diff --git a/internal/db/start/start.go b/internal/db/start/start.go
index 826d46c86..a300f5594 100644
--- a/internal/db/start/start.go
+++ b/internal/db/start/start.go
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ func NewContainerConfig() container.Config {
 	env := []string{
 		"POSTGRES_PASSWORD=" + utils.Config.Db.Password,
 		"POSTGRES_HOST=/var/run/postgresql",
-		"POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS=--lc-ctype=C.UTF-8",
 		"JWT_SECRET=" + utils.Config.Auth.JwtSecret,
 		fmt.Sprintf("JWT_EXP=%d", utils.Config.Auth.JwtExpiry),
 	}
@@ -81,13 +80,18 @@ func NewContainerConfig() container.Config {
 			Timeout:  2 * time.Second,
 			Retries:  3,
 		},
-		Entrypoint: []string{"sh", "-c", `cat <<'EOF' > /etc/postgresql.schema.sql && cat <<'EOF' > /etc/postgresql-custom/pgsodium_root.key && docker-entrypoint.sh postgres -D /etc/postgresql
+		Entrypoint: []string{"sh", "-c", `
+cat <<'EOF' > /etc/postgresql.schema.sql && \
+cat <<'EOF' > /etc/postgresql-custom/pgsodium_root.key && \
+cat <<'EOF' >> /etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf && \
+docker-entrypoint.sh postgres -D /etc/postgresql
 ` + initialSchema + `
 ` + _supabaseSchema + `
 EOF
 ` + utils.Config.Db.RootKey + `
 EOF
-`},
+` + utils.Config.Db.Settings.ToPostgresConfig() + `
+EOF`},
 	}
 	if utils.Config.Db.MajorVersion >= 14 {
 		config.Cmd = []string{"postgres",
@@ -124,11 +128,13 @@ func StartDatabase(ctx context.Context, fsys afero.Fs, w io.Writer, options ...f
 	}
 	if utils.Config.Db.MajorVersion <= 14 {
 		config.Entrypoint = []string{"sh", "-c", `
-			cat <<'EOF' > /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/supabase_schema.sql
+cat <<'EOF' > /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/supabase_schema.sql && \
+cat <<'EOF' >> /etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf && \
+docker-entrypoint.sh postgres -D /etc/postgresql
 ` + _supabaseSchema + `
 EOF
-			docker-entrypoint.sh postgres -D /etc/postgresql
-		`}
+` + utils.Config.Db.Settings.ToPostgresConfig() + `
+EOF`}
 		hostConfig.Tmpfs = map[string]string{"/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d": ""}
 	}
 	// Creating volume will not override existing volume, so we must inspect explicitly
diff --git a/internal/db/start/start_test.go b/internal/db/start/start_test.go
index 96d97da8c..475562f2f 100644
--- a/internal/db/start/start_test.go
+++ b/internal/db/start/start_test.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/supabase/cli/internal/testing/apitest"
 	"github.com/supabase/cli/internal/testing/fstest"
 	"github.com/supabase/cli/internal/utils"
+	"github.com/supabase/cli/pkg/cast"
 	"github.com/supabase/cli/pkg/pgtest"
 )
 
@@ -308,3 +309,55 @@ func TestSetupDatabase(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Empty(t, apitest.ListUnmatchedRequests())
 	})
 }
+func TestStartDatabaseWithCustomSettings(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("starts database with custom MaxConnections", func(t *testing.T) {
+		// Setup
+		utils.Config.Db.MajorVersion = 15
+		utils.DbId = "supabase_db_test"
+		utils.ConfigId = "supabase_config_test"
+		utils.Config.Db.Port = 5432
+		utils.Config.Db.Settings.MaxConnections = cast.Ptr(uint(50))
+
+		// Setup in-memory fs
+		fsys := afero.NewMemMapFs()
+
+		// Setup mock docker
+		require.NoError(t, apitest.MockDocker(utils.Docker))
+		defer gock.OffAll()
+		gock.New(utils.Docker.DaemonHost()).
+			Get("/v" + utils.Docker.ClientVersion() + "/volumes/" + utils.DbId).
+			Reply(http.StatusNotFound).
+			JSON(volume.Volume{})
+		apitest.MockDockerStart(utils.Docker, utils.GetRegistryImageUrl(utils.Config.Db.Image), utils.DbId)
+		gock.New(utils.Docker.DaemonHost()).
+			Get("/v" + utils.Docker.ClientVersion() + "/containers/" + utils.DbId + "/json").
+			Reply(http.StatusOK).
+			JSON(types.ContainerJSON{ContainerJSONBase: &types.ContainerJSONBase{
+				State: &types.ContainerState{
+					Running: true,
+					Health:  &types.Health{Status: types.Healthy},
+				},
+			}})
+
+		apitest.MockDockerStart(utils.Docker, utils.GetRegistryImageUrl(utils.Config.Realtime.Image), "test-realtime")
+		require.NoError(t, apitest.MockDockerLogs(utils.Docker, "test-realtime", ""))
+		apitest.MockDockerStart(utils.Docker, utils.GetRegistryImageUrl(utils.Config.Storage.Image), "test-storage")
+		require.NoError(t, apitest.MockDockerLogs(utils.Docker, "test-storage", ""))
+		apitest.MockDockerStart(utils.Docker, utils.GetRegistryImageUrl(utils.Config.Auth.Image), "test-auth")
+		require.NoError(t, apitest.MockDockerLogs(utils.Docker, "test-auth", ""))
+		// Setup mock postgres
+		conn := pgtest.NewConn()
+		defer conn.Close(t)
+
+		// Run test
+		err := StartDatabase(context.Background(), fsys, io.Discard, conn.Intercept)
+
+		// Check error
+		assert.NoError(t, err)
+		assert.Empty(t, apitest.ListUnmatchedRequests())
+
+		// Check if the custom MaxConnections setting was applied
+		config := NewContainerConfig()
+		assert.Contains(t, config.Entrypoint[2], "max_connections = 50")
+	})
+}
diff --git a/pkg/config/db.go b/pkg/config/db.go
index 89e5bfd24..e7c5f820b 100644
--- a/pkg/config/db.go
+++ b/pkg/config/db.go
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package config
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
+
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
 	v1API "github.com/supabase/cli/pkg/api"
 	"github.com/supabase/cli/pkg/cast"
@@ -146,6 +148,17 @@ func (a *settings) fromRemoteConfig(remoteConfig v1API.PostgresConfigResponse) s
 	return result
 }
 
+const pgConfHeader = "\n# supabase [db.settings] configuration\n"
+
+// create a valid string to append to /etc/postgresql/postgresql.conf
+func (a *settings) ToPostgresConfig() string {
+	// Assuming postgres settings is always a flat struct, we can serialise
+	// using toml, then replace double quotes with single.
+	data, _ := ToTomlBytes(*a)
+	body := bytes.ReplaceAll(data, []byte{'"'}, []byte{'\''})
+	return pgConfHeader + string(body)
+}
+
 func (a *settings) DiffWithRemote(remoteConfig v1API.PostgresConfigResponse) ([]byte, error) {
 	// Convert the config values into easily comparable remoteConfig values
 	currentValue, err := ToTomlBytes(a)
diff --git a/pkg/config/db_test.go b/pkg/config/db_test.go
index e7c573475..8d70ec21b 100644
--- a/pkg/config/db_test.go
+++ b/pkg/config/db_test.go
@@ -153,3 +153,41 @@ func TestDbSettingsDiffWithRemote(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.Contains(t, string(diff), "-shared_buffers = \"1GB\"")
 	})
 }
+
+func TestSettingsToPostgresConfig(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("Only set values should appear", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := settings{
+			MaxConnections:         cast.Ptr(uint(100)),
+			MaxLocksPerTransaction: cast.Ptr(uint(64)),
+			SharedBuffers:          cast.Ptr("128MB"),
+			WorkMem:                cast.Ptr("4MB"),
+		}
+		got := settings.ToPostgresConfig()
+
+		assert.Contains(t, got, "max_connections = 100")
+		assert.Contains(t, got, "max_locks_per_transaction = 64")
+		assert.Contains(t, got, "shared_buffers = '128MB'")
+		assert.Contains(t, got, "work_mem = '4MB'")
+
+		assert.NotContains(t, got, "effective_cache_size")
+		assert.NotContains(t, got, "maintenance_work_mem")
+		assert.NotContains(t, got, "max_parallel_workers")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("SessionReplicationRole should be handled correctly", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := settings{
+			SessionReplicationRole: cast.Ptr(SessionReplicationRoleOrigin),
+		}
+		got := settings.ToPostgresConfig()
+
+		assert.Contains(t, got, "session_replication_role = 'origin'")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("Empty settings should result in empty string", func(t *testing.T) {
+		settings := settings{}
+		got := settings.ToPostgresConfig()
+
+		assert.Equal(t, got, "\n# supabase [db.settings] configuration\n")
+		assert.NotContains(t, got, "=")
+	})
+}