diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index b9567e31c..3e78ba99a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ jobs:
         run: ./scripts/ensure-nats.sh
 
       - name: Start pgserve
-        run: bunx pgserve --port 8432 --data .pgserve-data --no-cluster &
+        run: bunx pgserve postmaster --port 8432 --data .pgserve-data &
 
       - name: Start NATS
         run: ./bin/nats-server -js -p 4222 &
@@ -80,9 +80,13 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           for i in $(seq 1 30); do
             pg_isready -h localhost -p 8432 >/dev/null 2>&1 && \
-              echo "Database ready" && exit 0 || sleep 1
+              echo "Database server ready" && break || sleep 1
           done
-          echo "Database failed to start" && exit 1
+          pg_isready -h localhost -p 8432 >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
+            (echo "Database failed to start" && exit 1)
+          createdb -h localhost -p 8432 -U postgres omni 2>/dev/null || true
+          pg_isready -h localhost -p 8432 -d omni >/dev/null 2>&1 && \
+            echo "Database ready" || (echo "Database omni failed readiness" && exit 1)
 
       - name: Build
         run: bun run build
@@ -146,7 +150,7 @@ jobs:
         run: ./scripts/ensure-nats.sh
 
       - name: Start pgserve
-        run: bunx pgserve --port 8432 --data .pgserve-data --no-cluster &
+        run: bunx pgserve postmaster --port 8432 --data .pgserve-data &
 
       - name: Start NATS
         run: ./bin/nats-server -js -p 4222 &
@@ -155,9 +159,13 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           for i in $(seq 1 30); do
             pg_isready -h localhost -p 8432 >/dev/null 2>&1 && \
-              echo "Database ready" && exit 0 || sleep 1
+              echo "Database server ready" && break || sleep 1
           done
-          echo "Database failed to start" && exit 1
+          pg_isready -h localhost -p 8432 >/dev/null 2>&1 || \
+            (echo "Database failed to start" && exit 1)
+          createdb -h localhost -p 8432 -U postgres omni 2>/dev/null || true
+          pg_isready -h localhost -p 8432 -d omni >/dev/null 2>&1 && \
+            echo "Database ready" || (echo "Database omni failed readiness" && exit 1)
 
       - name: Build all packages
         run: bun run build
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 5b815bcfa..cb5347f84 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -74,6 +74,12 @@ jobs:
           echo "Previous release tag: ${PREV:-none}"
 
       - name: Generate changelog
+        # git-cliff-action can fail after writing the requested file when the
+        # generated multi-line changelog trips GitHub output delimiter parsing
+        # ("Invalid value. Matching delimiter not found 'EOF'"). The release
+        # artifact should not go red for that wrapper-output bug; use the file
+        # when present and otherwise fall back to a small release note.
+        continue-on-error: true
         uses: orhun/git-cliff-action@e16f179f0be49ecdfe63753837f20b9531642772 # v4.7.0
         if: steps.exists.outputs.skip != 'true'
         with:
@@ -84,6 +90,15 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GITHUB_REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
 
+      - name: Ensure release notes file exists
+        if: steps.exists.outputs.skip != 'true'
+        run: |
+          if [[ ! -s /tmp/release-notes.md ]]; then
+            TAG="${{ steps.pkg.outputs.tag }}"
+            printf 'Release %s\n' "${TAG}" > /tmp/release-notes.md
+            echo "::warning::git-cliff produced no notes file; using fallback release body"
+          fi
+
       - name: Create release
         if: steps.exists.outputs.skip != 'true'
         env: