diff --git a/steward/backup/restore.py b/steward/backup/restore.py
index 26697b1..de4b0d0 100644
--- a/steward/backup/restore.py
+++ b/steward/backup/restore.py
@@ -80,32 +80,61 @@ def dangling_fixes(metadata: MetaData) -> list[str]:
     return out
 
 
+# pg_restore 17 opens every script with this; a Postgres 16 server doesn't
+# know the setting and refuses it, so the line is dropped on the way through.
+_NEWER_THAN_SERVER = {b"SET transaction_timeout = 0;"}
+# A COPY row is one line of the script; this bounds the longest one read.
+_LINE_LIMIT = 256 * 1024 * 1024
+
+
 async def _pg_restore(database_url: str, dump: Path, section: str) -> None:
-    args = ["pg_restore", "--no-owner", "--no-privileges", "--exit-on-error",
-            f"--section={section}", "--dbname", make_dbname(database_url), str(dump)]
+    """One section of the dump into the database: pg_restore writes it as a
+    script, psql runs it and stops at the first error."""
+    env = pg_env(database_url)
     try:
-        proc = await asyncio.create_subprocess_exec(
-            *args, env=pg_env(database_url),
+        script = await asyncio.create_subprocess_exec(
+            "pg_restore", "--no-owner", "--no-privileges", f"--section={section}", "--file=-", str(dump),
+            env=env, stdout=asyncio.subprocess.PIPE, stderr=asyncio.subprocess.PIPE, limit=_LINE_LIMIT)
+        psql = await asyncio.create_subprocess_exec(
+            "psql", "-X", "-q", "-v", "ON_ERROR_STOP=1",
+            env=env, stdin=asyncio.subprocess.PIPE,
             stdout=asyncio.subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=asyncio.subprocess.PIPE)
     except FileNotFoundError:
-        raise BackupError("pg_restore isn't installed here.") from None
+        raise BackupError("pg_restore or psql isn't installed here.") from None
+
+    async def pump() -> None:
+        try:
+            while line := await script.stdout.readline():
+                if line.strip() in _NEWER_THAN_SERVER:
+                    continue
+                psql.stdin.write(line)
+                await psql.stdin.drain()
+        except (BrokenPipeError, ConnectionResetError):
+            # psql stopped on an error (its stderr says which); pg_restore
+            # would block on a pipe nobody reads.
+            script.kill()
+        finally:
+            psql.stdin.close()
+
+    async def run() -> tuple[bytes, bytes]:
+        _, script_err, psql_err = await asyncio.gather(
+            pump(), script.stderr.read(), psql.stderr.read())
+        await asyncio.gather(script.wait(), psql.wait())
+        return script_err, psql_err
+
     try:
-        _, err = await asyncio.wait_for(proc.communicate(), RESTORE_DEADLINE_SECONDS)
+        script_err, psql_err = await asyncio.wait_for(run(), RESTORE_DEADLINE_SECONDS)
     except TimeoutError:
-        proc.kill()
-        await proc.wait()
-        raise BackupError(f"pg_restore ({section}) didn't finish within "
+        for proc in (script, psql):
+            if proc.returncode is None:
+                proc.kill()
+                await proc.wait()
+        raise BackupError(f"Restoring {section} didn't finish within "
                           f"{RESTORE_DEADLINE_SECONDS // 60} minutes.") from None
-    if proc.returncode != 0:
-        lines = [ln for ln in err.decode(errors="replace").splitlines() if ln.strip()]
-        raise BackupError(f"pg_restore ({section}): " + (lines[-1] if lines else f"exited {proc.returncode}."))
-
-
-def make_dbname(database_url: str) -> str:
-    """The database name for pg_restore's --dbname; host, user and password
-    come from the environment pg_env builds."""
-    from sqlalchemy.engine import make_url
-    return make_url(database_url).database or ""
+    for proc, err, name in ((psql, psql_err, "psql"), (script, script_err, "pg_restore")):
+        if proc.returncode != 0:
+            lines = [ln for ln in err.decode(errors="replace").splitlines() if ln.strip()]
+            raise BackupError(f"Restoring {section}: " + (lines[-1] if lines else f"{name} exited {proc.returncode}."))
 
 
 def _async_url(database_url: str) -> str: