diff --git a/packages/db/vitest.config.ts b/packages/db/vitest.config.ts
index c17f6af..34f64fa 100644
--- a/packages/db/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/packages/db/vitest.config.ts
@@ -8,13 +8,28 @@
 //
 //   DATABASE_URL=postgres://app:app@localhost:5432/app_test pnpm --filter @app/db test
 //
+// DB config also resolves from the repo-root .env (loaded below) — the migrate
+// CLI and test-connection already do this, so the suite stays consistent with
+// them instead of only working when DATABASE_URL is set inline in the shell.
+//
 // Tests import the BUILT packages (`@app/db`, `@app/types`) via their exports
 // map, so `pretest` builds them first. That sidesteps NodeNext `.js`-import
 // resolution issues that arise when transpiling the TS source on the fly.
 // =============================================================================
 
+import * as path from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+import { config as dotenvConfig } from 'dotenv';
 import { defineConfig } from 'vitest/config';
 
+// Load the repo-root .env so DATABASE_URL / PG_* reach both globalSetup (the
+// migrate CLI) and the test workers' createDb(). dotenv does NOT override vars
+// already in the environment, so an inline `DATABASE_URL=… pnpm test` still wins.
+// vitest.config.ts is at packages/db/, so the root .env is two dirs up.
+const configDir = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+dotenvConfig({ path: path.resolve(configDir, '..', '..', '.env') });
+
 export default defineConfig({
   test: {
     environment: 'node',