diff --git a/backend/accounts/db.py b/backend/accounts/db.py
index 8b97ff8..b22d9e5 100644
--- a/backend/accounts/db.py
+++ b/backend/accounts/db.py
@@ -62,11 +62,21 @@ def _apply_sqlite_pragmas(dbapi_conn, _rec):
 #
 # pool_size=1/max_overflow=1 (the original setting on both) meant a 3rd
 # concurrent request per worker had to wait out pool_timeout (~30s default) for a
-# slot — easy to hit with 4 uvicorn workers x real traffic. 5+5 gives each async
-# engine headroom for a burst of concurrent account requests without coming close
-# to Postgres's own connection ceiling (two async engines here plus the sync
-# engine below, times N workers, all share that budget).
-_ASYNC_POOL_KWARGS = dict(pool_size=5, max_overflow=5, pool_pre_ping=True,
+# slot — easy to hit with 4 uvicorn workers x real traffic. pool_size=5 keeps that
+# headroom for the steady state.
+#
+# max_overflow is deliberately *tighter* than pool_size (2, not 5), because the
+# overflow is the part nobody budgets for and it is what saturated Postgres on
+# 2026-07-26. The connection ceiling is shared far more widely than this process
+# knows: two async engines here plus the sync engine below, times N uvicorn
+# workers, times the replica count (web autoscales), and prod and beta are two
+# databases on ONE Postgres instance. At 5+5 the configured worst case across all
+# of that exceeded the server's max_connections; at 5+2 prod web's ceiling is
+# 4x14 rather than 4x20. Steady-state behaviour is unchanged — only the burst
+# ceiling narrows, and a burst that would have opened a 6th..10th connection now
+# waits on pool_timeout instead of being refused outright by the server (which is
+# an error, not a wait). See infra/deploy/db/init/20-tuning.sh for the server side.
+_ASYNC_POOL_KWARGS = dict(pool_size=5, max_overflow=2, pool_pre_ping=True,
                           pool_recycle=1800, future=True)
 # Smaller than the async engines: only the notifier leader (one process
 # cluster-wide, see core/singleton.py) uses the sync engine, driving its periodic
@@ -74,7 +84,8 @@ _ASYNC_POOL_KWARGS = dict(pool_size=5, max_overflow=5, pool_pre_ping=True,
 # statement_timeout (via psycopg's `options`) bound how long a wedged Postgres
 # can hang the notifier — it runs for the lifetime of that process's leader
 # flock, so an indefinite hang here would silently stop every subscription
-# notification until the process is restarted.
+# notification until the process is restarted. Left at 2+3: one process holds it,
+# so it is not multiplied by the worker or replica count.
 _SYNC_POOL_KWARGS = dict(pool_size=2, max_overflow=3, pool_pre_ping=True,
                          pool_recycle=1800, future=True,
                          connect_args={"connect_timeout": 5,