diff --git a/auth/src/auth.ts b/auth/src/auth.ts
index b1e0e1b..c882aac 100644
--- a/auth/src/auth.ts
+++ b/auth/src/auth.ts
@@ -4,17 +4,23 @@ import pg from "pg";
 
 const { Pool } = pg;
 
-const pool = new Pool({
-  connectionString:
-    process.env.DATABASE_URL ??
-    "postgresql://cartsnitch:cartsnitch@localhost:5432/cartsnitch",
-});
-
 const secret = process.env.BETTER_AUTH_SECRET;
 if (!secret) {
   throw new Error("BETTER_AUTH_SECRET environment variable is required");
 }
 
+const databaseUrl = process.env.DATABASE_URL;
+if (!databaseUrl) {
+  console.warn(
+    "WARNING: DATABASE_URL is not set — using default localhost connection. " +
+    "Set DATABASE_URL for production deployments."
+  );
+}
+
+export const pool = new Pool({
+  connectionString: databaseUrl ?? "postgresql://cartsnitch:cartsnitch@localhost:5432/cartsnitch",
+});
+
 export const auth = betterAuth({
   database: pool,
   basePath: "/auth",
diff --git a/auth/src/index.ts b/auth/src/index.ts
index 843a97c..708d91d 100644
--- a/auth/src/index.ts
+++ b/auth/src/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { createServer } from "node:http";
 import { toNodeHandler } from "better-auth/node";
-import { auth } from "./auth.js";
+import { auth, pool } from "./auth.js";
 
 const port = parseInt(process.env.PORT ?? "3001", 10);
 
@@ -9,8 +9,22 @@ const handler = toNodeHandler(auth);
 const server = createServer(async (req, res) => {
   // Health check
   if (req.url === "/health" && req.method === "GET") {
-    res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
-    res.end(JSON.stringify({ status: "ok" }));
+    try {
+      const client = await pool.connect();
+      try {
+        await Promise.race([
+          client.query("SELECT 1"),
+          new Promise((_, reject) => setTimeout(() => reject(new Error("DB timeout")), 2000)),
+        ]);
+      } finally {
+        client.release();
+      }
+      res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
+      res.end(JSON.stringify({ status: "ok", db: "connected" }));
+    } catch {
+      res.writeHead(503, { "Content-Type": "application/json" });
+      res.end(JSON.stringify({ status: "error", db: "unreachable" }));
+    }
     return;
   }
 
diff --git a/cart608-auth-signin-fail.png b/cart608-auth-signin-fail.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..295adc5
Binary files /dev/null and b/cart608-auth-signin-fail.png differ
diff --git a/cartsnitch b/cartsnitch
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..a53dadd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cartsnitch
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit a53daddb9a9a0ff7f91bdca8c1588d836e0804cb
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index a56c4d4..709106e 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -9805,9 +9805,9 @@
       }
     },
     "node_modules/vite": {
-      "version": "6.4.1",
-      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/vite/-/vite-6.4.1.tgz",
-      "integrity": "sha512-+Oxm7q9hDoLMyJOYfUYBuHQo+dkAloi33apOPP56pzj+vsdJDzr+j1NISE5pyaAuKL4A3UD34qd0lx5+kfKp2g==",
+      "version": "6.4.2",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/vite/-/vite-6.4.2.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-2N/55r4JDJ4gdrCvGgINMy+HH3iRpNIz8K6SFwVsA+JbQScLiC+clmAxBgwiSPgcG9U15QmvqCGWzMbqda5zGQ==",
       "devOptional": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {