diff --git a/packages/bsky/service/index.js b/packages/bsky/service/index.js
index b773f500d6c..5c4edff03aa 100644
--- a/packages/bsky/service/index.js
+++ b/packages/bsky/service/index.js
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ const getEnv = () => ({
   dbPostgresUrl: process.env.DB_POSTGRES_URL,
   dbMigratePostgresUrl:
     process.env.DB_MIGRATE_POSTGRES_URL || process.env.DB_POSTGRES_URL,
-  dbPostgresSchema: process.env.DB_POSTGRES_SCHEMA,
+  dbPostgresSchema: process.env.DB_POSTGRES_SCHEMA || undefined,
   publicUrl: process.env.PUBLIC_URL,
   didPlcUrl: process.env.DID_PLC_URL,
   imgUriSalt: process.env.IMG_URI_SALT,
diff --git a/packages/bsky/src/db/index.ts b/packages/bsky/src/db/index.ts
index 261fc3e0d6b..be00e2f645b 100644
--- a/packages/bsky/src/db/index.ts
+++ b/packages/bsky/src/db/index.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export class Database {
     pgTypes.setTypeParser(pgTypes.builtins.INT8, (n) => parseInt(n, 10))
 
     // Setup schema usage, primarily for test parallelism (each test suite runs in its own pg schema)
-    if (schema !== undefined) {
+    if (schema) {
       if (!/^[a-z_]+$/i.test(schema)) {
         throw new Error(
           `Postgres schema must only contain [A-Za-z_]: ${schema}`,
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ export class Database {
   }
 
   async migrateToOrThrow(migration: string) {
-    if (this.schema !== undefined) {
+    if (this.schema) {
       await this.db.schema.createSchema(this.schema).ifNotExists().execute()
     }
     const { error, results } = await this.migrator.migrateTo(migration)
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ export class Database {
   }
 
   async migrateToLatestOrThrow() {
-    if (this.schema !== undefined) {
+    if (this.schema) {
       await this.db.schema.createSchema(this.schema).ifNotExists().execute()
     }
     const { error, results } = await this.migrator.migrateToLatest()
diff --git a/packages/pds/service/index.js b/packages/pds/service/index.js
index 50be4ffb3a2..ac0f4a891e2 100644
--- a/packages/pds/service/index.js
+++ b/packages/pds/service/index.js
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ const getEnv = () => ({
   recoveryKeyId: process.env.RECOVERY_KEY_ID,
   dbCreds: JSON.parse(process.env.DB_CREDS_JSON),
   dbMigrateCreds: JSON.parse(process.env.DB_MIGRATE_CREDS_JSON),
-  dbSchema: process.env.DB_SCHEMA,
+  dbSchema: process.env.DB_SCHEMA || undefined,
   dbPoolSize: maybeParseInt(process.env.DB_POOL_SIZE),
   dbPoolMaxUses: maybeParseInt(process.env.DB_POOL_MAX_USES),
   dbPoolIdleTimeoutMs: maybeParseInt(process.env.DB_POOL_IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS),
diff --git a/packages/pds/src/db/index.ts b/packages/pds/src/db/index.ts
index 1a40a5fa356..213c20ca5fd 100644
--- a/packages/pds/src/db/index.ts
+++ b/packages/pds/src/db/index.ts
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ export class Database {
     pgTypes.setTypeParser(pgTypes.builtins.INT8, (n) => parseInt(n, 10))
 
     // Setup schema usage, primarily for test parallelism (each test suite runs in its own pg schema)
-    if (schema !== undefined) {
+    if (schema) {
       if (!/^[a-z_]+$/i.test(schema)) {
         throw new Error(
           `Postgres schema must only contain [A-Za-z_]: ${schema}`,
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ export class Database {
   }
 
   async migrateToOrThrow(migration: string) {
-    if (this.schema !== undefined) {
+    if (this.schema) {
       await this.db.schema.createSchema(this.schema).ifNotExists().execute()
     }
     const { error, results } = await this.migrator.migrateTo(migration)
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ export class Database {
   }
 
   async migrateToLatestOrThrow() {
-    if (this.schema !== undefined) {
+    if (this.schema) {
       await this.db.schema.createSchema(this.schema).ifNotExists().execute()
     }
     const { error, results } = await this.migrator.migrateToLatest()