diff --git a/compute_tools/src/bin/fast_import.rs b/compute_tools/src/bin/fast_import.rs
index aba6a347aa..275765bba4 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/bin/fast_import.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/bin/fast_import.rs
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ use camino::{Utf8Path, Utf8PathBuf};
 use clap::Parser;
 use compute_tools::extension_server::{get_pg_version, PostgresMajorVersion};
 use nix::unistd::Pid;
-use tracing::{info, info_span, warn, Instrument};
+use tracing::{error, info, info_span, warn, Instrument};
 use utils::fs_ext::is_directory_empty;
 
 #[path = "fast_import/aws_s3_sync.rs"]
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ mod child_stdio_to_log;
 #[path = "fast_import/s3_uri.rs"]
 mod s3_uri;
 
+const PG_WAIT_TIMEOUT: std::time::Duration = std::time::Duration::from_secs(600);
+const PG_WAIT_RETRY_INTERVAL: std::time::Duration = std::time::Duration::from_millis(300);
+
 #[derive(clap::Parser)]
 struct Args {
     #[clap(long)]
@@ -96,6 +99,9 @@ pub(crate) async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     if args.s3_prefix.is_none() && args.source_connection_string.is_none() {
         anyhow::bail!("either s3_prefix or source_connection_string must be specified");
     }
+    if args.s3_prefix.is_some() && args.source_connection_string.is_some() {
+        anyhow::bail!("only one of s3_prefix or source_connection_string can be specified");
+    }
 
     let working_directory = args.working_directory;
     let pg_bin_dir = args.pg_bin_dir;
@@ -244,13 +250,23 @@ pub(crate) async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     // Create neondb database in the running postgres
     let restore_pg_connstring =
         format!("host=localhost port={pg_port} user={superuser} dbname=postgres");
+
+    let start_time = std::time::Instant::now();
+
     loop {
+        if start_time.elapsed() > PG_WAIT_TIMEOUT {
+            error!(
+                "timeout exceeded: failed to poll postgres and create database within 10 minutes"
+            );
+            std::process::exit(1);
+        }
+
         match tokio_postgres::connect(&restore_pg_connstring, tokio_postgres::NoTls).await {
             Ok((client, connection)) => {
                 // Spawn the connection handling task to maintain the connection
                 tokio::spawn(async move {
                     if let Err(e) = connection.await {
-                        eprintln!("connection error: {}", e);
+                        warn!("connection error: {}", e);
                     }
                 });
 
@@ -260,12 +276,24 @@ pub(crate) async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
                         break;
                     }
                     Err(e) => {
-                        info!("failed to create database: {}", e);
-                        break;
+                        warn!(
+                            "failed to create database: {}, retying in {}s",
+                            e,
+                            PG_WAIT_RETRY_INTERVAL.as_secs_f32()
+                        );
+                        tokio::time::sleep(PG_WAIT_RETRY_INTERVAL).await;
+                        continue;
                     }
                 }
             }
-            Err(_) => continue,
+            Err(_) => {
+                info!(
+                    "postgres not ready yet, retrying in {}s",
+                    PG_WAIT_RETRY_INTERVAL.as_secs_f32()
+                );
+                tokio::time::sleep(PG_WAIT_RETRY_INTERVAL).await;
+                continue;
+            }
         }
     }