diff --git a/RetrievalAugmentedGeneration/common/utils.py b/RetrievalAugmentedGeneration/common/utils.py
index 99fda3f95..13820ba27 100644
--- a/RetrievalAugmentedGeneration/common/utils.py
+++ b/RetrievalAugmentedGeneration/common/utils.py
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ def get_vector_index() -> VectorStoreIndex:
 
     logger.info(f"Using {config.vector_store.name} as vector store")
     if config.vector_store.name == "pgvector":
-        connection_string = f"postgresql://{os.getenv('POSTGRES_USER', '')}:{os.getenv('POSTGRES_PASSWORD', '')}@{config.vector_store.url}"
-        db_name = "vector_db"
+        db_name = os.getenv('POSTGRES_DB', 'vector_db')
+        connection_string = f"postgresql://{os.getenv('POSTGRES_USER', '')}:{os.getenv('POSTGRES_PASSWORD', '')}@{config.vector_store.url}/{db_name}"
 
         conn = psycopg2.connect(connection_string)
         conn.autocommit = True
diff --git a/deploy/compose/compose.env b/deploy/compose/compose.env
index 52cb14656..cac6a6640 100644
--- a/deploy/compose/compose.env
+++ b/deploy/compose/compose.env
@@ -34,11 +34,15 @@ export RAG_EXAMPLE="developer_rag"
 # [OPTIONAL] the config file for chain server w.r.t. pwd
 export APP_CONFIG_FILE=/dev/null
 
-# parameters for PGVector, update this when using PGVector Vecotor store
+# parameters for PGVector, update this when using PGVector Vector store
 # export POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
 # export POSTGRES_USER=postgres
 # export POSTGRES_DB=api
 
+# Update this line when using an external PGVector Vector store
+# export POSTGRES_HOST_IP=pgvector
+# export POSTGRES_PORT_NUMBER=5432
+
 ### Riva Parameters:
 
 # Riva Speech API URI: Riva Server IP address/hostname and port
diff --git a/deploy/compose/docker-compose-pgvector.yaml b/deploy/compose/docker-compose-pgvector.yaml
index 9ad8ff56b..459d1535b 100644
--- a/deploy/compose/docker-compose-pgvector.yaml
+++ b/deploy/compose/docker-compose-pgvector.yaml
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ services:
         EXAMPLE_NAME: ${RAG_EXAMPLE}
     command: --port 8081 --host 0.0.0.0
     environment:
-      APP_VECTORSTORE_URL: "pgvector:5432"
+      APP_VECTORSTORE_URL: "${POSTGRES_HOST_IP:-pgvector}:${POSTGRES_PORT_NUMBER:-5432}"
       APP_VECTORSTORE_NAME: "pgvector"
       APP_LLM_SERVERURL: "llm:8001"
       APP_LLM_MODELNAME: "ensemble"