diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 809356d..55e61de 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ The rest of this section assumes you're in the dev shell.
 
 ### Running Postgres
 
-`scripts/with-db $COMMAND` will create a Postgres cluster in a temporary directory with the credentials `user=yore-test dbname=yore-test port=5433`, start the Postgres server, run `$COMMAND` and then stop the Postgres erver.
+`scripts/with-db $COMMAND` will create a Postgres cluster in a temporary directory with the credentials `user=yore-test dbname=yore-test port=5433`, start the Postgres server, apply migrations using `dbmate`, run `$COMMAND` and then stop the Postgres server.
 On Linux, you need to have write permissions vor `/var/run/postgresql` to run it.
 You can use this to run the tests in an entirely fresh database, e.g.:
 
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ You can also use it to run a database for development by choosing a `$COMMAND` t
 
 ```
 BASE_DIR=./pgdata scripts/with-db psql "dbname=yore-test port=5433 user=yore-test"
+# cabal repl with env vars set
+BASE_DIR=./pgdata scripts/with-db scripts/dev
 ```
 
 By setting `$BASE_DIR` you can persist the database for later runs.
diff --git a/scripts/dev b/scripts/dev
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..39af491
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/dev
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+YORE_DB="host=localhost port=${DB_PORT} user=${DB_USER} dbname=${DB_DBNAME}" cabal repl exe:yore
diff --git a/scripts/with-db b/scripts/with-db
index 383cbab..a7bdf98 100755
--- a/scripts/with-db
+++ b/scripts/with-db
@@ -5,19 +5,25 @@ if [ -z "$BASE_DIR" ]; then
 fi
 export PGDATA="$BASE_DIR/pgdata"
 
+export DB_USER=yore-test
+export DB_DBNAME=yore-test
+export DB_PORT=5433
+
 # On error or exit: Stop the DB server
 stop_db_server() {
-    pg_ctl stop -o "-p 5433" --wait
+    pg_ctl stop -o "-p ${DB_PORT}" --wait
 }
 trap stop_db_server EXIT
 
 if [ ! -s "$PGDATA/PG_VERSION" ]; then
-    initdb --username=yore-test --auth=trust || true
+    initdb --username="${DB_USER}" --auth=trust || true
     DO_CREATE_DB=1
 fi
 pg_ctl start -o "-p 5433" --wait
 if [ -n "$DO_CREATE_DB" ]; then
-    createdb -p 5433 yore-test --username=yore-test || true
+    createdb -p "${DB_PORT}" "${DB_DBNAME}" --username="${DB_USER}" || true
 fi
 
+DATABASE_URL="postgres://${DB_USER}@localhost:${DB_PORT}/${DB_DBNAME}?sslmode=disable" dbmate up
+
 "$@"