diff --git a/lib/config.js b/lib/config.js
index e6ddc6f9..0269f82f 100644
--- a/lib/config.js
+++ b/lib/config.js
@@ -105,10 +105,14 @@ function walkConfig(level) {
   return level;
 }
 
-exports.loadObject = function(config, currentEnv) {
+exports.loadObject = function(_config, currentEnv) {
   var out = new Config();
+  // do not overwrite the users config
+  var config = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(_config));
 
   for (var env in config) {
+
+
     if (config[env].ENV) {
       if(!process.env[config[env].ENV])
         log.verbose('Environment variable ' + config[env].ENV + ' is empty!');
@@ -122,6 +126,42 @@ exports.loadObject = function(config, currentEnv) {
       config[env] = walkConfig(config[env]);
       out[env] = config[env];
     }
+
+    if(typeof(config[env].url) === 'string') {
+
+      config[env] = Object.assign(
+        config[env],
+        exports.loadUrl(config[env].url, env)[env]
+      );
+      delete config[env].url;
+    }
+    else if(config[env].url && config[env].url.value) {
+
+      config[env].url = config[env].url.value;
+    }
+
+    if(config[env].overwrite || config[env].addIfNotExists) {
+
+      var overwrite = config[env].overwrite || {};
+
+      if(config[env].addIfNotExists) {
+
+        var addIfNotExists = config[env].addIfNotExists;
+        Object.keys(addIfNotExists).filter(function(key) {
+          return !overwrite[key] && !config[env][key];
+        }).forEach(function(key) {
+          config[env][key] = addIfNotExists[key];
+        });
+
+        delete config[env].addIfNotExists;
+      }
+
+      Object.keys(overwrite).forEach(function(key) {
+        config[env][key] = overwrite[key];
+      });
+
+      delete config[env].overwrite;
+    }
   }
 
   if(currentEnv) {
diff --git a/test/config_test.js b/test/config_test.js
index a73638dd..6abbde1a 100644
--- a/test/config_test.js
+++ b/test/config_test.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ var Lab = require('lab');
 var lab = exports.lab = Lab.script();
 var config = require('../lib/config');
 var path = require('path');
+var sinon = require('sinon');
 
 var _configLoad = config.load;
 var _configLoadUrl = config.loadUrl;
@@ -160,13 +161,7 @@ lab.experiment('config', function() {
     config.load = _configLoad;
     config.loadUrl = _configLoadUrl;
 
-    lab.test('should something', function(done, cleanup) {
-
-        cleanup(function(next) {
-
-          delete require.cache[require.resolve('../lib/config')];
-          next();
-        });
+    lab.test('should something', function(done) {
 
         Code.expect(
           config.load.bind(this, configPath, 'dev')
@@ -174,4 +169,176 @@ lab.experiment('config', function() {
         done();
     });
   });
+
+  lab.experiment('loading a url from url property', function() {
+
+
+    lab.test('should export a valid config',
+      function(done) {
+
+      var databaseUrl = {
+        'dev': {
+          'url': 'postgres://uname:pw@server.com/dbname'
+        }
+      };
+      var cfg = config.loadObject(databaseUrl, 'dev');
+
+      Code.expect(cfg.getCurrent).to.exists();
+      var current = cfg.getCurrent();
+      Code.expect(current.env).to.equal('dev');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.url).to.not.exists();
+      Code.expect(current.settings.driver).to.equal('postgres');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.user).to.equal('uname');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.password).to.equal('pw');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.host).to.equal('server.com');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.database).to.equal('dbname');
+
+      done();
+    });
+
+    lab.test('should export the value if specified in suboject',
+      function(done) {
+
+      var databaseUrl = {
+        'dev': {
+          'url': {
+            'value': 'http://example.com'
+          }
+        }
+      };
+      var cfg = config.loadObject(databaseUrl, 'dev');
+
+      Code.expect(cfg.getCurrent).to.exists();
+      var current = cfg.getCurrent();
+      Code.expect(current.env).to.equal('dev');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.url).to.equal('http://example.com');
+
+      done();
+    });
+  });
+
+  lab.experiment('loading from an URL and overwriting it', function() {
+
+    var databaseUrl = {
+          'dev': {
+            'url': 'postgres://uname:pw@server.com/dbname',
+            'overwrite': {
+              'ssl': true
+            }
+          }
+      };
+
+    var cfg = config.loadObject(databaseUrl, 'dev');
+
+    lab.test('should export the settings as the current environment', function(done) {
+
+      Code.expect(cfg.dev).to.exists();
+      done();
+    });
+
+    lab.test('should export a getCurrent function with all current environment settings',
+      function(done) {
+
+      Code.expect(cfg.getCurrent).to.exists();
+      var current = cfg.getCurrent();
+      Code.expect(current.env).to.equal('dev');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.url).to.not.exists();
+      Code.expect(current.settings.overwrite).to.not.exists();
+      Code.expect(current.settings.driver).to.equal('postgres');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.user).to.equal('uname');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.password).to.equal('pw');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.host).to.equal('server.com');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.database).to.equal('dbname');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.ssl).to.equal(true);
+
+      done();
+    });
+  });
+
+  lab.experiment('loading from an ENV URL within the object and overwriting it',
+    function() {
+
+    lab.test('should export a getCurrent function with all current environment settings',
+      function(done, cleanup) {
+
+      process.env.DATABASE_URL = 'postgres://uname:pw@server.com/dbname';
+      var databaseUrl = {
+          'dev': {
+            'url': { 'ENV': 'DATABASE_URL' },
+            'overwrite': {
+              'ssl': true
+            }
+          }
+      };
+      var cfg = config.loadObject(databaseUrl, 'dev');
+
+      cleanup(function(next) {
+        delete process.env.DATABASE_URL;
+        next();
+      });
+
+      Code.expect(cfg.getCurrent).to.exists();
+      var current = cfg.getCurrent();
+      Code.expect(current.env).to.equal('dev');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.url).to.not.exists();
+      Code.expect(current.settings.overwrite).to.not.exists();
+      Code.expect(current.settings.driver).to.equal('postgres');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.user).to.equal('uname');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.password).to.equal('pw');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.host).to.equal('server.com');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.database).to.equal('dbname');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.ssl).to.equal(true);
+
+      done();
+    });
+  });
+
+  lab.experiment('loading from an ENV URL within the object and extending it from the ENV',
+    function() {
+
+    lab.test('', function(done, cleanup) {
+
+      process.env.DATABASE_URL = 'postgres://uname:pw@server.com/dbname?ssl=false&testing=false';
+      var databaseUrl = {
+        'dev': {
+          'url': {
+            'ENV': 'DATABASE_URL',
+          },
+          'overwrite': {
+            'ssl': true,
+            'cache': false
+          },
+          'addIfNotExists': {
+            'native': true, // this on is new
+            'cache': true, // overwrite should have higher priority
+            'testing': true // already in config do not overwrite
+          }
+        }
+      };
+      var cfg = config.loadObject(databaseUrl, 'dev');
+
+      cleanup(function(next) {
+        delete process.env.DATABASE_URL;
+        next();
+      });
+
+      Code.expect(cfg.getCurrent).to.exists();
+      var current = cfg.getCurrent();
+      Code.expect(current.env).to.equal('dev');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.url).to.not.exists();
+      Code.expect(current.settings.overwrite).to.not.exists();
+      Code.expect(current.settings.addIfNotExists).to.not.exists();
+      Code.expect(current.settings.driver).to.equal('postgres');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.user).to.equal('uname');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.password).to.equal('pw');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.host).to.equal('server.com');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.database).to.equal('dbname');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.native).to.equal(true);
+      Code.expect(current.settings.testing).to.equal('false');
+      Code.expect(current.settings.cache).to.equal(false);
+      Code.expect(current.settings.ssl).to.equal(true);
+
+      done();
+    });
+  });
 });