diff --git a/.github/workflows/action.yml b/.github/workflows/action.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c9134b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/action.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+name: Mailnesia Perl unittests
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [master]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [master]
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: set up Perl
+        uses: shogo82148/actions-setup-perl@v1
+        with:
+          perl-version: "5.32"
+
+      - name: print working directory
+        run: pwd
+      - name: install dependencies
+        run: cpanm --installdeps . --skip-satisfied
+      - name: create tables in postgres
+        run: bash ./tools/psql-create-tables.sh
+        env:
+          postgres_host: localhost
+          postgres_user: mailnesia
+          PGPASSWORD: test
+      - name: execute unit/function tests
+        run: prove -lv t
+        env:
+          postgres_host: localhost
+          postgres_user: mailnesia
+          postgres_password: test
+          redis_host: localhost
+
+    # Service containers to start
+    services:
+      # Label used to access the service container
+      redis:
+        # Docker Hub image
+        image: redis
+        # TODO: password?
+        #
+        ports:
+          # Opens tcp port 6379 on the host and service container
+          - 6379:6379
+
+      postgres:
+        # Docker Hub image
+        image: postgres
+        # Provide the password for postgres
+        env:
+          POSTGRES_USER: mailnesia
+          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: test
+        # Set health checks to wait until postgres has started
+        options: >-
+          --health-cmd pg_isready
+          --health-interval 10s
+          --health-timeout 5s
+          --health-retries 5
+        ports:
+          # Maps tcp port 5432 on service container to the host
+          - 5432:5432
diff --git a/lib/Mailnesia/Config.pm b/lib/Mailnesia/Config.pm
index b143ea5..2323fea 100644
--- a/lib/Mailnesia/Config.pm
+++ b/lib/Mailnesia/Config.pm
@@ -44,14 +44,14 @@ Parameters:
 
  - if true, indicates development (testing) version; does not load any values from the private.conf
     to %mailnesia_private (e.g. ad code, Google Analytics, Recaptcha etc)
- - false: connect to Redis, true: don't connect
 
 =cut
 
 sub new {
         my $package = shift;
         my $devel = shift;
-        my $dont_connect_to_redis = shift;
+
+        my $redis_host = $ENV{redis_host};
 
         # loading private configuration items
         # ex: recaptcha private key - without the correct key every captcha solution will be invalid
@@ -140,9 +140,12 @@ sub new {
                         abuse     => 'peter@localhost'
                     },
 
-                redis => $dont_connect_to_redis ? undef : Redis->new(
-                    encoding => undef,
-                    sock     => '/var/run/redis/redis.sock'
+                redis => $redis_host ? Redis->new(
+                    server => "$redis_host:6379",
+                    reconnect => 1,
+                    every => 500_000,
+                ) : Redis->new(
+                    sock => '/var/run/redis/redis.sock',
                 ),
 
                 # name of used redis databases
diff --git a/lib/Mailnesia/SQL.pm b/lib/Mailnesia/SQL.pm
index b68ea54..1677316 100644
--- a/lib/Mailnesia/SQL.pm
+++ b/lib/Mailnesia/SQL.pm
@@ -64,22 +64,29 @@ sub connect ($;\$$&) {
         {
             #    warn "connecting to SQL, warn: $warn\n";
             my $db = "Pg";
-            my $db_database = "mailnesia";
+            my $db_database = $ENV{postgres_database} || "mailnesia";
             my $db_table = "emails";
-            my $user = "mailnesia";
-            my $password = "";
+            my $user = $ENV{postgres_user} || "mailnesia";
+            my $password = $ENV{postgres_password} || "";
+            my $host = $ENV{postgres_host} || "localhost";
+            my $connection_string = "dbi:$db:database=$db_database;"; # connect on socket
+
+            if ($password) {
+                # connect on TCP
+                $connection_string .= "host=$host;port=5432";
+            }
 
             $dbh = DBI->connect_cached(
-                    "dbi:$db:dbname=$db_database",
-                    $user,
-                    $password,
-                    {
-                        RaiseError => 0,
-                        AutoCommit => 1,
-                        PrintWarn=>1,
-                        pg_enable_utf8 => 1 # to get the data already decoded
-                    }
-                );
+                $connection_string,
+                $user,
+                $password,
+                {
+                    RaiseError => 0,
+                    AutoCommit => 1,
+                    PrintWarn=>1,
+                    pg_enable_utf8 => 1 # to get the data already decoded
+                }
+            );
 
             if (ref $dbh)
             {
diff --git a/tools/psql-connection-arguments.sh b/tools/psql-connection-arguments.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7ca0d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/psql-connection-arguments.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# This script can be sourced to get the connection arguments for psql in the variable `psqlArgs`.
+# If a password has to be provided, it should be set in the environment variable
+# `PGPASSWORD` before running this script.  The same applies to the username,
+# host and database name, which can be set in `postgres_user`, `postgres_host`
+# and `postgres_db` respectively.  If these variables are not set, the script
+# will use the default values of "mailnesia" for the username and database,
+# and "localhost" for the host.
+
+username="${postgres_user:-mailnesia}"
+database="${postgres_db:-mailnesia}"
+#arguments to psql
+psqlArgs="--tuples-only --no-psqlrc --username=$username --quiet --dbname=$database";
+if [[ -n "$postgres_host" ]]; then
+  psqlArgs="$psqlArgs --host=$postgres_host --port=5432";
+fi
diff --git a/tools/psql-create-tables.sh b/tools/psql-create-tables.sh
index a6ab3e6..3a14387 100644
--- a/tools/psql-create-tables.sh
+++ b/tools/psql-create-tables.sh
@@ -2,8 +2,11 @@
 
 # This script can be run initially to create all tables and necessary relations.
 
+# Resolve the full path of the script
+SCRIPT_DIR=$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")
+
 #arguments to psql
-psqlArgs="--tuples-only --no-psqlrc --username=mailnesia --quiet";
+source $SCRIPT_DIR/psql-connection-arguments.sh
 
 # Partitioning is used, the key being the id because that's the only
 # value that needs to be unique in the whole table across the partitions.
@@ -77,7 +80,7 @@ createEmailPerDayTable()
 startPartitioning()
 {
   echo "running psql-partition-update.sh"
-  /bin/bash psql-partition-update.sh
+  /bin/bash $SCRIPT_DIR/psql-partition-update.sh
 
   echo "starting partitioning the emails table"
   echo "
diff --git a/tools/psql-partition-update.sh b/tools/psql-partition-update.sh
index 8b8d8f9..ae89929 100755
--- a/tools/psql-partition-update.sh
+++ b/tools/psql-partition-update.sh
@@ -12,8 +12,11 @@
 #create new partition after this many rows:
 new_partition_rows=300000;
 
+# Resolve the full path of the script
+SCRIPT_DIR=$(dirname "$(readlink -f "$0")")
+
 #arguments to psql
-psqlArgs="--tuples-only --no-psqlrc --username=mailnesia --quiet";
+source $SCRIPT_DIR/psql-connection-arguments.sh
 
 #number of partitions to keep
 partition_count=30