diff --git a/.env.local b/.env.local
index b2ca47d5..b4640f0a 100644
--- a/.env.local
+++ b/.env.local
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 CORS_ORIGINS=http://localhost:5173,https://example.com
 DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/river_dev
+TEST_DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/river_test
 OTEL_ENABLED=false
 PORT=8080
 VITE_RIVER_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080/api
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a2805449..cdcf2950 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -47,3 +47,12 @@ verify: verify/sqlc
 .PHONY: verify/sqlc
 verify/sqlc:
 	cd internal/dbsqlc && sqlc diff
+
+.PHONY: docker-db/up
+docker-db/up:
+	docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yaml down
+	docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yaml up
+
+.PHONY: docker-db/down
+docker-db/down:
+	docker compose -f docker-compose.dev.yaml down
diff --git a/docker-compose.dev.yaml b/docker-compose.dev.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ca3b3ccd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.dev.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+name: riverui-dev
+
+services:
+  postgres:
+    image: "postgres:16-alpine"
+    environment:
+      - POSTGRES_USER=postgres
+      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "pg_isready", "-d", "river_dev", "-U", "postgres"]
+      timeout: 20s
+      retries: 10
+      start_period: 3s
+    volumes:
+      - ./scripts/docker-compose-dev/postgres/init:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
+    ports:
+      - "5432:5432"
+  migrate:
+    image: "golang:1.24-alpine"
+    depends_on:
+      postgres:
+        condition: "service_healthy"
+    entrypoint: "/bin/sh"
+    # cache the go binaries so they don't redownload
+    volumes:
+      - gopath:/go
+    command:
+      - -c
+      - |
+        echo "downloading river binary"
+        go install github.com/riverqueue/river/cmd/river@latest
+        echo "migrating river_dev database"
+        river migrate-up --database-url "postgres://postgres:postgres@postgres/river_dev"
+        echo "migrating river_test database"
+        river migrate-up --database-url "postgres://postgres:postgres@postgres/river_test"
+volumes:
+  gopath:
diff --git a/docs/development.md b/docs/development.md
index a19b8884..6c97467a 100644
--- a/docs/development.md
+++ b/docs/development.md
@@ -42,6 +42,18 @@ $ go install github.com/riverqueue/river/cmd/river
 $ river migrate-up --database-url postgres://localhost/river_dev
 ```
 
+## Postgres with Docker Compose 
+Using Docker compose, you can skip the database migration steps for testing and development.
+
+The database will be bound to `localhost:5432`.
+```sh
+# start/restart
+make docker-db/up
+
+# stop
+make docker-db/down
+```
+
 ## Run tests
 
 Raise test database:
diff --git a/scripts/docker-compose-dev/postgres/init/01-init.sql b/scripts/docker-compose-dev/postgres/init/01-init.sql
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..db3863d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/docker-compose-dev/postgres/init/01-init.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+CREATE DATABASE river_dev;
+CREATE DATABASE river_test;
\ No newline at end of file