diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 0d9cdd3..e4ea85d 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -76,7 +76,6 @@ pretty_assertions = "1.4.0"
 output-name = "ibis"
 bin-features = ["ssr"]
 lib-features = ["csr"]
-site-addr = "127.0.0.1:8131"
 
 [lib]
 name = "ibis_lib"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5db88b5..b0d02fd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ trunk serve -w src/frontend/
 
 Then open the site at [127.0.0.1:8080](http://127.0.0.1:8080/). Alternatively you can run `./scripts/watch.sh` to rebuild backend and frontend automatically on code changes (requires [cargo-watch](https://crates.io/crates/cargo-watch)).
 
+By default the frontend runs on port 8080, which can be changed with env var `TRUNK_SERVE_PORT`. The backend port is 8081 and can be changed with `IBIS_BACKEND_PORT`.
+
 ## License
 
 [AGPL](LICENSE)
diff --git a/Trunk.toml b/Trunk.toml
index 10005a7..0a3f0cd 100644
--- a/Trunk.toml
+++ b/Trunk.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
 [build]
 filehash = false
 target = "assets/index.html"
-
-[[proxy]]
-backend = "http://127.0.0.1:8131"
diff --git a/scripts/federation.sh b/scripts/federation.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..42899e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/federation.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+
+# launch a couple of local instances to test federation
+# 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'
+)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/watch.sh b/scripts/watch.sh
index 88bcbaf..5744766 100755
--- a/scripts/watch.sh
+++ b/scripts/watch.sh
@@ -1,11 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e
 
+IBIS_BACKEND_PORT="${IBIS_BACKEND_PORT:-8081}"
+
 # run processes in parallel
 # https://stackoverflow.com/a/52033580
 (trap 'kill 0' SIGINT;
   # start frontend
-  trunk serve -w src/frontend/ &
+  trunk serve -w src/frontend/ --proxy-backend http://127.0.0.1:$IBIS_BACKEND_PORT &
   # # start backend, with separate target folder to avoid rebuilds from arch change
-  CARGO_TARGET_DIR=target/backend cargo watch -c -x run
+  CARGO_TARGET_DIR=target/backend cargo watch -x run
 )
diff --git a/src/frontend/app.rs b/src/frontend/app.rs
index ccf274f..85cf198 100644
--- a/src/frontend/app.rs
+++ b/src/frontend/app.rs
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ impl GlobalState {
 
 #[component]
 pub fn App() -> impl IntoView {
-    let backend_hostname = "127.0.0.1:8080".to_string();
+    let port = option_env!("TRUNK_SERVE_PORT").unwrap_or("8080");
+    let backend_hostname = format!("127.0.0.1:{port}");
 
     provide_meta_context();
     let backend_hostname = GlobalState {
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 31b8ea8..8734618 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@ pub async fn main() -> ibis_lib::backend::error::MyResult<()> {
         .filter_module("activitypub_federation", LevelFilter::Info)
         .filter_module("ibis", LevelFilter::Info)
         .init();
-    let database_url = "postgres://ibis:password@localhost:5432/ibis";
-    ibis_lib::backend::start("127.0.0.1:8131", database_url).await?;
+    let database_url = std::env::var("IBIS_DATABASE_URL")
+        .unwrap_or("postgres://ibis:password@localhost:5432/ibis".to_string());
+    let port = std::env::var("IBIS_BACKEND_PORT").unwrap_or("8081".to_string());
+    ibis_lib::backend::start(&format!("127.0.0.1:{port}"), &database_url).await?;
     Ok(())
 }