diff --git a/migrate.mjs b/migrate.mjs
index 76dc308..426b82f 100644
--- a/migrate.mjs
+++ b/migrate.mjs
@@ -1,17 +1,73 @@
-// Runtime migration script — runs drizzle SQL migrations against the database.
-// Used by the Docker entrypoint before starting the app.
+// Runtime migration script — reads the drizzle journal and executes pending
+// SQL migrations directly via pg, bypassing the drizzle-orm migrator module
+// which may not be shipped in all drizzle-orm builds.
 
-import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/node-postgres';
-import { migrate } from 'drizzle-orm/node-postgres/migrator';
 import pg from 'pg';
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+
+const MIGRATIONS_DIR = './drizzle';
+const MIGRATION_TABLE = '__drizzle_migrations';
 
 const pool = new pg.Pool({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL });
 
 try {
-  const db = drizzle(pool);
-  console.log('Running database migrations...');
-  await migrate(db, { migrationsFolder: './drizzle' });
-  console.log('Migrations complete.');
+  const client = await pool.connect();
+
+  // Ensure migration tracking table exists
+  await client.query(`
+    CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ${MIGRATION_TABLE} (
+      id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+      tag TEXT NOT NULL UNIQUE,
+      created_at BIGINT NOT NULL
+    )
+  `);
+
+  // Load journal
+  const journal = JSON.parse(readFileSync(`${MIGRATIONS_DIR}/meta/_journal.json`, 'utf8'));
+
+  // Find already-applied migrations
+  const { rows: applied } = await client.query(`SELECT tag FROM ${MIGRATION_TABLE}`);
+  const appliedTags = new Set(applied.map(r => r.tag));
+
+  let count = 0;
+  for (const entry of journal.entries) {
+    if (appliedTags.has(entry.tag)) continue;
+
+    const sqlFile = `${MIGRATIONS_DIR}/${entry.tag}.sql`;
+    let sql;
+    try {
+      sql = readFileSync(sqlFile, 'utf8');
+    } catch {
+      console.warn(`Migration file not found: ${sqlFile}, skipping.`);
+      continue;
+    }
+
+    // Split on drizzle statement breakpoints and execute each statement
+    const statements = sql.split('--> statement-breakpoint')
+      .map(s => s.trim())
+      .filter(Boolean);
+
+    console.log(`Applying migration: ${entry.tag} (${statements.length} statements)`);
+
+    await client.query('BEGIN');
+    try {
+      for (const stmt of statements) {
+        await client.query(stmt);
+      }
+      await client.query(
+        `INSERT INTO ${MIGRATION_TABLE} (tag, created_at) VALUES ($1, $2)`,
+        [entry.tag, entry.when],
+      );
+      await client.query('COMMIT');
+      count++;
+    } catch (err) {
+      await client.query('ROLLBACK');
+      throw new Error(`Migration ${entry.tag} failed: ${err.message}`);
+    }
+  }
+
+  client.release();
+  console.log(count > 0 ? `Applied ${count} migration(s).` : 'No pending migrations.');
 } catch (err) {
   console.error('Migration failed:', err);
   process.exit(1);