diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/config.ts b/apps/server/src/services/config.ts
index 1d7cc9dec..2089c03ce 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/config.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/config.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ export interface TriliumConfig {
         noAuthentication: boolean;
         noBackup: boolean;
         noDesktopIcon: boolean;
+        readOnly: boolean;
     };
     Network: {
         host: string;
@@ -62,7 +63,10 @@ const config: TriliumConfig = {
             envToBoolean(process.env.TRILIUM_GENERAL_NOBACKUP) || iniConfig.General.noBackup || false,
 
         noDesktopIcon:
-            envToBoolean(process.env.TRILIUM_GENERAL_NODESKTOPICON) || iniConfig.General.noDesktopIcon || false
+            envToBoolean(process.env.TRILIUM_GENERAL_NODESKTOPICON) || iniConfig.General.noDesktopIcon || false,
+
+        readOnly:
+            envToBoolean(process.env.TRILIUM_GENERAL_READONLY) || iniConfig.General.readOnly || false
     },
 
     Network: {
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/sql.ts b/apps/server/src/services/sql.ts
index f686b0876..84ddf107b 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/sql.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/sql.ts
@@ -13,18 +13,20 @@ import Database from "better-sqlite3";
 import ws from "./ws.js";
 import becca_loader from "../becca/becca_loader.js";
 import entity_changes from "./entity_changes.js";
+import config from "./config.js";
 
 let dbConnection: DatabaseType = buildDatabase();
 let statementCache: Record<string, Statement> = {};
 
 function buildDatabase() {
+    // for integration tests, ignore the config's readOnly setting
     if (process.env.TRILIUM_INTEGRATION_TEST === "memory") {
         return buildIntegrationTestDatabase();
     } else if (process.env.TRILIUM_INTEGRATION_TEST === "memory-no-store") {
         return new Database(":memory:");
     }
 
-    return new Database(dataDir.DOCUMENT_PATH);
+    return new Database(dataDir.DOCUMENT_PATH, { readonly: config.General.readOnly });
 }
 
 function buildIntegrationTestDatabase(dbPath?: string) {