diff --git a/deploy/deploy.schema.json b/deploy/deploy.schema.json
index 541305bd..3000128a 100644
--- a/deploy/deploy.schema.json
+++ b/deploy/deploy.schema.json
@@ -384,6 +384,7 @@
     "postgresRuntimeStore": {
       "type": "object",
       "properties": {
+        "image": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
         "poolMax": { "type": "integer", "minimum": 1 }
       },
       "additionalProperties": false
diff --git a/deploy/deploy.yaml b/deploy/deploy.yaml
index c3f47832..a3d7d089 100644
--- a/deploy/deploy.yaml
+++ b/deploy/deploy.yaml
@@ -301,6 +301,7 @@ lanes:
       port: 5432
     runtimeStore:
       postgres:
+        image: postgres:16-alpine
         poolMax: 4
         connectionTimeoutMs: 5000
         queryRetryMaxAttempts: 5
diff --git a/scripts/gitops-render.mjs b/scripts/gitops-render.mjs
index fae9e9b3..8e92e66d 100644
--- a/scripts/gitops-render.mjs
+++ b/scripts/gitops-render.mjs
@@ -5006,7 +5006,13 @@ function deviceAgent71FreqManifest({ profile = "dev", source, registryPrefix, ca
   };
 }
 
-function v02PostgresManifest({ profile = "v02", migrationSql, source }) {
+function runtimePostgresImageForProfile(deploy, profile) {
+  const postgres = runtimeLaneConfig(deploy, profile)?.runtimeStore?.postgres;
+  const image = postgres && typeof postgres === "object" && !Array.isArray(postgres) ? postgres.image : null;
+  return typeof image === "string" && image.trim().length > 0 ? image.trim() : "postgres:16-alpine";
+}
+
+function v02PostgresManifest({ profile = "v02", migrationSql, source, image = "postgres:16-alpine" }) {
   const namespace = namespaceNameForProfile(profile);
   const name = `${namespace}-postgres`;
   const dbName = `hwlab_${profile}`;
@@ -5057,7 +5063,7 @@ function v02PostgresManifest({ profile = "v02", migrationSql, source }) {
             spec: {
               containers: [{
                 name: "postgres",
-                image: "127.0.0.1:5000/hwlab/postgres:16-alpine",
+                image,
                 imagePullPolicy: "IfNotPresent",
                 env: [
                   { name: "POSTGRES_DB", value: dbName },
@@ -5466,7 +5472,7 @@ async function plannedFiles(args) {
     putJson(`${runtimePath}/workloads.yaml`, transformWorkloads({ workloads, deploy, catalog: artifactCatalog, source, sourceBranch: args.sourceBranch, gitReadUrl: args.gitReadUrl, registryPrefix: args.registryPrefix, runtimeEndpoint: endpoints.runtimeEndpoint, webEndpoint: endpoints.webEndpoint, profile, useDeployImages: args.useDeployImages, metricsSidecarSha256 }));
     putJson(`${runtimePath}/deepseek-proxy.yaml`, deepSeekProxyManifest({ profile, source, sourceBranch: args.sourceBranch, sourceRepo: args.sourceRepo, gitReadUrl: args.gitReadUrl, deploy, registryPrefix: args.registryPrefix, catalog: artifactCatalog, useDeployImages: args.useDeployImages, metricsSidecarSha256 }));
     if (isRuntimeLane(profile) && externalPostgres) putJson(`${runtimePath}/external-postgres.yaml`, externalPostgresManifest({ profile, config: externalPostgres, source }));
-    if (isRuntimeLane(profile) && !externalPostgres) putJson(`${runtimePath}/postgres.yaml`, v02PostgresManifest({ profile, migrationSql, source }));
+    if (isRuntimeLane(profile) && !externalPostgres) putJson(`${runtimePath}/postgres.yaml`, v02PostgresManifest({ profile, migrationSql, source, image: runtimePostgresImageForProfile(deploy, profile) }));
     if (workbenchRedis) putJson(`${runtimePath}/workbench-redis.yaml`, workbenchRuntimeRedisManifest({ profile, config: workbenchRedis, source }));
     if (isRuntimeLane(profile)) putJson(`${runtimePath}/openfga.yaml`, v02OpenFgaManifest({ profile, source }));
     if (isRuntimeLane(profile)) putJson(`${runtimePath}/observability.yaml`, observabilityManifest({ deploy, profile, namespace, labels: profileLabels, annotations, metricsSidecarScript }));