diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 0be6d5d183..abd87dc0da 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1168,6 +1168,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "regex",
  "remote_storage",
  "reqwest",
+ "rust-ini",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "tar",
@@ -1201,6 +1202,26 @@ version = "0.9.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "28c122c3980598d243d63d9a704629a2d748d101f278052ff068be5a4423ab6f"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "const-random"
+version = "0.1.17"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5aaf16c9c2c612020bcfd042e170f6e32de9b9d75adb5277cdbbd2e2c8c8299a"
+dependencies = [
+ "const-random-macro",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "const-random-macro"
+version = "0.1.16"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f9d839f2a20b0aee515dc581a6172f2321f96cab76c1a38a4c584a194955390e"
+dependencies = [
+ "getrandom 0.2.11",
+ "once_cell",
+ "tiny-keccak",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "const_fn"
 version = "0.4.9"
@@ -1433,6 +1454,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "crunchy"
+version = "0.2.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7a81dae078cea95a014a339291cec439d2f232ebe854a9d672b796c6afafa9b7"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "crypto-bigint"
 version = "0.4.9"
@@ -1575,6 +1602,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn 2.0.32",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "dlv-list"
+version = "0.5.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "442039f5147480ba31067cb00ada1adae6892028e40e45fc5de7b7df6dcc1b5f"
+dependencies = [
+ "const-random",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "dyn-clone"
 version = "1.0.14"
@@ -3043,6 +3079,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio-stream",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "ordered-multimap"
+version = "0.7.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a4d6a8c22fc714f0c2373e6091bf6f5e9b37b1bc0b1184874b7e0a4e303d318f"
+dependencies = [
+ "dlv-list",
+ "hashbrown 0.14.0",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "os_info"
 version = "3.7.0"
@@ -4216,6 +4262,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "unicode-ident",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "rust-ini"
+version = "0.20.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3e0698206bcb8882bf2a9ecb4c1e7785db57ff052297085a6efd4fe42302068a"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "ordered-multimap",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "rustc-demangle"
 version = "0.1.23"
@@ -5170,6 +5226,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "time-core",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "tiny-keccak"
+version = "2.0.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2c9d3793400a45f954c52e73d068316d76b6f4e36977e3fcebb13a2721e80237"
+dependencies = [
+ "crunchy",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tinytemplate"
 version = "1.2.1"
@@ -6337,6 +6402,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "futures-io",
  "futures-sink",
  "futures-util",
+ "getrandom 0.2.11",
  "hex",
  "hmac",
  "hyper",
@@ -6348,6 +6414,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "num-bigint",
  "num-integer",
  "num-traits",
+ "once_cell",
  "prost",
  "rand 0.8.5",
  "regex",
diff --git a/compute_tools/Cargo.toml b/compute_tools/Cargo.toml
index 18b30810b0..142fa08495 100644
--- a/compute_tools/Cargo.toml
+++ b/compute_tools/Cargo.toml
@@ -39,3 +39,4 @@ remote_storage = { version = "0.1", path = "../libs/remote_storage/" }
 vm_monitor = { version = "0.1", path = "../libs/vm_monitor/" }
 zstd = "0.13"
 bytes = "1.0"
+rust-ini = "0.20.0"
diff --git a/compute_tools/src/bin/compute_ctl.rs b/compute_tools/src/bin/compute_ctl.rs
index ce7345d5be..436db59088 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/bin/compute_ctl.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/bin/compute_ctl.rs
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@
 //!             -C 'postgresql://cloud_admin@localhost/postgres' \
 //!             -S /var/db/postgres/specs/current.json \
 //!             -b /usr/local/bin/postgres \
-//!             -r http://pg-ext-s3-gateway
+//!             -r http://pg-ext-s3-gateway \
+//!             --pgbouncer-connstr 'host=localhost port=6432 dbname=pgbouncer user=cloud_admin sslmode=disable'
+//!             --pgbouncer-ini-path /etc/pgbouncer.ini \
 //! ```
 //!
 use std::collections::HashMap;
@@ -99,6 +101,9 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
     let spec_json = matches.get_one::<String>("spec");
     let spec_path = matches.get_one::<String>("spec-path");
 
+    let pgbouncer_connstr = matches.get_one::<String>("pgbouncer-connstr");
+    let pgbouncer_ini_path = matches.get_one::<String>("pgbouncer-ini-path");
+
     // Extract OpenTelemetry context for the startup actions from the
     // TRACEPARENT and TRACESTATE env variables, and attach it to the current
     // tracing context.
@@ -209,6 +214,8 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
         ext_remote_storage: ext_remote_storage.map(|s| s.to_string()),
         ext_download_progress: RwLock::new(HashMap::new()),
         build_tag,
+        pgbouncer_connstr: pgbouncer_connstr.map(|s| s.to_string()),
+        pgbouncer_ini_path: pgbouncer_ini_path.map(|s| s.to_string()),
     };
     let compute = Arc::new(compute_node);
 
@@ -493,6 +500,23 @@ fn cli() -> clap::Command {
                 )
                 .value_name("FILECACHE_CONNSTR"),
         )
+        .arg(
+            Arg::new("pgbouncer-connstr")
+                .long("pgbouncer-connstr")
+                .default_value(
+                    "host=localhost port=6432 dbname=pgbouncer user=cloud_admin sslmode=disable",
+                )
+                .value_name("PGBOUNCER_CONNSTR"),
+        )
+        .arg(
+            Arg::new("pgbouncer-ini-path")
+                .long("pgbouncer-ini-path")
+                // Note: this doesn't match current path for pgbouncer.ini.
+                // Until we fix it, we need to pass the path explicitly
+                // or this will be effectively no-op.
+                .default_value("/etc/pgbouncer.ini")
+                .value_name("PGBOUNCER_INI_PATH"),
+        )
 }
 
 #[test]
diff --git a/compute_tools/src/compute.rs b/compute_tools/src/compute.rs
index b39a800f14..cd7be0520e 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/compute.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/compute.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ use std::path::Path;
 use std::process::{Command, Stdio};
 use std::str::FromStr;
 use std::sync::{Condvar, Mutex, RwLock};
+use std::thread;
 use std::time::Instant;
 
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
@@ -64,6 +65,10 @@ pub struct ComputeNode {
     // key: ext_archive_name, value: started download time, download_completed?
     pub ext_download_progress: RwLock<HashMap<String, (DateTime<Utc>, bool)>>,
     pub build_tag: String,
+    // connection string to pgbouncer to change settings
+    pub pgbouncer_connstr: Option<String>,
+    // path to pgbouncer.ini to change settings
+    pub pgbouncer_ini_path: Option<String>,
 }
 
 // store some metrics about download size that might impact startup time
@@ -737,6 +742,31 @@ impl ComputeNode {
     pub fn reconfigure(&self) -> Result<()> {
         let spec = self.state.lock().unwrap().pspec.clone().unwrap().spec;
 
+        if let Some(connstr) = &self.pgbouncer_connstr {
+            info!("tuning pgbouncer with connstr: {:?}", connstr);
+
+            let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_current_thread()
+                .enable_all()
+                .build()
+                .expect("failed to create rt");
+
+            // Spawn a thread to do the tuning,
+            // so that we don't block the main thread that starts Postgres.
+            let pgbouncer_settings = spec.pgbouncer_settings.clone();
+            let connstr_clone = connstr.clone();
+            let pgbouncer_ini_path = self.pgbouncer_ini_path.clone();
+            let _handle = thread::spawn(move || {
+                let res = rt.block_on(tune_pgbouncer(
+                    pgbouncer_settings,
+                    &connstr_clone,
+                    pgbouncer_ini_path,
+                ));
+                if let Err(err) = res {
+                    error!("error while tuning pgbouncer: {err:?}");
+                }
+            });
+        }
+
         // Write new config
         let pgdata_path = Path::new(&self.pgdata);
         let postgresql_conf_path = pgdata_path.join("postgresql.conf");
@@ -791,6 +821,32 @@ impl ComputeNode {
             pspec.timeline_id,
         );
 
+        // tune pgbouncer
+        if let Some(connstr) = &self.pgbouncer_connstr {
+            info!("tuning pgbouncer with connstr: {:?}", connstr);
+
+            let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_current_thread()
+                .enable_all()
+                .build()
+                .expect("failed to create rt");
+
+            // Spawn a thread to do the tuning,
+            // so that we don't block the main thread that starts Postgres.
+            let pgbouncer_settings = pspec.spec.pgbouncer_settings.clone();
+            let connstr_clone = connstr.clone();
+            let pgbouncer_ini_path = self.pgbouncer_ini_path.clone();
+            let _handle = thread::spawn(move || {
+                let res = rt.block_on(tune_pgbouncer(
+                    pgbouncer_settings,
+                    &connstr_clone,
+                    pgbouncer_ini_path,
+                ));
+                if let Err(err) = res {
+                    error!("error while tuning pgbouncer: {err:?}");
+                }
+            });
+        }
+
         info!(
             "start_compute spec.remote_extensions {:?}",
             pspec.spec.remote_extensions
diff --git a/compute_tools/src/pg_helpers.rs b/compute_tools/src/pg_helpers.rs
index b79e516650..0b0e137c03 100644
--- a/compute_tools/src/pg_helpers.rs
+++ b/compute_tools/src/pg_helpers.rs
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@ use std::process::Child;
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
 
 use anyhow::{bail, Result};
+use ini::Ini;
 use notify::{RecursiveMode, Watcher};
 use postgres::{Client, Transaction};
-use tracing::{debug, instrument};
+use tokio_postgres::NoTls;
+use tracing::{debug, error, info, instrument};
 
 use compute_api::spec::{Database, GenericOption, GenericOptions, PgIdent, Role};
 
@@ -359,3 +361,68 @@ pub fn create_pgdata(pgdata: &str) -> Result<()> {
 
     Ok(())
 }
+
+/// Update pgbouncer.ini with provided options
+pub fn update_pgbouncer_ini(
+    pgbouncer_config: HashMap<String, String>,
+    pgbouncer_ini_path: &str,
+) -> Result<()> {
+    let mut conf = Ini::load_from_file(pgbouncer_ini_path)?;
+    let section = conf.section_mut(Some("pgbouncer")).unwrap();
+
+    for (option_name, value) in pgbouncer_config.iter() {
+        section.insert(option_name, value);
+    }
+
+    conf.write_to_file(pgbouncer_ini_path)?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Tune pgbouncer.
+/// 1. Apply new config using pgbouncer admin console
+/// 2. Add new values to pgbouncer.ini to preserve them after restart
+pub async fn tune_pgbouncer(
+    pgbouncer_settings: Option<HashMap<String, String>>,
+    pgbouncer_connstr: &str,
+    pgbouncer_ini_path: Option<String>,
+) -> Result<()> {
+    if let Some(pgbouncer_config) = pgbouncer_settings {
+        // Apply new config
+        let connect_result = tokio_postgres::connect(pgbouncer_connstr, NoTls).await;
+        let (client, connection) = connect_result.unwrap();
+        tokio::spawn(async move {
+            if let Err(e) = connection.await {
+                eprintln!("connection error: {}", e);
+            }
+        });
+
+        for (option_name, value) in pgbouncer_config.iter() {
+            info!(
+                "Applying pgbouncer setting change: {} = {}",
+                option_name, value
+            );
+            let query = format!("SET {} = {}", option_name, value);
+
+            let result = client.simple_query(&query).await;
+
+            info!("Applying pgbouncer setting change: {}", query);
+            info!("pgbouncer setting change result: {:?}", result);
+
+            if let Err(err) = result {
+                // Don't fail on error, just print it into log
+                error!(
+                    "Failed to apply pgbouncer setting change: {},  {}",
+                    query, err
+                );
+            };
+        }
+
+        // save values to pgbouncer.ini
+        // so that they are preserved after pgbouncer restart
+        if let Some(pgbouncer_ini_path) = pgbouncer_ini_path {
+            update_pgbouncer_ini(pgbouncer_config, &pgbouncer_ini_path)?;
+        }
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/control_plane/src/endpoint.rs b/control_plane/src/endpoint.rs
index 071f22dc2b..55b66742ca 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/endpoint.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/endpoint.rs
@@ -537,6 +537,7 @@ impl Endpoint {
             safekeeper_connstrings,
             storage_auth_token: auth_token.clone(),
             remote_extensions,
+            pgbouncer_settings: None,
         };
         let spec_path = self.endpoint_path().join("spec.json");
         std::fs::write(spec_path, serde_json::to_string_pretty(&spec)?)?;
diff --git a/deny.toml b/deny.toml
index 079dcac679..22e39a2ca3 100644
--- a/deny.toml
+++ b/deny.toml
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ allow = [
     "Artistic-2.0",
     "BSD-2-Clause",
     "BSD-3-Clause",
+    "CC0-1.0",
     "ISC",
     "MIT",
     "MPL-2.0",
diff --git a/libs/compute_api/src/spec.rs b/libs/compute_api/src/spec.rs
index 2a483188e4..4ff6831272 100644
--- a/libs/compute_api/src/spec.rs
+++ b/libs/compute_api/src/spec.rs
@@ -73,6 +73,8 @@ pub struct ComputeSpec {
 
     // information about available remote extensions
     pub remote_extensions: Option<RemoteExtSpec>,
+
+    pub pgbouncer_settings: Option<HashMap<String, String>>,
 }
 
 /// Feature flag to signal `compute_ctl` to enable certain experimental functionality.
diff --git a/libs/compute_api/tests/cluster_spec.json b/libs/compute_api/tests/cluster_spec.json
index e2afa17ef0..ccd015ad19 100644
--- a/libs/compute_api/tests/cluster_spec.json
+++ b/libs/compute_api/tests/cluster_spec.json
@@ -243,5 +243,9 @@
         "public_extensions": [
           "postgis"
         ]
+      },
+      "pgbouncer_settings": {
+        "default_pool_size": "42",
+        "pool_mode": "session"
       }
 }
diff --git a/vm-image-spec.yaml b/vm-image-spec.yaml
index 804405293f..68be0b3617 100644
--- a/vm-image-spec.yaml
+++ b/vm-image-spec.yaml
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ files:
       max_client_conn=10000
       default_pool_size=64
       max_prepared_statements=0
+      admin_users=cloud_admin
   - filename: cgconfig.conf
     content: |
       # Configuration for cgroups in VM compute nodes
diff --git a/workspace_hack/Cargo.toml b/workspace_hack/Cargo.toml
index 82bbedc4ae..4f13064088 100644
--- a/workspace_hack/Cargo.toml
+++ b/workspace_hack/Cargo.toml
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ futures-executor = { version = "0.3" }
 futures-io = { version = "0.3" }
 futures-sink = { version = "0.3" }
 futures-util = { version = "0.3", features = ["channel", "io", "sink"] }
+getrandom = { version = "0.2", default-features = false, features = ["std"] }
 hex = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
 hmac = { version = "0.12", default-features = false, features = ["reset"] }
 hyper = { version = "0.14", features = ["full"] }
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ nom = { version = "7" }
 num-bigint = { version = "0.4" }
 num-integer = { version = "0.1", features = ["i128"] }
 num-traits = { version = "0.2", features = ["i128"] }
+once_cell = { version = "1" }
 prost = { version = "0.11" }
 rand = { version = "0.8", features = ["small_rng"] }
 regex = { version = "1" }
@@ -84,11 +86,13 @@ anyhow = { version = "1", features = ["backtrace"] }
 bytes = { version = "1", features = ["serde"] }
 cc = { version = "1", default-features = false, features = ["parallel"] }
 either = { version = "1" }
+getrandom = { version = "0.2", default-features = false, features = ["std"] }
 itertools = { version = "0.10" }
 libc = { version = "0.2", features = ["extra_traits"] }
 log = { version = "0.4", default-features = false, features = ["std"] }
 memchr = { version = "2" }
 nom = { version = "7" }
+once_cell = { version = "1" }
 prost = { version = "0.11" }
 regex = { version = "1" }
 regex-automata = { version = "0.4", default-features = false, features = ["dfa-onepass", "hybrid", "meta", "nfa-backtrack", "perf-inline", "perf-literal", "unicode"] }