diff --git a/apiserver/__init__.py b/apiserver/__init__.py
index d7a803fadc48a66e258ab37e1eb01d236f46b239..3fe300e2854a164124076a4d87784a1e83530387 100644
--- a/apiserver/__init__.py
+++ b/apiserver/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-from .main import app
\ No newline at end of file
+from .main import app, settings
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apiserver/config.env b/apiserver/config.env
index ee76c5c0f0c5e4903045729dab1022774c6ed565..0ce008f8b58e3ab4940a591fa146e286816705db 100644
--- a/apiserver/config.env
+++ b/apiserver/config.env
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@
 # DATACATALOG_APISERVER_HOST="0.0.0.0",
 # DATACATALOG_APISERVER_PORT=80
 DATACATALOG_APISERVER_JSON_STORAGE_PATH="./app/data"
+DATACATALOG_APISERVER_USERDB_PATH="./app/userdb.json"
diff --git a/apiserver/config/settings.py b/apiserver/config/settings.py
index 336c89dcea87ccdae1b30c0efea11dc8e7275211..54dfd702ba062eeb8442a350eb9b1f522d9bbafa 100644
--- a/apiserver/config/settings.py
+++ b/apiserver/config/settings.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ DEFAULT_JSON_FILEPATH: str = "./app/data"
 
 class ApiserverSettings(BaseSettings):
     json_storage_path: str = DEFAULT_JSON_FILEPATH
+    userdb_path: str = None
 
     class Config:
         env_prefix: str = "datacatalog_apiserver_"