diff --git a/.github/workflows/backend-test.yml b/.github/workflows/backend-test.yml
index 207866f24e..7b57234ce0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/backend-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/backend-test.yml
@@ -28,9 +28,10 @@ jobs:
         env:
           POSTGRES_DB: windmill
           POSTGRES_PASSWORD: changeme
+          POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: "-c max_connections=500"
         options: >-
           --health-cmd pg_isready --health-interval 10s --health-timeout 5s
-          --health-retries 5 -c max_connections=500 --shm-size=256mb
+          --health-retries 5 --shm-size=256mb
       mysql:
         image: mysql:8.0
         ports: