diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
index 74beb77d6e..7fdee397f9 100644
--- a/app.js
+++ b/app.js
@@ -104,7 +104,9 @@ function loadConfig() {
 	nconf.set('core_templates_path', path.join(__dirname, 'src/views'));
 	nconf.set('base_templates_path', path.join(nconf.get('themes_path'), 'nodebb-theme-persona/templates'));
 
-	nconf.set('url_parsed', url.parse(nconf.get('url')));
+	if (nconf.get('url')) {
+		nconf.set('url_parsed', url.parse(nconf.get('url')));
+	}
 }