diff --git a/Makefile.local b/Makefile.local
index 46177f72..ff9cc0bb 100644
--- a/Makefile.local
+++ b/Makefile.local
@@ -1,75 +1,75 @@
 TEST_DIRS := ./swh/web/tests
 TESTFLAGS = --hypothesis-profile=swh-web-fast
 TESTFULL_FLAGS = --hypothesis-profile=swh-web
 YARN ?= yarn
 
 yarn-install: package.json
 	$(YARN) install
 
 .PHONY: build-webpack-dev
 build-webpack-dev: yarn-install
 	$(YARN) build-dev
 
 .PHONY: build-webpack-test
 build-webpack-test: yarn-install
 	$(YARN) build-test
 
 .PHONY: build-webpack-dev-no-verbose
 build-webpack-dev-no-verbose: yarn-install
 	$(YARN) build-dev >/dev/null
 
 .PHONY: build-webpack-prod
 build-webpack-prod: yarn-install
 	$(YARN) build
 
 .PHONY: run-migrations
 run-migrations:
-	python3 swh/web/manage.py migrate -v0 2>/dev/null
-	python3 swh/web/manage.py createcachetable -v0 2>/dev/null
+	python3 swh/web/manage.py migrate --settings=swh.web.settings.development -v0 2>/dev/null
+	python3 swh/web/manage.py createcachetable --settings=swh.web.settings.development -v0 2>/dev/null
 
 .PHONY: run-migrations-prod
 run-migrations-prod:
 	django-admin migrate --settings=swh.web.settings.production -v0 2>/dev/null
 	django-admin createcachetable --settings=swh.web.settings.production -v0 2>/dev/null
 
 .PHONY: run-migrations-test
 run-migrations-test:
 	rm -f swh/web/settings/testdb.sqlite3
 	django-admin migrate --settings=swh.web.settings.tests -v0 2>/dev/null
 	django-admin createcachetable --settings=swh.web.settings.tests -v0 2>/dev/null
 	cat swh/web/tests/create_test_admin.py | django-admin shell --settings=swh.web.settings.tests
 
 .PHONY: clear-memcached
 clear-memcached:
 	echo "flush_all" | nc -q 2 localhost 11211 2>/dev/null
 
 run-django-webpack-devserver: run-migrations yarn-install
-	bash -c "trap 'trap - SIGINT SIGTERM ERR; kill %1' SIGINT SIGTERM ERR; $(YARN) start-dev & sleep 10 && cd swh/web && python3 manage.py runserver --nostatic"
+	bash -c "trap 'trap - SIGINT SIGTERM ERR; kill %1' SIGINT SIGTERM ERR; $(YARN) start-dev & sleep 10 && cd swh/web && python3 manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=swh.web.settings.development"
 
 run-django-webpack-dev: build-webpack-dev run-migrations
-	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic
+	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=swh.web.settings.development
 
 run-django-webpack-prod: build-webpack-prod run-migrations-prod clear-memcached
 	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=swh.web.settings.production
 
 run-django-server-dev: run-migrations
-	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic
+	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=swh.web.settings.development
 
 run-django-server-prod: run-migrations-prod clear-memcached
 	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=swh.web.settings.production
 
 run-gunicorn-server: run-migrations clear-memcached
 	gunicorn3 -b 127.0.0.1:5004 swh.web.wsgi
 
 run-django-webpack-memory-storages: build-webpack-dev run-migrations
 	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=swh.web.settings.tests
 
 test-full:
 	$(TEST) $(TESTFULL_FLAGS) $(TEST_DIRS)
 
 test-frontend: build-webpack-test run-migrations-test
 	python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=swh.web.settings.tests & sleep 10 && $(YARN) run cypress run && pkill -P $$! && $(YARN) run mochawesome
 
 test-frontend-ui: build-webpack-test run-migrations-test
 	bash -c "trap 'trap - SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT; jobs -p | head -1 | xargs pkill -P' SIGINT SIGTERM ERR EXIT; python3 swh/web/manage.py runserver --nostatic --settings=swh.web.settings.tests & sleep 10 && $(YARN) run cypress open"
 
diff --git a/swh/web/manage.py b/swh/web/manage.py
index 52277bf3..4ab9fdd1 100755
--- a/swh/web/manage.py
+++ b/swh/web/manage.py
@@ -1,53 +1,46 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 
 # Copyright (C) 2017-2018  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU Affero General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
-import os
 import sys
 
 from swh.web import config
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     swh_web_config = config.get_config()
     # the serving of static assets in development mode is handled
     # in swh/web/urls.py, we pass the nostatic options to runserver
     # in order to have gzip compression enabled.
     swh_web_config['serve_assets'] = '--nostatic' in sys.argv
-    if len(sys.argv) > 1 and sys.argv[1] == 'test':
-        os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE",
-                              "swh.web.settings.tests")
-    else:
-        os.environ.setdefault("DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE",
-                              "swh.web.settings.development")
     # import root urls module for swh-web before running the django dev server
     # in order to ensure it will be automatically reloaded when source files
     # are modified (as django autoreload feature only works if the modules are
     # in sys.modules)
     try:
         from swh.web import urls # noqa
     except Exception:
         pass
     try:
         from django.core.management.commands.runserver import (
             Command as runserver
         )
         from django.core.management import execute_from_command_line
     except ImportError:
         # The above import may fail for some other reason. Ensure that the
         # issue is really that Django is missing to avoid masking other
         # exceptions on Python 2.
         try:
             import django # noqa
         except ImportError:
             raise ImportError(
                 "Couldn't import Django. Are you sure it's installed and "
                 "available on your PYTHONPATH environment variable? Did you "
                 "forget to activate a virtual environment?"
             )
         raise
     runserver.default_port = swh_web_config['port']
     runserver.default_addr = swh_web_config['host']
     execute_from_command_line(sys.argv)