diff --git a/crates/corpus-core/src/db.rs b/crates/corpus-core/src/db.rs
index ae706c0..734f5b1 100644
--- a/crates/corpus-core/src/db.rs
+++ b/crates/corpus-core/src/db.rs
@@ -13,14 +13,29 @@
 use crate::error::Result;
 use sqlx::postgres::PgPoolOptions;
 use sqlx::PgPool;
+use std::{future::Future, time::Duration};
+
+const DATABASE_STARTUP_ATTEMPTS: u32 = 10;
+const DATABASE_STARTUP_INITIAL_BACKOFF: Duration = Duration::from_secs(1);
+const DATABASE_STARTUP_MAX_BACKOFF: Duration = Duration::from_secs(5);
+const DATABASE_CONNECT_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_secs(3);
 
 /// Open a Postgres pool (`max_connections = 8`) for the given URL.
 pub async fn connect(database_url: &str) -> Result<PgPool> {
-    let pool = PgPoolOptions::new()
-        .max_connections(8)
-        .connect(database_url)
-        .await?;
-    Ok(pool)
+    retry_database_startup(
+        DATABASE_STARTUP_ATTEMPTS,
+        DATABASE_STARTUP_INITIAL_BACKOFF,
+        DATABASE_STARTUP_MAX_BACKOFF,
+        || {
+            PgPoolOptions::new()
+                .max_connections(8)
+                .acquire_timeout(DATABASE_CONNECT_TIMEOUT)
+                .connect(database_url)
+        },
+        tokio::time::sleep,
+    )
+    .await
+    .map_err(Into::into)
 }
 
 /// Apply embedded SQL migrations from the repo `migrations/` directory.
@@ -29,12 +44,76 @@ pub async fn migrate(pool: &PgPool) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+async fn retry_database_startup<T, E, Connect, ConnectFuture, Sleep, SleepFuture>(
+    attempts: u32,
+    initial_backoff: Duration,
+    max_backoff: Duration,
+    mut connect: Connect,
+    mut sleep: Sleep,
+) -> std::result::Result<T, E>
+where
+    E: std::fmt::Display,
+    Connect: FnMut() -> ConnectFuture,
+    ConnectFuture: Future<Output = std::result::Result<T, E>>,
+    Sleep: FnMut(Duration) -> SleepFuture,
+    SleepFuture: Future<Output = ()>,
+{
+    let max_attempts = attempts.max(1);
+    let mut backoff = initial_backoff.min(max_backoff);
+    for attempt in 1..=max_attempts {
+        match connect().await {
+            Ok(value) => {
+                tracing::info!(attempt, "corpus database connected");
+                return Ok(value);
+            }
+            Err(error) if attempt == max_attempts => return Err(error),
+            Err(error) => {
+                tracing::warn!(
+                    attempt,
+                    error = %error,
+                    backoff_ms = backoff.as_millis(),
+                    "corpus database startup retry"
+                );
+                sleep(backoff).await;
+                backoff = (backoff * 2).min(max_backoff);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    unreachable!("max_attempts always executes at least once")
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
-    use std::{collections::BTreeMap, fs, path::Path};
+    use super::*;
+    use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicU32, Ordering};
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn startup_retry_survives_a_slow_database_proxy() {
+        let observed_attempts = AtomicU32::new(0);
+        let result = retry_database_startup(
+            DATABASE_STARTUP_ATTEMPTS,
+            Duration::ZERO,
+            Duration::ZERO,
+            || async {
+                let attempt = observed_attempts.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed) + 1;
+                if attempt <= 6 {
+                    Err("database proxy is not ready")
+                } else {
+                    Ok(())
+                }
+            },
+            |_delay| async {},
+        )
+        .await;
+
+        assert_eq!(result, Ok(()));
+        assert_eq!(observed_attempts.load(Ordering::Relaxed), 7);
+    }
 
     #[test]
     fn migration_versions_are_unique() {
+        use std::{collections::BTreeMap, fs, path::Path};
+
         let migrations_dir = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")).join("../../migrations");
         let mut versions = BTreeMap::new();