diff --git a/src/Commons/Hearth.Database/DatabaseUpgrade.cs b/src/Commons/Hearth.Database/DatabaseUpgrade.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9009b56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Commons/Hearth.Database/DatabaseUpgrade.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+using System.Reflection;
+using DbUp;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
+using Npgsql;
+
+namespace Hearth.Database;
+
+// A hosted service so building the app (e.g. a schema export in CI) needs no database.
+// Not safe for two processes upgrading the same schema at once; Hearth.Api runs one replica with Recreate until the worker split.
+internal sealed class DatabaseUpgrade(
+    string connectionString,
+    string schema,
+    Assembly scripts
+) : IHostedService
+{
+    public Task StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        using (var connection = new NpgsqlConnection(connectionString))
+        {
+            connection.Open();
+            using var command = new NpgsqlCommand($"CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS {schema}", connection);
+            command.ExecuteNonQuery();
+        }
+
+        var result = DeployChanges.To
+            .PostgresqlDatabase(connectionString)
+            .JournalToPostgresqlTable(schema, "schema_versions")
+            .WithScriptsEmbeddedInAssembly(scripts)
+            .WithTransactionPerScript()
+            .LogToConsole()
+            .Build()
+            .PerformUpgrade();
+
+        if (!result.Successful)
+        {
+            throw new InvalidOperationException($"Database upgrade of schema '{schema}' failed.", result.Error);
+        }
+
+        return Task.CompletedTask;
+    }
+
+    public Task StopAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken) => Task.CompletedTask;
+}
diff --git a/src/Commons/Hearth.Database/Extensions/ServiceCollectionExtensions.cs b/src/Commons/Hearth.Database/Extensions/ServiceCollectionExtensions.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4b0adc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Commons/Hearth.Database/Extensions/ServiceCollectionExtensions.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
+
+namespace Hearth.Database.Extensions;
+
+public static class ServiceCollectionExtensions
+{
+    private const string ConnectionStringName = "Postgres";
+
+    // Registers a module's DbContext and upgrades its schema at startup with the SQL scripts embedded in the context's assembly.
+    public static IServiceCollection AddHearthDatabase<TContext>(this IServiceCollection services, string schema)
+        where TContext : DbContext
+    {
+        services.AddPooledDbContextFactory<TContext>((provider, options) => options
+            .UseNpgsql(ConnectionString(provider)));
+        services.AddScoped(provider => provider
+            .GetRequiredService<IDbContextFactory<TContext>>()
+            .CreateDbContext());
+
+        services.AddHostedService(provider => new DatabaseUpgrade(
+            ConnectionString(provider),
+            schema,
+            typeof(TContext).Assembly
+        ));
+
+        return services;
+    }
+
+    private static string ConnectionString(IServiceProvider provider) =>
+        provider
+            .GetRequiredService<IConfiguration>()
+            .GetConnectionString(ConnectionStringName)
+            ?? throw new InvalidOperationException($"ConnectionStrings:{ConnectionStringName} is not configured.");
+}
diff --git a/src/Commons/Hearth.Database/Hearth.Database.csproj b/src/Commons/Hearth.Database/Hearth.Database.csproj
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55ccb5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Commons/Hearth.Database/Hearth.Database.csproj
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
+
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <PackageReference Include="dbup-postgresql" />
+    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting.Abstractions" />
+    <PackageReference Include="Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+
+</Project>
diff --git a/src/Directory.Packages.props b/src/Directory.Packages.props
index 51ec396..64daa14 100644
--- a/src/Directory.Packages.props
+++ b/src/Directory.Packages.props
@@ -4,8 +4,12 @@
     <CentralPackageTransitivePinningEnabled>true</CentralPackageTransitivePinningEnabled>
   </PropertyGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
+    <PackageVersion Include="Aspire.Hosting.PostgreSQL" Version="13.6.4" />
+    <PackageVersion Include="dbup-postgresql" Version="7.0.1" />
+    <PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting.Abstractions" Version="10.0.13" />
     <PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Http.Resilience" Version="10.10.0" />
     <PackageVersion Include="Microsoft.Extensions.ServiceDiscovery" Version="10.10.0" />
+    <PackageVersion Include="Npgsql.EntityFrameworkCore.PostgreSQL" Version="10.0.3" />
     <PackageVersion Include="OpenTelemetry.Exporter.OpenTelemetryProtocol" Version="1.20.1" />
     <PackageVersion Include="OpenTelemetry.Extensions.Hosting" Version="1.20.1" />
     <PackageVersion Include="OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.AspNetCore" Version="1.20.1" />
diff --git a/src/Hearth.slnx b/src/Hearth.slnx
index 19a0f6f..591ab84 100644
--- a/src/Hearth.slnx
+++ b/src/Hearth.slnx
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
   </Folder>
   <Folder Name="/Commons/">
     <Project Path="Commons/Hearth.Commons/Hearth.Commons.csproj" />
+    <Project Path="Commons/Hearth.Database/Hearth.Database.csproj" />
   </Folder>
   <Folder Name="/Characters/">
     <Project Path="Characters/Hearth.Characters/Hearth.Characters.csproj" />
diff --git a/src/Hosts/Hearth.AppHost/AppHost.cs b/src/Hosts/Hearth.AppHost/AppHost.cs
index 94e40ed..05bcb53 100644
--- a/src/Hosts/Hearth.AppHost/AppHost.cs
+++ b/src/Hosts/Hearth.AppHost/AppHost.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
 var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
 
-builder.AddProject<Projects.Hearth_Api>("api");
+var postgres = builder
+    .AddPostgres("postgres")
+    .WithDataVolume()
+    .WithLifetime(ContainerLifetime.Persistent);
+
+var database = postgres.AddDatabase("hearth");
+
+builder
+    .AddProject<Projects.Hearth_Api>("api")
+    .WithReference(database, "Postgres")
+    .WaitFor(database);
 
 builder.Build().Run();
diff --git a/src/Hosts/Hearth.AppHost/Hearth.AppHost.csproj b/src/Hosts/Hearth.AppHost/Hearth.AppHost.csproj
index 1c0bb5c..7b75008 100644
--- a/src/Hosts/Hearth.AppHost/Hearth.AppHost.csproj
+++ b/src/Hosts/Hearth.AppHost/Hearth.AppHost.csproj
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
     <UserSecretsId>388fbdf7-df04-4c75-858e-1bdc720d2a91</UserSecretsId>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <PackageReference Include="Aspire.Hosting.PostgreSQL" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+
   <ItemGroup>
     <ProjectReference Include="..\Hearth.Api\Hearth.Api.csproj" />
   </ItemGroup>