diff --git a/src/database/index.ts b/src/database/index.ts
index d3d8bc9..5c850bc 100644
--- a/src/database/index.ts
+++ b/src/database/index.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,25 @@ import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
 import { logger } from '../utils/logger';
 
 // Prisma 7 requires a driver adapter for direct database connections.
+const normalizeDatabaseUrlForPg = (): string | undefined => {
+  const raw = (process.env.DATABASE_URL || '').trim();
+  if (!raw) return undefined;
+
+  // Some env providers wrap values in quotes. systemd EnvironmentFile supports quotes,
+  // but we defensively strip outer quotes for URL parsing.
+  const dequoted = raw.replace(/^['"]|['"]$/g, '');
+
+  try {
+    const u = new URL(dequoted);
+    // Prisma-only param; pg doesn't use it and it can be treated as an unknown option.
+    u.searchParams.delete('schema');
+    return u.toString();
+  } catch {
+    // If it's not a valid URL, fall back to the original string.
+    return dequoted;
+  }
+};
+
 const resolveDbSchema = (): string => {
   const raw = (process.env.DATABASE_URL || '').trim().replace(/^['"]|['"]$/g, '');
   try {
@@ -18,8 +37,9 @@ const resolveDbSchema = (): string => {
 };
 
 const dbSchema = resolveDbSchema();
+const pgConnectionString = normalizeDatabaseUrlForPg();
 const pool = new Pool({
-  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
+  connectionString: pgConnectionString,
   // Fail fast when DB is temporarily unreachable; connectDB will retry.
   connectionTimeoutMillis: 5_000,
   // pg(Pool) doesn't understand Prisma's `?schema=...` param.