diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 61b1db9..e82ac0f 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -23,6 +23,34 @@ TCP_INGESTION_INSTANCE_ID=stage-1
 # give each a distinct host port (e.g. 5028, 5029).
 TCP_INGESTION_PORT=5027
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+# postgres / TimescaleDB
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# Database superuser, password, and default database. Created on first
+# boot of the postgres container; the volume persists them after that.
+# IMPORTANT: change POSTGRES_PASSWORD before deploying to production.
+# Changing it after first boot has no effect — the volume already has
+# the password baked in. To rotate, ALTER USER inside psql.
+POSTGRES_USER=trm
+POSTGRES_PASSWORD=trm-pilot-change-me
+POSTGRES_DB=trm
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+# processor
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# Image tag to pull. `main` auto-tracks the latest commit on the main branch.
+# In production, pin to a specific commit SHA for reproducibility.
+#   Example: PROCESSOR_TAG=9791620
+PROCESSOR_TAG=main
+
+# Instance identifier — must be stable across the lifetime of the process,
+# AND unique per running instance (it's used as the Redis consumer-group
+# member name; two instances with the same name will read from the same
+# Pending Entries List, which is undefined behaviour).
+PROCESSOR_INSTANCE_ID=processor-1
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Shared
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/compose.yaml b/compose.yaml
index 88b363a..b7bfccd 100644
--- a/compose.yaml
+++ b/compose.yaml
@@ -56,10 +56,58 @@ services:
       LOG_LEVEL: ${LOG_LEVEL:-info}
     restart: unless-stopped
 
+  # -------------------------------------------------------------------
+  # postgres — PostgreSQL 16 with TimescaleDB + PostGIS extensions
+  # (and others) bundled. Image: timescale/timescaledb-ha, `-all` suffix
+  # = all extensions present and ready for `CREATE EXTENSION`.
+  #
+  # Schema is owned by Directus (when it lands); the `positions`
+  # hypertable is owned by the processor's migration runner.
+  # Internal-only; no host port mapping.
+  #
+  # The image tag should be reviewed every 3–6 months. Pick the latest
+  # stable `pg16-ts*-all` build from Docker Hub:
+  #   https://hub.docker.com/r/timescale/timescaledb-ha/tags
+  # Pin to a specific tag (not rolling `pg16`) so deploys are reproducible.
+  # -------------------------------------------------------------------
+  postgres:
+    image: timescale/timescaledb-ha:pg16.6-ts2.17.2-all
+    expose:
+      - '5432'
+    volumes:
+      - postgres-data:/home/postgres/pgdata/data
+    environment:
+      POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-trm}
+      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-trm-pilot-change-me}
+      POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:-trm}
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ['CMD-SHELL', 'pg_isready -U ${POSTGRES_USER:-trm} -d ${POSTGRES_DB:-trm}']
+      interval: 10s
+      timeout: 3s
+      retries: 5
+
+  # -------------------------------------------------------------------
+  # processor — consumes telemetry from Redis, writes to Postgres.
+  # Built by git.dev.microservices.al/trm/processor's Gitea workflow.
+  # -------------------------------------------------------------------
+  processor:
+    image: git.dev.microservices.al/trm/processor:${PROCESSOR_TAG:-main}
+    depends_on:
+      redis:
+        condition: service_healthy
+      postgres:
+        condition: service_healthy
+    environment:
+      NODE_ENV: production
+      INSTANCE_ID: ${PROCESSOR_INSTANCE_ID:-processor-1}
+      REDIS_URL: redis://redis:6379
+      POSTGRES_URL: postgres://${POSTGRES_USER:-trm}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-trm-pilot-change-me}@postgres:5432/${POSTGRES_DB:-trm}
+      LOG_LEVEL: ${LOG_LEVEL:-info}
+    restart: unless-stopped
+
   # -------------------------------------------------------------------
   # Future services land here:
-  #   - processor:        consumes telemetry from Redis, writes to DB
-  #   - postgres:         PostgreSQL with TimescaleDB extension
   #   - directus:         business-plane API + admin UI
   #   - react-spa:        front-end (static, served via nginx or Caddy)
   # See ../docs/wiki/ for the platform architecture.
@@ -67,3 +115,4 @@ services:
 
 volumes:
   redis-data:
+  postgres-data: