diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 772bd9f..11d9787 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,7 +7,19 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
-## [0.0.16] - 2026-08-04
+### Fixed
+
+- **`DatabaseConfig` ignored values passed by field name** (`jvspatial/api/config_groups.py`).
+  Its aliased fields (`dynamodb_*`, `postgres_*`) carry a `validation_alias`, and a
+  pydantic v2 model accepts an aliased field *only* by its alias unless it opts into
+  `populate_by_name` — which `AuthConfig` does and `DatabaseConfig` did not. So every
+  such value passed by field name was silently discarded: both
+  `server_config_overrides_from_env()`, which keys its database group by field name,
+  and embedding hosts constructing a `DatabaseConfig` directly. Nothing raised,
+  because the adapters then read the same settings from env themselves — the
+  configuration object was simply never the source of truth it appeared to be.
+  DynamoDB was affected the whole time; Postgres inherited it in 0.0.16. Coverage:
+  `tests/api/test_database_config_population.py`.
 
 ### Added
 
diff --git a/jvspatial/api/config_groups.py b/jvspatial/api/config_groups.py
index 3105cf7..42474b4 100644
--- a/jvspatial/api/config_groups.py
+++ b/jvspatial/api/config_groups.py
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@
 class DatabaseConfig(BaseModel):
     """Database configuration group."""
 
+    # Aliased fields below are settable only by their alias unless the model
+    # opts in here, so callers passing them by field name -- including
+    # ``server_config_overrides_from_env`` -- were silently ignored.
+    model_config = ConfigDict(populate_by_name=True)
+
     db_type: Optional[str] = None
     db_path: Optional[str] = None
     db_path_resolve: Optional[str] = Field(
diff --git a/tests/api/test_database_config_population.py b/tests/api/test_database_config_population.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42ff309
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/api/test_database_config_population.py
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+"""DatabaseConfig accepts its fields by name, not only by env alias.
+
+Aliased fields on a pydantic v2 model are settable *only* by their alias
+unless the model opts into ``populate_by_name``. ``DatabaseConfig`` did not,
+so every ``dynamodb_*`` (and later ``postgres_*``) value passed by field name
+-- by ``server_config_overrides_from_env`` and by embedding hosts building a
+``DatabaseConfig`` directly -- was silently dropped. Nothing raised; the
+backend simply fell back to reading env itself, which masked it.
+
+``AuthConfig`` already sets ``populate_by_name``; these tests pin the same
+contract for ``DatabaseConfig``.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+
+from jvspatial.api.config_groups import DatabaseConfig
+
+_ALIASED_FIELDS = [
+    ("dynamodb_table_name", "JVSPATIAL_DYNAMODB_TABLE_NAME", "my-table"),
+    ("dynamodb_region", "JVSPATIAL_DYNAMODB_REGION", "eu-west-1"),
+    ("dynamodb_endpoint_url", "JVSPATIAL_DYNAMODB_ENDPOINT_URL", "http://localhost"),
+    ("dynamodb_access_key_id", "AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID", "AKIAEXAMPLE"),
+    ("dynamodb_secret_access_key", "AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY", "secret"),
+    ("postgres_dsn", "JVSPATIAL_POSTGRES_DSN", "postgresql://u:p@h:5432/db"),
+    ("postgres_pooler_mode", "JVSPATIAL_POSTGRES_POOLER_MODE", "transaction"),
+]
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("field,alias,value", _ALIASED_FIELDS)
+def test_field_name_population(field: str, alias: str, value: str) -> None:
+    assert getattr(DatabaseConfig(**{field: value}), field) == value
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("field,alias,value", _ALIASED_FIELDS)
+def test_alias_population_still_works(field: str, alias: str, value: str) -> None:
+    """The env alias path must keep working — it is how env overrides land."""
+    assert getattr(DatabaseConfig(**{alias: value}), field) == value
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "field,value",
+    [("postgres_min_pool_size", 2), ("postgres_max_pool_size", 20)],
+)
+def test_integer_fields_populate_by_name(field: str, value: int) -> None:
+    assert getattr(DatabaseConfig(**{field: value}), field) == value
+
+
+def test_env_adapter_output_lands_on_the_model(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    """The dict built from env must actually populate the model.
+
+    ``server_config_overrides_from_env`` keys its database group by field
+    name, so this is the path that was quietly inert.
+    """
+    from jvspatial.env_adapter import server_config_overrides_from_env
+
+    monkeypatch.setenv("JVSPATIAL_DB_TYPE", "postgres")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("JVSPATIAL_POSTGRES_DSN", "postgresql://u:p@h:5432/db")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("JVSPATIAL_POSTGRES_MAX_POOL_SIZE", "7")
+
+    db = DatabaseConfig(**server_config_overrides_from_env()["database"])
+
+    assert db.db_type == "postgres"
+    assert db.postgres_dsn == "postgresql://u:p@h:5432/db"
+    assert db.postgres_max_pool_size == 7
+
+
+def test_unaliased_fields_unaffected() -> None:
+    db = DatabaseConfig(db_type="json", db_path="./jvdb")
+    assert (db.db_type, db.db_path) == ("json", "./jvdb")