch a couple of local instances to test federation
 # sometimes ctrl+c doesnt work properly, so you have to kill trunk, cargo-watch and ibis manually
 # TODO: somehow instances use wrong port resulting in cors errors
 (trap 'kill 0' SIGINT;
-  sh -c 'TRUNK_SERVE_PORT=8070 IBIS_BACKEND_PORT=8071 IBIS_DATABASE_URL="postgres://ibis:password@localhost:5432/ibis" ./scripts/watch.sh' &
-  sh -c 'TRUNK_SERVE_PORT=8080 IBIS_BACKEND_PORT=8081 ./scripts/watch.sh' &
-  sh -c 'TRUNK_SERVE_PORT=8090 IBIS_BACKEND_PORT=8091 ./scripts/watch.sh'
+  sh -c "CARGO_TARGET_DIR=target/frontend trunk serve -w src/frontend/ --proxy-backend http://127.0.0.1:8071 --port 8070" &
+  sh -c "IBIS__BIND=127.0.0.1:8071 IBIS__FEDERATION__DOMAIN=ibis-alpha:8070 IBIS__DATABASE_URL=$ALPHA_DB_URL cargo run" &
+  sh -c "CARGO_TARGET_DIR=target/frontend trunk serve -w src/frontend/ --proxy-backend http://127.0.0.1:8081 --port 8080" &
+  sh -c "IBIS__BIND=127.0.0.1:8081 IBIS__FEDERATION__DOMAIN=ibis-beta:8080 IBIS__DATABASE_URL=$BETA_DB_URL cargo run" &
 )
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/watch.sh b/scripts/watch.sh
index 1377839..385d132 100755
--- a/scripts/watch.sh
+++ b/scripts/watch.sh
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e
 
-IBIS_BACKEND_PORT="${IBIS_BACKEND_PORT:-8081}"
+IBIS__BIND="${IBIS_BIND:-"127.0.0.1:8081"}"
 
 # run processes in parallel
 # https://stackoverflow.com/a/52033580
 (trap 'kill 0' SIGINT;
   # start frontend
-  CARGO_TARGET_DIR=target/frontend trunk serve -w src/frontend/ --proxy-backend http://127.0.0.1:$IBIS_BACKEND_PORT &
-  # # start backend, with separate target folder to avoid rebuilds from arch change
+  CARGO_TARGET_DIR=target/frontend trunk serve -w src/frontend/ --proxy-backend http://$IBIS__BIND &
+  # start backend, with separate target folder to avoid rebuilds from arch change
   cargo watch -x run
 )
diff --git a/src/backend/api/user.rs b/src/backend/api/user.rs
index 9a6d595..3052bb3 100644
--- a/src/backend/api/user.rs
+++ b/src/backend/api/user.rs
@@ -94,7 +94,8 @@ fn create_cookie(jwt: String, data: &Data<IbisData>) -> Cookie<'static> {
         .same_site(SameSite::Strict)
         .path("/")
         .http_only(true)
-        .secure(true)
+        // TODO: not in debug mode
+        //.secure(true)
         .expires(Expiration::DateTime(
             OffsetDateTime::now_utc() + Duration::weeks(52),
         ))
diff --git a/src/common/mod.rs b/src/common/mod.rs
index dc82709..0d6d661 100644
--- a/src/common/mod.rs
+++ b/src/common/mod.rs
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ pub struct LocalUserView {
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "ssr", diesel(table_name = local_user, check_for_backend(diesel::pg::Pg)))]
 pub struct DbLocalUser {
     pub id: i32,
+    #[serde(skip)]
     pub password_encrypted: String,
     pub person_id: i32,
     pub admin: bool,
diff --git a/src/frontend/app.rs b/src/frontend/app.rs
index 8e3c7c2..10c9222 100644
--- a/src/frontend/app.rs
+++ b/src/frontend/app.rs
@@ -62,8 +62,12 @@ impl GlobalState {
 
 #[component]
 pub fn App() -> impl IntoView {
-    let port = option_env!("TRUNK_SERVE_PORT").unwrap_or("8080");
-    let backend_hostname = format!("127.0.0.1:{port}");
+    #[allow(unused_mut, unused_assignments)]
+    let mut backend_hostname = "127.0.0.1:8080".to_string();
+    #[cfg(not(feature = "ssr"))]
+    {
+        backend_hostname = web_sys::window().unwrap().location().host().unwrap();
+    }
 
     provide_meta_context();
     let backend_hostname = GlobalState {
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 5e5d6ce..86c9961 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ pub async fn main() -> ibis_lib::backend::error::MyResult<()> {
 
     let config = Config::builder()
         .add_source(config::File::with_name("config/config.toml"))
-        .add_source(config::Environment::with_prefix("IBIS"))
+        // Cant use _ as separator due to https://github.com/mehcode/config-rs/issues/391
+        .add_source(config::Environment::with_prefix("IBIS").separator("__"))
         .build()
         .unwrap();
 
diff --git a/tests/scripts/start_dev_db.sh b/tests/scripts/start_dev_db.sh
index 4ff65d8..2f2db9a 100755
--- a/tests/scripts/start_dev_db.sh
+++ b/tests/scripts/start_dev_db.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-set -e
+set -ex
 
-export PGHOST=$1
+export PGHOST="$1"
 export PGDATA="$1/dev_pgdata"
 
 # If cluster exists, stop the backend
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ rm -rf $1
 initdb --username=postgres --auth=trust --no-instructions
 
 touch "$PGHOST/.s.PGSQL.5432"
-echo "$PGHOST/.s.PGSQL.5432"
 
 # Start backend that only listens to socket in current directory
 pg_ctl start --options="-c listen_addresses= -c unix_socket_directories=$PGHOST"