diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a548a947815d6e6f29801ca8b049dca1d00005d0..8cae3b99e4e03cbeb9198d8f2eee1d6e3b051617 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ example configuration parameters.  These
 parameters should stored in a file formatted
 similarly to `config.json.example`, and the name
 of this file should be stored in the environment
-variable `SETTINGS_FILENAME` when running the service.
+variable `CONFIG_FILENAME` when running the service.
 
 ## Running this module
 
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ For example, the application could be launched as follows:
 
 ```bash
 $ export FLASK_APP=app.py
-$ export SETTINGS_FILENAME=config.json
+$ export CONFIG_FILENAME=config.json
 $ flask run
 ```
 
diff --git a/brian_dashboard_manager/__init__.py b/brian_dashboard_manager/__init__.py
index 1f4637c0d70f0d30547ca24be961e2c44d3a68e8..e929766837764b2469403562629410388d702957 100644
--- a/brian_dashboard_manager/__init__.py
+++ b/brian_dashboard_manager/__init__.py
@@ -15,19 +15,19 @@ CONFIG_KEY = 'CONFIG_PARAMS'
 def create_app():
     """
     overrides default settings with those found
-    in the file read from env var SETTINGS_FILENAME
+    in the file read from env var CONFIG_FILENAME
 
     :return: a new flask app instance
     """
 
-    required_env_vars = ['SETTINGS_FILENAME']
+    required_env_vars = ['CONFIG_FILENAME']
 
     assert all([n in os.environ for n in required_env_vars]), \
         'environment variables %r must be defined' % required_env_vars
 
     app_config = config.defaults()
-    if 'SETTINGS_FILENAME' in os.environ:
-        with open(os.environ['SETTINGS_FILENAME']) as f:
+    if 'CONFIG_FILENAME' in os.environ:
+        with open(os.environ['CONFIG_FILENAME']) as f:
             app_config.update(config.load(f))
 
     app = Flask(__name__)
diff --git a/test/conftest.py b/test/conftest.py
index 09de236391600e07f080295c84fbcf3fdee897e1..148685debfcb07b9863544c69595c9a85819730c 100644
--- a/test/conftest.py
+++ b/test/conftest.py
@@ -59,6 +59,6 @@ def data_config_filename(data_config):
 
 @pytest.fixture
 def client(data_config_filename):
-    os.environ['SETTINGS_FILENAME'] = data_config_filename
+    os.environ['CONFIG_FILENAME'] = data_config_filename
     with brian_dashboard_manager.create_app().test_client() as c:
         yield c