diff --git a/packages/backend/.env-example.test b/packages/backend/.env-example.test
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fc36c045
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend/.env-example.test
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+APP_ENV=test
+HOST=localhost
+PROTOCOL=http
+PORT=3000
+LOG_LEVEL=debug
+WEBHOOK_SECRET_KEY=secret
+POSTGRES_DATABASE=automatisch_test
+POSTGRES_PORT=5432
+POSTGRES_HOST=localhost
+POSTGRES_USERNAME=automatisch_test_user
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD=
+POSTGRES_ENABLE_SSL=false
+ENCRYPTION_KEY=secret
+APP_SECRET_KEY=secret
+REDIS_PORT=6379
+REDIS_HOST=127.0.0.1
diff --git a/packages/backend/package.json b/packages/backend/package.json
index f1efeec2..997341a9 100644
--- a/packages/backend/package.json
+++ b/packages/backend/package.json
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
     "build": "tsc && yarn copy-statics",
     "build:watch": "nodemon --watch 'src/**/*.ts' --watch 'bin/**/*.ts' --exec yarn build --ext ts",
     "start": "node dist/src/server.js",
-    "pretest": "APP_ENV=test ts-node ./test/setup/create-database.ts",
+    "pretest": "APP_ENV=test ts-node ./test/setup/prepare-test-env.ts",
     "test": "APP_ENV=test ava",
     "lint": "eslint . --ignore-path ../../.eslintignore",
     "db:create": "ts-node ./bin/database/create.ts",
diff --git a/packages/backend/test/setup/check-env-file.ts b/packages/backend/test/setup/check-env-file.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4fb6839c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend/test/setup/check-env-file.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import path from 'path';
+import fs from 'fs';
+
+const testEnvFile = path.resolve(__dirname, '../../.env.test');
+
+if (!fs.existsSync(testEnvFile)) {
+  throw new Error(
+    'Test environment file (.env.test) not found! You can copy .env-example.test to .env.test and fill it with your own values.'
+  );
+}
diff --git a/packages/backend/test/setup/prepare-test-env.ts b/packages/backend/test/setup/prepare-test-env.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a46ac8f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/backend/test/setup/prepare-test-env.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+import './check-env-file';
+import './create-database';