diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4be8238c9..b5efed9d5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ BrowserQuest
 
 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/browserquest/BrowserQuest.png)](https://travis-ci.org/browserquest/BrowserQuest) [![Dependency Status](https://gemnasium.com/browserquest/BrowserQuest.png)](https://gemnasium.com/browserquest/BrowserQuest)
 
+[![Deploy](https://www.herokucdn.com/deploy/button.svg)](https://heroku.com/deploy)
+
 [BrowserQuest](http://browserquest-teambq.rhcloud.com:8000) is a HTML5/JavaScript multiplayer game experiment.
 
 It has three major parts:
@@ -52,7 +54,7 @@ Then install the Node.js dependencies by running:
 
     $ npm config set registry http://registry.npmjs.org/
     $ npm install -d
-    
+
 Before starting the BrowserQuest server, you must start Redis. In Windows, you can simply run `redis-server.exe` in your `redis\bin\release` directory.
 
 Then start the server by running:
@@ -176,11 +178,11 @@ Currently, BrowserQuest can run on the following PAAS (Platform as a Service) pr
         $ git remote add github https://github.com/browserquest/BrowserQuest.git
         $ git fetch github
         $ git reset --hard github/master
-        
+
 5. Copy the BrowserQuest config file with the following command:
 
         $ cp server/config.json server/config_local.json
-    
+
 6. Open `server/config_local.json` in a text editor such as Gedit (Linux), TextEdit (OS X), or Vim.
 On the line that reads `"production": "heroku",`, change `"heroku"` to `"openshift"`.
 
@@ -201,7 +203,7 @@ Congratulations! You have now deployed BrowserQuest to Openshift! You can see th
 Visit the url shown by the above command to see BrowserQuest running. You will need to add ":8000" to the end. Use the url below as a guide:
 
     http://your_openshift_browserquest_url.rhcloud.com:8000/
-    
+
 ### Instructions for Heroku ###
 
 1. Install the Heroku toolbelt from [here](https://toolbelt.herokuapp.com/).
@@ -209,35 +211,29 @@ Visit the url shown by the above command to see BrowserQuest running. You will n
 2. Create a new application by running the following command:
 
         $ heroku create [NAME]
-    
+
 Where [NAME] is an optional name for your application (Heroku will automatically create one otherwise).
 
-3. Sign up for a Redis provider, such as [Redis To Go](https://redistogo.com), or host a Redis instance yourself.
+3. Add heroku-redis add-on:
+
+        heroku addons:create heroku-redis:hobby-dev
 
 4. Run the following commands to allow BrowserQuest to run on Heroku:
 
         $ heroku config:add HEROKU=true
-        $ heroku config:add HEROKU_REDIS_HOST=[REDIS_HOST]
-        $ heroku config:add HEROKU_REDIS_PORT=[REDIS_PORT]
-        $ heroku config:add HEROKU_REDIS_PASSWORD=[REDIS_PASSWORD]
-    
-Where [REDIS_HOST], [REDIS_PORT], and [REDIS_PASSOWRD] are your Redis hostname, port, and password, respectively.
-If you Redis instance is configued without a password, omit the last command.
 
-Note: If you use RedisToGo, you will be provided with a URL that looks something like this:
+  If you need to use a different Redis provider than `heroku-redis`, set a `REDIS_URL`:
 
-    redis://redistogo:12345678901234567890@something.redistogo.com:9023/
-    
-In this case, your REDIS_HOST is `something.redistogo.com`, your REDIS_PORT is `9023`, and your REDIS_PASSWORD is `12345678901234567890`.
+      $ heroku config:add REDIS_URL=[REDIS_URL]
 
 5. Deploy to Heroku by running the following command:
 
         $ git push heroku master
-    
+
 6. Enable the Heroku WebSockets lab (needed for communication between the browser and the BrowserQuest server) with the following command:
 
         $ heroku labs:enable websockets
-    
+
 
 Congratulations! You have now deployed BrowserQuest to Heroku! To open BrowserQuest in your browser, run `heroku open`.
 
diff --git a/app.json b/app.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0ee8aff55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app.json
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+  "name": "BrowserQuest",
+  "description": "HTML5/JavaScript multiplayer game experiment",
+  "website": "https://github.com/shvelo/BrowserQuest",
+  "success_url": "/",
+  "addons": ["heroku-redis:hobby-dev"],
+  "env": {
+    "HEROKU": "true"
+  },
+  "scripts": {
+  }
+}
diff --git a/server/config.json b/server/config.json
index d9daa897a..5f61ea40e 100644
--- a/server/config.json
+++ b/server/config.json
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@
     "map_filepath": "./server/maps/world_server.json",
     "metrics_enabled": false,
     "use_one_port": true,
-    "redis_port": 6379,
-    "redis_host": "127.0.0.1",
+    "redis_url": "redis://127.0.0.1:6379",
     "memcached_host": "127.0.0.1",
     "memcached_port": 11211,
     "game_servers": [{"server": "localhost", "name": "localhost"}],
diff --git a/server/js/db_providers/redis.js b/server/js/db_providers/redis.js
index 348858683..a9e81b931 100644
--- a/server/js/db_providers/redis.js
+++ b/server/js/db_providers/redis.js
@@ -8,8 +8,12 @@ var cls = require("../lib/class"),
 
 module.exports = DatabaseHandler = cls.Class.extend({
     init: function(config){
-        client = redis.createClient(config.redis_port, config.redis_host, {socket_nodelay: true});
-        client.auth(config.redis_password || "");
+        if(config.redis_url) {
+          client = redis.createClient(config.redis_url, {socket_nodelay: true});
+        } else {
+          client = redis.createClient(config.redis_port, config.redis_host, {socket_nodelay: true});
+          client.auth(config.redis_password || "");
+        }
     },
     loadPlayer: function(player){
         var self = this;
diff --git a/server/production_hosts/heroku.js b/server/production_hosts/heroku.js
index 49b4ee40e..c2faf7db8 100644
--- a/server/production_hosts/heroku.js
+++ b/server/production_hosts/heroku.js
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 var config = {}
 
 config.port = process.env.PORT;
-config.redis_port = process.env.HEROKU_REDIS_PORT
-config.redis_host = process.env.HEROKU_REDIS_HOST
-config.redis_password = process.env.HEROKU_REDIS_PASSWORD
+config.redis_url = process.env.REDIS_URL
 
 config.isActive = function() {
   return process.env.HEROKU !== undefined;
diff --git a/server/production_hosts/openshift.js b/server/production_hosts/openshift.js
index b566d8d71..69e4d3f56 100644
--- a/server/production_hosts/openshift.js
+++ b/server/production_hosts/openshift.js
@@ -3,9 +3,10 @@ var config = {}
 
 config.ip = process.env.OPENSHIFT_NODEJS_IP;
 config.port = process.env.OPENSHIFT_NODEJS_PORT;
-config.redis_port = process.env.OPENSHIFT_REDIS_PORT || process.env.OPENSHIFT_REDIS_DB_PORT
-config.redis_host = process.env.OPENSHIFT_REDIS_HOST || process.env.OPENSHIFT_REDIS_DB_HOST
-config.redis_password = process.env.REDIS_PASSWORD
+config.redis_url = false;
+config.redis_port = process.env.OPENSHIFT_REDIS_PORT || process.env.OPENSHIFT_REDIS_DB_PORT;
+config.redis_host = process.env.OPENSHIFT_REDIS_HOST || process.env.OPENSHIFT_REDIS_DB_HOST;
+config.redis_password = process.env.REDIS_PASSWORD;
 
 config.isActive = function() {
   return process.env.OPENSHIFT_NODEJS_IP !== undefined;