diff --git a/instrumentation.ts b/instrumentation.ts
index 6759892..66a7620 100644
--- a/instrumentation.ts
+++ b/instrumentation.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 export async function register() {
+  console.log('[instrumentation] register() called, NEXT_RUNTIME =', process.env.NEXT_RUNTIME)
   if (process.env.NEXT_RUNTIME === 'nodejs') {
     const fs = await import('fs')
     const path = await import('path')
@@ -9,10 +10,20 @@ export async function register() {
       return
     }
 
-    console.log('[migrations] Applying migrations from', path.dirname(journal))
-    const { migrate } = await import('drizzle-orm/postgres-js/migrator')
-    const { db } = await import('@/lib/db')
-    await migrate(db, { migrationsFolder: './lib/db/migrations' })
-    console.log('[migrations] Done')
+    console.log('[migrations] Applying migrations...')
+    try {
+      const postgres = (await import('postgres')).default
+      const { drizzle } = await import('drizzle-orm/postgres-js')
+      const { migrate } = await import('drizzle-orm/postgres-js/migrator')
+
+      // Dedicated single connection for migrations — never share with the app pool
+      const client = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL!, { max: 1, connect_timeout: 10 })
+      const db = drizzle(client)
+      await migrate(db, { migrationsFolder: './lib/db/migrations' })
+      await client.end()
+      console.log('[migrations] Done')
+    } catch (err) {
+      console.error('[migrations] Failed:', err)
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/lib/db/index.ts b/lib/db/index.ts
index 6575765..30818f0 100644
--- a/lib/db/index.ts
+++ b/lib/db/index.ts
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@ import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/postgres-js'
 import postgres from 'postgres'
 import * as schema from './schema'
 
-const client = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL!)
+const client = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL!, { connect_timeout: 10 })
 export const db = drizzle(client, { schema, logger: true })