diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/database/sqlite3.test.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/database/sqlite3.test.ts
index cf22fa28ee..86f3a6968b 100644
--- a/packages/backend-common/src/database/sqlite3.test.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/database/sqlite3.test.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ describe('sqlite3', () => {
     new ConfigReader({ client: 'sqlite3', connection });
 
   describe('buildSqliteDatabaseConfig', () => {
-    it('builds an in memory connection', () => {
+    it('builds an in-memory connection', () => {
       expect(buildSqliteDatabaseConfig(createConfig(':memory:'))).toEqual({
         client: 'sqlite3',
         connection: { filename: ':memory:' },
@@ -34,6 +34,19 @@ describe('sqlite3', () => {
       });
     });
 
+    it('builds an in-memory connection by override with filename', () => {
+      expect(
+        buildSqliteDatabaseConfig(
+          createConfig(path.join('path', 'to', 'foo')),
+          { connection: ':memory:' },
+        ),
+      ).toEqual({
+        client: 'sqlite3',
+        connection: { filename: ':memory:' },
+        useNullAsDefault: true,
+      });
+    });
+
     it('builds a persistent connection, normalize config with filename', () => {
       expect(
         buildSqliteDatabaseConfig(createConfig(path.join('path', 'to', 'foo'))),
diff --git a/packages/backend-common/src/database/sqlite3.ts b/packages/backend-common/src/database/sqlite3.ts
index c73f3f7029..170ea5215d 100644
--- a/packages/backend-common/src/database/sqlite3.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-common/src/database/sqlite3.ts
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ export function createSqliteDatabaseClient(
 
   // If storage on disk is used, ensure that the directory exists
   if (
-    typeof knexConfig.connection === 'object' &&
+    knexConfig.connection &&
     (knexConfig.connection as Knex.Sqlite3ConnectionConfig).filename
   ) {
     const { filename } = knexConfig.connection as Knex.Sqlite3ConnectionConfig;
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ export function buildSqliteDatabaseConfig(
   if (typeof baseConfig.connection === 'string') {
     baseConfig.connection = { filename: baseConfig.connection };
   }
+  if (overrides && typeof overrides.connection === 'string') {
+    overrides.connection = { filename: overrides.connection };
+  }
 
   const config: Knex.Config = mergeDatabaseConfig(
     baseConfig,
@@ -82,7 +85,7 @@ export function buildSqliteDatabaseConfig(
   // If we don't create an in-memory database, interpret the connection string
   // as a directory that contains multiple sqlite files based on the database
   // name.
-  if (config.connection && typeof config.connection === 'object') {
+  if (config.connection) {
     const database = (config.connection as Knex.ConnectionConfig).database;
     const sqliteConnection = config.connection as Knex.Sqlite3ConnectionConfig;