diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index ae1e08af6..5f2400da2 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ COPY ./ /realtime_ai_character
 # Install Python dependencies
 RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
 
-# Build the application
-RUN alembic upgrade head
-
 EXPOSE 8000
 
+# Make the entrypoint script executable
+RUN chmod +x /realtime_ai_character/entrypoint.sh
+
 # Run the application
-CMD ["uvicorn", "realtime_ai_character.main:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0"]
+CMD ["/bin/sh", "/realtime_ai_character/entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..261405641
--- /dev/null
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -e
+alembic upgrade head
+uvicorn realtime_ai_character.main:app --host 0.0.0.0
diff --git a/realtime_ai_character/database/connection.py b/realtime_ai_character/database/connection.py
index 138e01fd8..883b6d8c5 100644
--- a/realtime_ai_character/database/connection.py
+++ b/realtime_ai_character/database/connection.py
@@ -7,8 +7,11 @@
 
 SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL = os.getenv("DATABASE_URL")
 
+connect_args = {"check_same_thread": False} if SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL.startswith(
+    "sqlite") else {}
+
 engine = create_engine(
-    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL, connect_args={"check_same_thread": False}
+    SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URL, connect_args=connect_args
 )
 
 SessionLocal = sessionmaker(
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 2974ff6ec..599234385 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -25,3 +25,4 @@ soundfile
 click
 google-cloud-speech
 anthropic
+psycopg2-binary