diff --git a/beat/web/settings/test.py b/beat/web/settings/test.py
index e38b2658456f5f9d01eda579b412dcb422b50bb5..253fc5a1d9b3adde457c441b58b815fb866a39b5 100644
--- a/beat/web/settings/test.py
+++ b/beat/web/settings/test.py
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ import sys
 if '-k' in sys.argv or '--keepdb' in sys.argv:
     # keeps the SQLite3 database around to avoid re-running migrations
     DATABASES['default']['TEST'] = {'NAME': 'test.sql3'}
+elif 'beat.cmdline' in sys.argv:
+    # make it in-memory
+    DATABASES['default']['NAME'] = ':memory:'
 
 PREFIX           = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'test_prefix')
 ALGORITHMS_ROOT  = os.path.join(PREFIX, 'algorithms')