diff --git a/src/encryptid/server.ts b/src/encryptid/server.ts
index 001d928..85a31ac 100644
--- a/src/encryptid/server.ts
+++ b/src/encryptid/server.ts
@@ -3454,11 +3454,23 @@ app.get('/', (c) => {
 // DATABASE INITIALIZATION & SERVER START
 // ============================================================================
 
-// Initialize database on startup
-initDatabase().catch(err => {
-  console.error('EncryptID: Failed to initialize database', err);
-  process.exit(1);
-});
+// Initialize database on startup with retries (Docker networking may take a moment)
+(async () => {
+  const maxRetries = 5;
+  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
+    try {
+      await initDatabase();
+      return;
+    } catch (err) {
+      console.error(`EncryptID: Database init attempt ${attempt}/${maxRetries} failed:`, (err as Error).message);
+      if (attempt === maxRetries) {
+        console.error('EncryptID: All database init attempts exhausted, exiting');
+        process.exit(1);
+      }
+      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, attempt * 2000));
+    }
+  }
+})();
 
 // Clean expired challenges and recovery tokens every 10 minutes
 setInterval(() => {