diff --git a/Charts/tiled/templates/_helpers.tpl b/Charts/tiled/templates/_helpers.tpl
index b3ee1b7..3188c93 100644
--- a/Charts/tiled/templates/_helpers.tpl
+++ b/Charts/tiled/templates/_helpers.tpl
@@ -72,3 +72,20 @@ Fails rather than truncates, so two beamlines can never collide on one name.
 {{- end }}
 {{- $name }}
 {{- end }}
+
+{{/*
+libpq-style connection env for the bundled postgres, used by the init container
+and the tiled config, e.g. postgresql://$PGUSER:$PGPASSWORD@$PGHOST/$PGDATABASE
+*/}}
+{{- define "tiled.postgresqlEnv" -}}
+- name: PGHOST
+  value: {{ include "tiled.fullname" . }}-postgresql
+- name: PGUSER
+  value: {{ .Values.postgresql.user | quote }}
+- name: PGDATABASE
+  value: {{ .Values.postgresql.database | quote }}
+- name: PGPASSWORD
+  valueFrom:
+    secretKeyRef:
+      {{- toYaml .Values.postgresql.passwordSecret | nindent 6 }}
+{{- end }}
diff --git a/Charts/tiled/templates/deployment.yaml b/Charts/tiled/templates/deployment.yaml
index 82ce563..d5e37a8 100644
--- a/Charts/tiled/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/Charts/tiled/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -39,6 +39,23 @@ spec:
       {{- $beamlineSC := .securityContext | default dict }}
       securityContext:
         {{- toYaml (merge (pick $beamlineSC "supplementalGroups") $.Values.podSecurityContext) | nindent 8 }}
+      {{- if $.Values.postgresql.enabled }}
+      # All beamlines share one catalog database, which postgres creates on
+      # first start. Make its tables, retrying until postgres is up and if
+      # another beamline's pod is doing the same. A no-op once done.
+      initContainers:
+        - name: init-catalog
+          image: "{{ $.Values.image.repository }}:{{ $.Values.image.tag | default $.Chart.AppVersion }}"
+          imagePullPolicy: {{ $.Values.image.pullPolicy }}
+          securityContext:
+            {{- toYaml (merge (omit $beamlineSC "supplementalGroups") $.Values.securityContext) | nindent 12 }}
+          command:
+            - sh
+            - -c
+            - until tiled catalog init --if-not-exists "postgresql://$PGUSER:$PGPASSWORD@$PGHOST/$PGDATABASE"; do sleep 2; done
+          env:
+            {{- include "tiled.postgresqlEnv" $ | nindent 12 }}
+      {{- end }}
       containers:
         - name: {{ $.Chart.Name }}
           securityContext:
@@ -67,9 +84,15 @@ spec:
           volumeMounts:
             {{- toYaml . | nindent 12 }}
           {{- end }}
-          {{- with concat $.Values.extraEnvVars (.extraEnvVars | default list) }}
+          {{- $env := concat $.Values.extraEnvVars (.extraEnvVars | default list) }}
+          {{- if or $env $.Values.postgresql.enabled }}
           env:
+            {{- if $.Values.postgresql.enabled }}
+            {{- include "tiled.postgresqlEnv" $ | nindent 12 }}
+            {{- end }}
+            {{- with $env }}
             {{- toYaml . | nindent 12 }}
+            {{- end }}
           {{- end }}
       volumes:
         - name: config
diff --git a/Charts/tiled/templates/postgresql.yaml b/Charts/tiled/templates/postgresql.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f59bc4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Charts/tiled/templates/postgresql.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+{{- with .Values.postgresql }}
+{{- if .enabled }}
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: {{ include "tiled.fullname" $ }}-postgresql
+  labels:
+    {{- include "tiled.labels" $ | nindent 4 }}
+    app.kubernetes.io/component: postgresql
+spec:
+  clusterIP: None
+  ports:
+    - port: 5432
+      targetPort: postgresql
+      name: postgresql
+  selector:
+    {{- include "tiled.selectorLabels" $ | nindent 4 }}
+    app.kubernetes.io/component: postgresql
+---
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: StatefulSet
+metadata:
+  name: {{ include "tiled.fullname" $ }}-postgresql
+  labels:
+    {{- include "tiled.labels" $ | nindent 4 }}
+    app.kubernetes.io/component: postgresql
+spec:
+  replicas: 1
+  serviceName: {{ include "tiled.fullname" $ }}-postgresql
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      {{- include "tiled.selectorLabels" $ | nindent 6 }}
+      app.kubernetes.io/component: postgresql
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        {{- include "tiled.labels" $ | nindent 8 }}
+        app.kubernetes.io/component: postgresql
+    spec:
+      securityContext:
+        {{- toYaml .podSecurityContext | nindent 8 }}
+      containers:
+        - name: postgresql
+          image: "{{ .image.repository }}:{{ .image.tag }}"
+          imagePullPolicy: {{ .image.pullPolicy }}
+          securityContext:
+            {{- toYaml .securityContext | nindent 12 }}
+          env:
+            # The image's entrypoint creates this superuser and database on first start
+            - name: POSTGRES_USER
+              value: {{ .user | quote }}
+            - name: POSTGRES_DB
+              value: {{ .database | quote }}
+            - name: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  {{- toYaml .passwordSecret | nindent 18 }}
+          ports:
+            - name: postgresql
+              containerPort: 5432
+          readinessProbe:
+            exec:
+              command: [pg_isready, -U, {{ .user | quote }}]
+          resources:
+            {{- toYaml .resources | nindent 12 }}
+          volumeMounts:
+            # postgres 18+ keeps PGDATA in a versioned subdirectory of this
+            - name: data
+              mountPath: /var/lib/postgresql
+  volumeClaimTemplates:
+    - metadata:
+        name: data
+      spec:
+        accessModes: [ReadWriteOnce]
+        {{- with .storageClassName }}
+        storageClassName: {{ . }}
+        {{- end }}
+        resources:
+          requests:
+            storage: {{ .storage }}
+{{- end }}
+{{- end }}
diff --git a/Charts/tiled/values.yaml b/Charts/tiled/values.yaml
index 56104b4..967e396 100644
--- a/Charts/tiled/values.yaml
+++ b/Charts/tiled/values.yaml
@@ -39,6 +39,39 @@ config:
         writable_storage: "/storage/data"
         init_if_not_exists: true
 
+# A postgres holding one catalog database shared by every beamline. The tiled
+# pods initialize it on first start, and get PGHOST, PGUSER, PGPASSWORD and
+# PGDATABASE, so point the trees at it with
+#   uri: "postgresql://$PGUSER:$PGPASSWORD@$PGHOST/$PGDATABASE"
+# in place of the default sqlite one.
+# The password must be URL-safe, as it is put into the uri as is.
+postgresql:
+  enabled: false
+  image:
+    repository: postgres
+    tag: "18"
+    pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
+  user: tiled
+  database: tiled
+  # Only read when the data volume is empty; changing it later needs ALTER USER
+  passwordSecret:
+    name: tiled-secrets
+    key: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
+  storage: 10Gi
+  storageClassName: ""
+  resources: {}
+  # The postgres user of the image, which owns the data directory
+  podSecurityContext:
+    runAsNonRoot: true
+    runAsUser: 999
+    runAsGroup: 999
+    fsGroup: 999
+  securityContext:
+    allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
+    capabilities:
+      drop:
+        - ALL
+
 # Restart the tiled and envoy pods when their ConfigMap changes, by putting a
 # checksum of it in a pod annotation. See
 # https://helm.sh/docs/howto/charts_tips_and_tricks/#automatically-roll-deployments