diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
index 4f09bcc..b1cf70a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -138,24 +138,38 @@ jobs:
                   REGISTRY_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_USERNAME }}
                   REGISTRY_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.REGISTRY_PASSWORD }}
                   CONTAINER_REGISTRY: ${{ vars.CONTAINER_REGISTRY }}
-                  PROD_DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.PROD_DATABASE_URL }}
               with:
                   host: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_HOST }}
                   port: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_PORT }}
                   username: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_USER }}
                   key: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_KEY }}
-                  envs: REGISTRY_USERNAME,REGISTRY_PASSWORD,CONTAINER_REGISTRY,PROD_DATABASE_URL
+                  envs: REGISTRY_USERNAME,REGISTRY_PASSWORD,CONTAINER_REGISTRY
                   script: |
                       set -e
-                      IMAGE="$CONTAINER_REGISTRY/brackt:latest"
                       docker login $CONTAINER_REGISTRY -u $REGISTRY_USERNAME -p $REGISTRY_PASSWORD
                       cd brackt
                       docker compose pull
-                      docker run --rm -e DATABASE_URL="$PROD_DATABASE_URL" "$IMAGE" npx drizzle-kit migrate
-                      docker compose up -d
-                      sleep 10
-                      if docker compose ps | grep -qE "Exit|exited"; then
-                        echo "One or more containers failed to start:"
-                        docker compose logs --tail=50
+                      docker compose up -d --remove-orphans
+
+                      echo "Waiting for app to start..."
+                      for i in $(seq 1 12); do
+                        STATUS=$(docker inspect --format='{{.State.Status}}' brackt 2>/dev/null || echo "missing")
+                        if [ "$STATUS" = "running" ]; then
+                          echo "App is running"
+                          break
+                        fi
+                        if [ $i -eq 12 ]; then
+                          echo "App failed to start. Logs:"
+                          docker logs brackt-migrate --tail=30 2>/dev/null || true
+                          docker logs brackt --tail=30 2>/dev/null || true
+                          exit 1
+                        fi
+                        sleep 5
+                      done
+
+                      MIGRATE_EXIT=$(docker inspect --format='{{.State.ExitCode}}' brackt-migrate 2>/dev/null || echo "1")
+                      if [ "$MIGRATE_EXIT" != "0" ]; then
+                        echo "Migration failed:"
+                        docker logs brackt-migrate
                         exit 1
                       fi
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index a7d47a8..79a6d8f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ COPY --from=production-dependencies-env /app/node_modules /app/node_modules
 COPY --from=build-env /app/build /app/build
 COPY --from=build-env /app/dist /app/dist
 COPY ./drizzle /app/drizzle
-COPY ./drizzle.config.ts /app/drizzle.config.ts
+COPY ./scripts /app/scripts
 COPY ./instrument.server.mjs /app/instrument.server.mjs
 WORKDIR /app
 CMD ["npm", "run", "start"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/migrate.mjs b/scripts/migrate.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..89cd316
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/migrate.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/postgres-js";
+import { migrate } from "drizzle-orm/postgres-js/migrator";
+import postgres from "postgres";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "url";
+import path from "path";
+
+const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
+const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);
+
+if (!process.env.DATABASE_URL) {
+  console.error("ERROR: DATABASE_URL is required");
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+console.log("Running database migrations...");
+const client = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL, { max: 1 });
+try {
+  const db = drizzle(client);
+  await migrate(db, { migrationsFolder: path.resolve(__dirname, "../drizzle") });
+  console.log("Migrations completed successfully");
+} catch (err) {
+  console.error("Migration failed:", err);
+  process.exit(1);
+} finally {
+  await client.end();
+}
diff --git a/server.ts b/server.ts
index d921101..d36fd98 100644
--- a/server.ts
+++ b/server.ts
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@ import { createServer } from "http";
 import type { ViteDevServer } from "vite";
 import path from "path";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "url";
-import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/postgres-js";
-import { migrate } from "drizzle-orm/postgres-js/migrator";
-import postgres from "postgres";
 import { logger } from "./server/logger";
 
 // ESM module resolution helpers
@@ -24,20 +21,6 @@ const CLIENT_ASSETS_PATH = path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, "build/client/assets");
 const DEVELOPMENT = process.env.NODE_ENV === "development";
 const PORT = Number.parseInt(process.env.PORT || "3000", 10);
 
-async function runMigrations(): Promise<void> {
-  if (!process.env.DATABASE_URL) {
-    throw new Error("DATABASE_URL is required");
-  }
-  const client = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
-  try {
-    const db = drizzle(client);
-    await migrate(db, { migrationsFolder: path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, "drizzle") });
-    logger.log("Migrations complete");
-  } finally {
-    await client.end();
-  }
-}
-
 async function createAppServer(): Promise<void> {
   const app: Express = express();
   
@@ -100,9 +83,7 @@ async function createAppServer(): Promise<void> {
 }
 
 // Start the server with error handling
-(DEVELOPMENT ? Promise.resolve() : runMigrations())
-  .then(createAppServer)
-  .catch((error) => {
-    logger.error("Failed to start server:", error);
-    process.exit(1);
-  });
+createAppServer().catch((error) => {
+  logger.error("Failed to start server:", error);
+  process.exit(1);
+});