diff --git a/docker-compose.prod.yml b/docker-compose.prod.yml
index 890d0df..7d0fac1 100644
--- a/docker-compose.prod.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.prod.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ services:
 
   db:
     image: postgres:16-alpine
+    stop_grace_period: 120s
     volumes:
       - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
     environment:
@@ -32,15 +33,21 @@ services:
       POSTGRES_DB: fabledassistant
     networks:
       - fabledassistant_backend
+    # Lenient by design: a transient host exec/healthcheck stall (incident:
+    # runc setns failures -> "unhealthy" -> SIGKILL -> crash loop) must never
+    # escalate to killing the DB. Health here only gates app startup order.
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U fabled"]
-      interval: 10s
-      timeout: 5s
-      retries: 5
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 10
+      start_period: 180s
     deploy:
       restart_policy:
         condition: on-failure
-        max_attempts: 5
+        delay: 10s
+        max_attempts: 0
+        window: 120s
 
   ollama:
     image: ollama/ollama
diff --git a/docker-compose.quickstart.yml b/docker-compose.quickstart.yml
index e2a9ee5..882e80b 100644
--- a/docker-compose.quickstart.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.quickstart.yml
@@ -39,17 +39,21 @@ services:
 
   db:
     image: postgres:16-alpine
+    stop_grace_period: 120s
     volumes:
       - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
     environment:
       POSTGRES_USER: fabled
       POSTGRES_PASSWORD: fabled
       POSTGRES_DB: fabledassistant
+    # Lenient by design: a transient host exec/healthcheck stall must never
+    # escalate to killing the DB. Health here only gates app startup order.
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U fabled"]
-      interval: 10s
-      timeout: 5s
-      retries: 5
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 10
+      start_period: 180s
     restart: unless-stopped
 
   ollama:
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 7be1606..2a06564 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -34,17 +34,22 @@ services:
 
   db:
     image: postgres:16-alpine
+    stop_grace_period: 120s
+    restart: unless-stopped
     volumes:
       - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
     environment:
       POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-fabled}
       POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-fabled}
       POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:-fabledassistant}
+    # Lenient by design: a transient host exec/healthcheck stall must never
+    # escalate to killing the DB. Health here only gates app startup order.
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U ${POSTGRES_USER:-fabled}"]
-      interval: 5s
-      timeout: 5s
-      retries: 5
+      interval: 30s
+      timeout: 10s
+      retries: 10
+      start_period: 180s
 
   ollama:
     image: ollama/ollama