diff --git a/backend/.gitignore b/backend/.gitignore
index cdf2f29..5cff3b3 100644
--- a/backend/.gitignore
+++ b/backend/.gitignore
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ pom.xml.asc
 /.clj-kondo/.cache
 result
 data
+*~
diff --git a/backend/src/beherbergung/config/state.clj b/backend/src/beherbergung/config/state.clj
index d842b4f..0530b5f 100644
--- a/backend/src/beherbergung/config/state.clj
+++ b/backend/src/beherbergung/config/state.clj
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 (s/def ::admin-passphrase (s/nilable string?))  ;; allows setting up ngo logins and encrypted downloads of db exports
 (s/def ::admin-gpg-id string?)
 
-(s/def ::import-file string?)
+(s/def ::import-file (s/nilable string?))
 
 (s/def ::mail-host string?)
 (s/def ::mail-user string?)
diff --git a/backend/src/config.edn b/backend/src/config.edn
index c93217a..a000945 100644
--- a/backend/src/config.edn
+++ b/backend/src/config.edn
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
  :db-export-prefix "./data/export/"
  :db-validate true
 
+ :import-file nil
+
  ;:mail-host ""
  ;:mail-user ""
  ;:mail-pass ""