diff --git a/packages/backend/src/constants.ts b/packages/backend/src/constants.ts
index a9412a76..b274ca44 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/constants.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/constants.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import { Settings } from "./types.js";
 export const DEFAULT_SETTINGS: Settings = {
     maxFileSize: 2 * 1024 * 1024, // 2MB in bytes
     maxTrigramCount: 20000,
-    autoDeleteStaleRepos: true,
-    reindexInterval: 1000 * 60 * 60, // 1 hour in milliseconds
-    resyncInterval: 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24, // 1 day in milliseconds
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+    autoDeleteStaleRepos: true
+}
+
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/environment.ts b/packages/backend/src/environment.ts
index a9fee07d..1da9c691 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/environment.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/environment.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,13 @@ export const getEnvBoolean = (env: string | undefined, defaultValue: boolean) =>
 	return env === 'true' || env === '1';
 }
 
+export const getEnvNumber = (env: number | undefined, defaultValue: number ) => {
+	if (!env) {
+		return defaultValue;
+	}
+	return env;
+}
+
 dotenv.config({
 	path: './.env',
 });
@@ -21,3 +28,5 @@ export const SOURCEBOT_INSTALL_ID = getEnv(process.env.SOURCEBOT_INSTALL_ID, 'un
 export const SOURCEBOT_VERSION = getEnv(process.env.SOURCEBOT_VERSION, 'unknown')!;
 export const POSTHOG_PAPIK = getEnv(process.env.POSTHOG_PAPIK);
 export const POSTHOG_HOST = getEnv(process.env.POSTHOG_HOST);
+export const REINDEX_INTERVAL_MS = getEnvNumber(Number(process.env.REINDEX_INTERVAL_MS), 1000*60*60 )!;
+export const RESYNC_CONFIG_INTERVAL_MS = getEnvNumber(Number(process.env.RESYNC_CONFIG_INTERVAL_MS), 1000*60*60*24 )!;
diff --git a/packages/backend/src/main.ts b/packages/backend/src/main.ts
index 21076965..c072879f 100644
--- a/packages/backend/src/main.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/src/main.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import { createLogger } from "./logger.js";
 import { createRepository, Database, loadDB, updateRepository, updateSettings } from './db.js';
 import { arraysEqualShallow, isRemotePath, measure } from "./utils.js";
 import { DEFAULT_SETTINGS } from "./constants.js";
+import { REINDEX_INTERVAL_MS, RESYNC_CONFIG_INTERVAL_MS } from './environment.js';
 import stripJsonComments from 'strip-json-comments';
 import { indexGitRepository, indexLocalRepository } from "./zoekt.js";
 import { getLocalRepoFromConfig, initLocalRepoFileWatchers } from "./local.js";