diff --git a/scripts/run/engine-postgres.sh b/scripts/run/engine-postgres.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..317263034a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/run/engine-postgres.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+REPO_ROOT="$(cd "${SCRIPT_DIR}/../.." && pwd)"
+
+if ! command -v nc >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "error: required command 'nc' not found."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if ! nc -z localhost 5432 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "Postgres is not reachable at localhost:5432."
+  echo "Hint: run scripts/dev/run-postgres.sh to start the local Postgres container."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+cd "${REPO_ROOT}"
+
+RIVET__POSTGRES__URL=postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres \
+RUST_LOG=debug \
+cargo run --bin rivet-engine -- start "$@"
diff --git a/scripts/run/postgres.sh b/scripts/run/postgres.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..30acd498f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/run/postgres.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+CONTAINER_NAME="rivet-engine-postgres"
+POSTGRES_IMAGE="postgres:17"
+
+if docker ps --all --format '{{.Names}}' | grep -qw "${CONTAINER_NAME}"; then
+  if docker ps --format '{{.Names}}' | grep -qw "${CONTAINER_NAME}"; then
+    docker stop "${CONTAINER_NAME}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+  fi
+  docker rm "${CONTAINER_NAME}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+fi
+
+docker run \
+  --detach \
+  --name "${CONTAINER_NAME}" \
+  --publish 5432:5432 \
+  --env POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres \
+  --env POSTGRES_USER=postgres \
+  --env POSTGRES_DB=postgres \
+  "${POSTGRES_IMAGE}"