diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index cee24086..882ba237 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ before_install:
   - node --version
   - postgres --version
   - redis-server --version
-  - psql -c "CREATE USER nolan CREATEDB;"
+  - psql -d template1 -c "CREATE USER nolan CREATEDB;"
 before_script:
   - npm run lint
 script: npm run test-browser
diff --git a/bin/run-mastodon.js b/bin/run-mastodon.js
index 314466ad..2bb6415a 100644
--- a/bin/run-mastodon.js
+++ b/bin/run-mastodon.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ const envFile = `
 PAPERCLIP_SECRET=foo
 SECRET_KEY_BASE=bar
 OTP_SECRET=foobarfoobarfoobarfoobarfoobarfoobarfoobarfoobarfoobarfoobarfoobarfoobarfoobar
+DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
 DB_PORT=${process.env.PGPORT || 5432}
 DB_USER=${DB_USER}
 `
@@ -43,12 +44,12 @@ async function cloneMastodon () {
 async function setupMastodonDatabase () {
   console.log('Setting up mastodon database...')
   try {
-    await exec(`dropdb -U ${DB_USER} mastodon_development`, {cwd: mastodonDir})
+    await exec(`dropdb -h 127.0.0.1 -U ${DB_USER} mastodon_development`, {cwd: mastodonDir})
   } catch (e) { /* ignore */ }
-  await exec(`createdb -U ${DB_USER} mastodon_development`, {cwd: mastodonDir})
+  await exec(`createdb -h 127.0.0.1 -U ${DB_USER} mastodon_development`, {cwd: mastodonDir})
 
   let dumpFile = path.join(dir, '../fixtures/dump.sql')
-  await exec(`pg_restore -U ${DB_USER} -Fc -d mastodon_development "${dumpFile}"`, {cwd: mastodonDir})
+  await exec(`pg_restore -h 127.0.0.1 -U ${DB_USER} -Fc -d mastodon_development "${dumpFile}"`, {cwd: mastodonDir})
 
   let tgzFile = path.join(dir, '../fixtures/system.tgz')
   let systemDir = path.join(mastodonDir, 'public/system')