diff --git a/docs/installation/debian.rst b/docs/installation/debian.rst
index 171f28c44c4aa87cf7b938cfbe58812cdb9c7998..3bdc000e41f66123ef311f4543b111452888b7f0 100644
--- a/docs/installation/debian.rst
+++ b/docs/installation/debian.rst
@@ -213,6 +213,9 @@ Download the sample environment file:
 .. parsed-literal::
 
     curl -L -o config/.env "https://dev.funkwhale.audio/funkwhale/funkwhale/raw/develop/deploy/env.prod.sample"
+    # symlink it so it's sourced automatically by the API process
+    # (This won't be needed anymore once release 0.18 is out)
+    ln -s /srv/funkwhale/config/.env /srv/funkwhale/api/.env
 
 .. note::
 
@@ -228,10 +231,6 @@ Especially, populate the ``DATABASE_URL`` and ``CACHE_URL`` values based on
 how you configured your PostgreSQL and Redis servers in
 :doc:`external dependencies <./external_dependencies>`.
 
-.. note::
-
-    The environment file at config/.env is loaded automatically by Funkwhale processes.
-
 Database setup
 ---------------