diff --git a/src/scripts/migrate.ts b/src/scripts/migrate.ts
index 228b622..b4611eb 100644
--- a/src/scripts/migrate.ts
+++ b/src/scripts/migrate.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,31 @@
 /**
- * Production migration runner.
- * Run via: NODE_OPTIONS="--experimental-strip-types --no-require-module" node src/scripts/migrate.ts
+ * Lightweight production migration runner.
  *
- * Uses the same Node.js native TS-stripping approach as seed.ts.
- * Called by the `migrator` Docker service before the app starts.
+ * Uses a minimal inline Payload config — no lexical editor, no plugins, no
+ * collections/globals — to avoid loading heavy modules in a memory-constrained
+ * environment (the full config would OOM a small VPS via SIGKILL).
+ *
+ * Run via: NODE_OPTIONS="--experimental-strip-types --no-require-module" node src/scripts/migrate.ts
  */
-import { getPayload } from 'payload';
-import config from '../payload.config.ts';
+import path from 'path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
+import { buildConfig, getPayload } from 'payload';
+import { postgresAdapter } from '@payloadcms/db-postgres';
+
+const filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
+const dirname = path.dirname(filename);
+
+// Minimal config: only the DB adapter + explicit migrations path.
+// No editor, no plugins, no collections/globals needed to run raw SQL migrations.
+const config = buildConfig({
+  secret: process.env.PAYLOAD_SECRET || 'migrate-secret',
+  db: postgresAdapter({
+    pool: { connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URI },
+    migrationDir: path.resolve(dirname, '../migrations'),
+  }),
+  collections: [],
+  globals: [],
+});
 
 const payload = await getPayload({ config });