diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 5d703424..43ff02a5 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -41,6 +41,19 @@ services:
   db:
     image: timescale/timescaledb:2.19.3-pg14
     container_name: dereth-db
+    # Override PostgreSQL memory settings. The default timescaledb-tune values
+    # targeted a much larger machine — shared_buffers was set to 96GB on a
+    # 32GB host, causing the kernel to swap-thrash and leaving <100MB free.
+    # These values follow the standard recommendation: shared_buffers ~25% RAM,
+    # effective_cache_size ~50% RAM, work_mem modest to avoid multiplication
+    # blow-up across the ~20-connection pool.
+    command: >
+      postgres
+      -c shared_buffers=8GB
+      -c effective_cache_size=16GB
+      -c work_mem=16MB
+      -c maintenance_work_mem=1GB
+      -c max_wal_size=4GB
     environment:
       POSTGRES_DB: dereth
       POSTGRES_USER: postgres