diff --git a/control_plane/src/compute.rs b/control_plane/src/compute.rs
index 059f07fb9a..3ba3c26eff 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/compute.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/compute.rs
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ pub struct PostgresNode {
     pub env: LocalEnv,
     pageserver: Arc<PageServerNode>,
     is_test: bool,
-    timelineid: ZTimelineId,
+    pub timelineid: ZTimelineId,
 }
 
 impl PostgresNode {
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ impl PostgresNode {
 
         lazy_static! {
             static ref CONF_PORT_RE: Regex = Regex::new(r"(?m)^\s*port\s*=\s*(\d+)\s*$").unwrap();
+            static ref CONF_TIMELINE_RE: Regex = Regex::new(r"(?m)^\s*zenith_timeline\s*=\s*'(\w+)'\s*$").unwrap();
         }
 
         // parse data directory name
@@ -184,6 +185,7 @@ impl PostgresNode {
             )
         })?;
 
+        // parse port
         let err_msg = format!(
             "failed to find port definition in config file {}",
             cfg_path.to_str().unwrap()
@@ -199,11 +201,21 @@ impl PostgresNode {
             .parse()
             .with_context(|| err_msg)?;
 
-        // FIXME: What timeline is this server on? Would have to parse the postgresql.conf
-        // file for that, too. It's currently not needed for anything, but it would be
-        // nice to list the timeline in "zenith pg list"
-        let timelineid_buf = [0u8; 16];
-        let timelineid = ZTimelineId::from(timelineid_buf);
+        // parse timeline
+        let err_msg = format!(
+            "failed to find timeline definition in config file {}",
+            cfg_path.to_str().unwrap()
+        );
+        let timelineid: ZTimelineId = CONF_TIMELINE_RE
+            .captures(config.as_str())
+            .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::Error::msg(err_msg.clone() + " 1"))?
+            .iter()
+            .last()
+            .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::Error::msg(err_msg.clone() + " 2"))?
+            .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::Error::msg(err_msg.clone() + " 3"))?
+            .as_str()
+            .parse()
+            .with_context(|| err_msg)?;
 
         // ok now
         Ok(PostgresNode {
diff --git a/zenith/src/main.rs b/zenith/src/main.rs
index 69a31efdae..d96b23b28f 100644
--- a/zenith/src/main.rs
+++ b/zenith/src/main.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use std::fs;
+use std::{collections::HashMap, fs};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::process::exit;
 use std::str::FromStr;
@@ -158,13 +158,13 @@ pub fn get_branch_timeline(repopath: &Path, branchname: &str) -> ZTimelineId {
 fn handle_pg(pg_match: &ArgMatches, env: &local_env::LocalEnv) -> Result<()> {
     let mut cplane = ComputeControlPlane::load(env.clone())?;
 
+    // FIXME: cheat and resolve the timeline by peeking into the
+    // repository. In reality, when you're launching a compute node
+    // against a possibly-remote page server, we wouldn't know what
+    // branches exist in the remote repository. Or would we require
+    // that you "zenith fetch" them into a local repoitory first?
     match pg_match.subcommand() {
         ("create", Some(sub_m)) => {
-            // FIXME: cheat and resolve the timeline by peeking into the
-            // repository. In reality, when you're launching a compute node
-            // against a possibly-remote page server, we wouldn't know what
-            // branches exist in the remote repository. Or would we require
-            // that you "zenith fetch" them into a local repoitory first?
             let timeline_arg = sub_m.value_of("timeline").unwrap_or("main");
             let timeline = get_branch_timeline(&env.repo_path, timeline_arg);
 
@@ -173,9 +173,18 @@ fn handle_pg(pg_match: &ArgMatches, env: &local_env::LocalEnv) -> Result<()> {
             cplane.new_node(timeline)?;
         }
         ("list", Some(_sub_m)) => {
-            println!("NODE\tADDRESS\tSTATUS");
+            let mut tl2branch = HashMap::<ZTimelineId, String>::new();
+            let branches_dir = zenith_repo_dir().join("refs").join("branches");
+            for path in fs::read_dir(branches_dir.clone())? {
+                let branch_name = path?.file_name().to_str().unwrap().to_string();
+                let branch_file = branches_dir.join(branch_name.clone());
+                let timelineid = fs::read_to_string(branch_file)?.parse::<ZTimelineId>()?;
+                tl2branch.insert(timelineid, branch_name);
+            }
+
+            println!("NODE\tADDRESS\t\tSTATUS\tBRANCH");
             for (node_name, node) in cplane.nodes.iter() {
-                println!("{}\t{}\t{}", node_name, node.address, node.status());
+                println!("{}\t{}\t{}\t{}", node_name, node.address, node.status(), tl2branch[&node.timelineid]);
             }
         }
         ("start", Some(sub_m)) => {