diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index f8ae00d..09a4bb3 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ services:
       POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-postgres}
       POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-change-me}
       POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:-toir}
+      # UTF-8 cluster (applies only on first volume init) — migrations use Cyrillic enum labels
+      POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: "--encoding=UTF-8 --locale=C.UTF-8"
     healthcheck:
       test:
         [
@@ -64,7 +66,8 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
     depends_on:
       server:
-        condition: service_healthy
+        # Do not wait for healthy: if migrations fail, stack stays up so you can read server logs.
+        condition: service_started
     healthcheck:
       test: ["CMD-SHELL", "wget -qO- http://127.0.0.1/healthz >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 1"]
       interval: 15s
diff --git a/server/docker-entrypoint.sh b/server/docker-entrypoint.sh
index 04f42a5..828a728 100755
--- a/server/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/server/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -2,20 +2,35 @@
 set -e
 
 PRISMA_BIN="./node_modules/.bin/prisma"
+SCHEMA="prisma/schema.prisma"
+
 if [ ! -f "$PRISMA_BIN" ]; then
   echo "Prisma CLI not found at $PRISMA_BIN"
   exit 1
 fi
 
-echo "Applying database migrations..."
+export PRISMA_HIDE_UPDATE_MESSAGE=1
+
+run_migrate() {
+  "$PRISMA_BIN" migrate deploy --schema "$SCHEMA" --skip-generate
+}
+
+echo "Applying database migrations (schema=$SCHEMA)..."
 i=0
 while [ "$i" -lt 15 ]; do
-  if "$PRISMA_BIN" migrate deploy; then
+  if run_migrate; then
     break
   fi
   i=$((i + 1))
   if [ "$i" -eq 15 ]; then
-    echo "prisma migrate deploy failed after 15 attempts"
+    echo "----------------------------------------------------------------"
+    echo "prisma migrate deploy failed after 15 attempts."
+    echo "Check: docker logs toir-server"
+    echo "If the DB volume has a broken migration history, remove volume"
+    echo "kis-toir_postgres-data once (all DB data lost) or fix _prisma_migrations."
+    echo "--- prisma migrate status ---"
+    "$PRISMA_BIN" migrate status --schema "$SCHEMA" || true
+    echo "----------------------------------------------------------------"
     exit 1
   fi
   echo "Migrate failed or DB not ready; retrying in 2s ($i/15)..."