diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 75c86289f..1055779de 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -439,11 +439,12 @@ jobs:
     docker:
       - image: cimg/node:18.19.0
       - image: cimg/redis:7.2.4
-      - image: cimg/postgres:14.11
+      - image: cimg/postgres:17.0
         environment:
           POSTGRES_DB: speckle2_test
           POSTGRES_PASSWORD: speckle
           POSTGRES_USER: speckle
+        command: -c 'max_connections=1000'
       - image: 'minio/minio'
         command: server /data --console-address ":9001"
         # environment:
@@ -453,6 +454,7 @@ jobs:
       NODE_ENV: test
       DATABASE_URL: 'postgres://speckle:speckle@127.0.0.1:5432/speckle2_test'
       PGDATABASE: speckle2_test
+      POSTGRES_MAX_CONNECTIONS_SERVER: 20
       PGUSER: speckle
       SESSION_SECRET: 'keyboard cat'
       STRATEGY_LOCAL: 'true'