diff --git a/gateway/server.go b/gateway/server.go
index 876640e5cf3..e853d5824d6 100644
--- a/gateway/server.go
+++ b/gateway/server.go
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ func (gw *Gateway) setupGlobals() {
 			time.Duration(gwConfig.DnsCache.CheckInterval)*time.Second)
 	}
 
-	if gwConfig.EnableAnalytics && gwConfig.Storage.Type != "redis" {
+	if gwConfig.EnableAnalytics && gwConfig.Storage.Type != "redis" && gwConfig.Storage.Type != "local" {
 		mainLog.Fatal("Analytics requires Redis Storage backend, please enable Redis in the tyk.conf file.")
 	}
 
@@ -1248,8 +1248,8 @@ func (gw *Gateway) initialiseSystem() error {
 		}
 	}
 
-	if gwConfig.Storage.Type != "redis" {
-		mainLog.Fatal("Redis connection details not set, please ensure that the storage type is set to Redis and that the connection parameters are correct.")
+	if gwConfig.Storage.Type != "redis" && gwConfig.Storage.Type != "local" {
+		mainLog.Fatal("storage connection details not set, please ensure that the storage type is set to Redis and that the connection parameters are correct.")
 	}
 
 	// suply rpc client globals to join it main loging and instrumentation sub systems
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index fca2be8fc9a..096ac9568b2 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -221,6 +221,8 @@ require (
 	nhooyr.io/websocket v1.8.10 // indirect
 )
 
+// replace github.com/TykTechnologies/storage => ../storage
+
 //replace github.com/TykTechnologies/graphql-go-tools => ../graphql-go-tools
 
 //replace github.com/TykTechnologies/graphql-go-tools/v2 => ../graphql-go-tools/v2
diff --git a/storage/connection_handler.go b/storage/connection_handler.go
index de22cd7d05b..93eaccf6cf3 100644
--- a/storage/connection_handler.go
+++ b/storage/connection_handler.go
@@ -238,6 +238,11 @@ func NewConnector(connType string, conf config.Config) (model.Connector, error)
 	}
 	log.Debug("Creating new " + connType + " Storage connection")
 
+	// we can ignore everything for a local connector
+	if cfg.Type == "local" {
+		return connector.NewConnector(model.LocalType)
+	}
+
 	// poolSize applies per cluster node and not for the whole cluster.
 	poolSize := 500
 	if cfg.MaxActive > 0 {