diff --git a/src/scripts/postgres.rs b/src/scripts/postgres.rs
index 50ba0d9..8d94631 100644
--- a/src/scripts/postgres.rs
+++ b/src/scripts/postgres.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ use std::{
     path::{Path, PathBuf},
     process::Stdio,
     thread,
-    time::Duration,
+    time::{Duration, Instant},
 };
 
 use super::docker_compose;
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ const CUSTOM_MAGIC: &[u8] = b"PGDMP";
 const TAR_MAGIC: &[u8] = b"toc.dat";
 const GZIP_MAGIC: &[u8] = b"\x1f\x8b";
 const CLUSTER_MARKER: &str = "PostgreSQL database cluster dump";
+const READY_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_secs(60);
+const POLL_INTERVAL: Duration = Duration::from_secs(1);
+
 // wide enough for the cluster marker, which sits a few bytes into the file
 const HEADER_LEN: usize = 512;
 
@@ -191,23 +194,36 @@ fn piped(db: &Database, script: &str, input: &Path) -> Result<std::process::Comm
 
 fn wait_until_ready(db: &Database) -> Result<()> {
     debug_eprintln!("waiting until pg_isready");
-    while !CommandBuilder::docker()
-        .args("exec")
-        .arg(&db.container)
-        .args("pg_isready -U")
-        .arg(&db.user)
-        .args("-d")
-        .arg(&db.name)
-        .build()?
-        .stdout(Stdio::null())
-        .spawn()?
-        .wait()?
-        .success()
-    {
-        thread::sleep(Duration::from_secs(1));
-    }
+    let deadline = Instant::now() + READY_TIMEOUT;
 
-    Ok(())
+    loop {
+        let ready = CommandBuilder::docker()
+            .args("exec")
+            .arg(&db.container)
+            .args("pg_isready -U")
+            .arg(&db.user)
+            .args("-d")
+            .arg(&db.name)
+            .build()?
+            .stdout(Stdio::null())
+            .spawn()?
+            .wait()?
+            .success();
+
+        if ready {
+            return Ok(());
+        }
+
+        if Instant::now() >= deadline {
+            bail!(
+                "{} did not accept connections within {} seconds",
+                db.service,
+                READY_TIMEOUT.as_secs()
+            );
+        }
+
+        thread::sleep(POLL_INTERVAL);
+    }
 }
 
 fn when_ready(db: &Database, command: CommandBuilder) -> Result<()> {