diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index f461c37..772fcee 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ WORKDIR /app
 COPY --from=builder /app/dist ./dist
 COPY --from=builder /app/node_modules ./node_modules
 COPY --from=builder /app/package*.json ./
+COPY --from=builder /app/prisma.config.ts ./prisma.config.ts
 COPY --from=builder /app/prisma ./prisma
 
 # Copy entrypoint scripts and make them executable
diff --git a/docker-entrypoint.sh b/docker-entrypoint.sh
index 25b32c6..635357b 100644
--- a/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -39,6 +39,29 @@ log_warn() {
     echo -e "${YELLOW}[ENTRYPOINT] WARN: $1${NC}"
 }
 
+normalize_quoted_env_value() {
+    local value="${1-}"
+
+    # Trim leading/trailing whitespace first.
+    value="${value#"${value%%[![:space:]]*}"}"
+    value="${value%"${value##*[![:space:]]}"}"
+
+    if [ -z "$value" ]; then
+        echo ""
+        return
+    fi
+
+    local first_char="${value:0:1}"
+    local last_char="${value: -1}"
+    if { [ "$first_char" = '"' ] && [ "$last_char" = '"' ]; } || { [ "$first_char" = "'" ] && [ "$last_char" = "'" ]; }; then
+        value="${value:1:${#value}-2}"
+        value="${value#"${value%%[![:space:]]*}"}"
+        value="${value%"${value##*[![:space:]]}"}"
+    fi
+
+    echo "$value"
+}
+
 normalize_exit_code() {
     local exit_code="${1:-1}"
 
@@ -368,6 +391,15 @@ monitor_processes() {
 
 # Main execution
 log_info "Starting LyttleNGINX container..."
+
+if [ -n "${DATABASE_URL:-}" ]; then
+    NORMALIZED_DATABASE_URL="$(normalize_quoted_env_value "$DATABASE_URL")"
+    if [ "$NORMALIZED_DATABASE_URL" != "$DATABASE_URL" ]; then
+        log_warn "DATABASE_URL contained wrapping quotes; normalizing it for Prisma and application startup"
+    fi
+    export DATABASE_URL="$NORMALIZED_DATABASE_URL"
+fi
+
 log_info "Hostname: $(hostname)"
 log_info "Instance: ${HOSTNAME:-unknown}"
 log_info "Node version: $(node --version)"
diff --git a/prisma.config.ts b/prisma.config.ts
index d86931f..2762e41 100644
--- a/prisma.config.ts
+++ b/prisma.config.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,39 @@
+// @ts-nocheck
 import { defineConfig } from 'prisma/config';
+import * as process from 'node:process';
 
 const DATABASE_URL_FALLBACK =
   'postgresql://postgres:postgres@127.0.0.1:5432/lyttle_nginx?schema=public';
 
+function normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue(value: string | undefined): string | undefined {
+  if (typeof value !== 'string') {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  const trimmed = value.trim();
+  if (!trimmed) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  if (
+    ((trimmed.startsWith('"') && trimmed.endsWith('"')) ||
+      (trimmed.startsWith("'") && trimmed.endsWith("'"))) &&
+    trimmed.length >= 2
+  ) {
+    return trimmed.slice(1, -1).trim() || undefined;
+  }
+
+  return trimmed;
+}
+
 export default defineConfig({
   schema: 'prisma/schema.prisma',
   migrations: {
     path: 'prisma/migrations',
   },
   datasource: {
-    url: process.env['DATABASE_URL'] || DATABASE_URL_FALLBACK,
+    url:
+      normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue(process.env['DATABASE_URL']) ||
+      DATABASE_URL_FALLBACK,
   },
 });
diff --git a/src/prisma/prisma.service.ts b/src/prisma/prisma.service.ts
index 210e4d6..dc2e716 100644
--- a/src/prisma/prisma.service.ts
+++ b/src/prisma/prisma.service.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,29 @@ import {
 } from '@nestjs/common';
 import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
 
+function normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue(
+  value: string | undefined,
+): string | undefined {
+  if (typeof value !== 'string') {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  const trimmed = value.trim();
+  if (!trimmed) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  if (
+    ((trimmed.startsWith('"') && trimmed.endsWith('"')) ||
+      (trimmed.startsWith("'") && trimmed.endsWith("'"))) &&
+    trimmed.length >= 2
+  ) {
+    return trimmed.slice(1, -1).trim() || undefined;
+  }
+
+  return trimmed;
+}
+
 @Injectable()
 export class PrismaService
   extends PrismaClient
@@ -16,7 +39,7 @@ export class PrismaService
   constructor() {
     // Configure connection pool to prevent connection leaks
     // Parse DATABASE_URL and add connection pool parameters if not present
-    const databaseUrl = process.env.DATABASE_URL;
+    const databaseUrl = normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
     if (databaseUrl) {
       const url = new URL(databaseUrl);
       const configuredPoolSize = Number.parseInt(
diff --git a/test/test-harness.config.js b/test/test-harness.config.js
index 313e6b4..c2d018b 100644
--- a/test/test-harness.config.js
+++ b/test/test-harness.config.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ const UNIT_TEST_FILES = [
   'test/unit/structured-logging.test.js',
   'test/unit/metrics-and-alerting.test.js',
   'test/unit/auth-service-unit.test.js',
+  'test/unit/env-normalization.test.js',
   'test/unit/release-gating.test.js',
 ];
 
diff --git a/test/unit/env-normalization.test.js b/test/unit/env-normalization.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb2c1a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/env-normalization.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+const { describe, it } = require('node:test');
+const assert = require('node:assert/strict');
+const fs = require('node:fs/promises');
+const path = require('node:path');
+
+const repoRoot = path.resolve(__dirname, '../..');
+
+function normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue(value) {
+  if (typeof value !== 'string') {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  const trimmed = value.trim();
+  if (!trimmed) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  if (
+    ((trimmed.startsWith('"') && trimmed.endsWith('"')) ||
+      (trimmed.startsWith("'") && trimmed.endsWith("'"))) &&
+    trimmed.length >= 2
+  ) {
+    return trimmed.slice(1, -1).trim() || undefined;
+  }
+
+  return trimmed;
+}
+
+describe('environment value normalization', () => {
+  it('strips matching wrapping quotes and surrounding whitespace', () => {
+    assert.equal(
+      normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue('  "postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/app?schema=public"  '),
+      'postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/app?schema=public',
+    );
+    assert.equal(
+      normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue("  'postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/app?schema=public'  "),
+      'postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/app?schema=public',
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('preserves already clean values and collapses empty input to undefined', () => {
+    assert.equal(
+      normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue('postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/app?schema=public'),
+      'postgresql://user:pass@db:5432/app?schema=public',
+    );
+    assert.equal(normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue('   '), undefined);
+    assert.equal(normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue(undefined), undefined);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps Prisma and entrypoint wired to normalize DATABASE_URL before use', async () => {
+    const prismaConfig = await fs.readFile(
+      path.join(repoRoot, 'prisma.config.ts'),
+      'utf8',
+    );
+    const prismaService = await fs.readFile(
+      path.join(repoRoot, 'src/prisma/prisma.service.ts'),
+      'utf8',
+    );
+    const entrypoint = await fs.readFile(
+      path.join(repoRoot, 'docker-entrypoint.sh'),
+      'utf8',
+    );
+
+    assert.match(prismaConfig, /normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue/);
+    assert.match(prismaService, /normalizePossiblyQuotedEnvValue/);
+    assert.match(entrypoint, /normalize_quoted_env_value/);
+    assert.match(entrypoint, /DATABASE_URL contained wrapping quotes; normalizing it/);
+  });
+});
+
diff --git a/test/unit/release-gating.test.js b/test/unit/release-gating.test.js
index a5e285e..644a495 100644
--- a/test/unit/release-gating.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/release-gating.test.js
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ describe('CI/CD release gating', () => {
     assert.match(dockerfile, /RUN npm run verify:ci/);
     assert.match(dockerfile, /RUN npm prune --omit=dev/);
     assert.match(dockerfile, /COPY \. \.\nRUN npm run verify:ci/);
+    assert.match(dockerfile, /COPY --from=builder \/app\/prisma\.config\.ts \.\/prisma\.config\.ts/);
     assert.match(dockerfile, /apt-get update && \\\n\s+apt-get dist-upgrade -y && \\\n\s+apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends/);
   });
 });