diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 86e4d2c..857400a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -259,6 +259,13 @@ for parallel query workers), `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MEM_LIMIT` (e.g. `1g`),
 `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_CPUS` (e.g. `2` or `0.5`), and `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_TMPFS` —
 docker-CLI `--tmpfs` syntax (`/path:options`), semicolon-separated for
 multiple mounts, e.g. `/var/lib/postgresql/data:size=512m`.
+Setting `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MEM_LIMIT` also sets the container's memory+swap
+limit to the same value (`--memory-swap=<same>`, so it can't spill into swap);
+override with `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MEMSWAP_LIMIT` (`-1` = unlimited swap; ignored
+without a `MEM_LIMIT`).
+`PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_PG_SETTINGS` adds server settings as whitespace-separated
+`key=value` pairs, passed as `-c key=value`, e.g.
+`shared_buffers=128MB max_connections=50` for small CI hosts.
 
 All of the above (including `_HOST`/`_PORT`/`_USER`/`_PASSWORD`/`_IMAGE`)
 only take effect when pgdevkit actually creates the container, not when it
@@ -295,7 +302,8 @@ The same Docker-level resource knobs as the Postgres container are
 available here too: `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_SHM_SIZE`,
 `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_MEM_LIMIT` (a container-level cgroup limit, distinct
 from `_MEMORY_LIMIT_MB` above which only tunes SQL Server's own internal
-memory management), `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_CPUS`, and
+memory management; like the Postgres one it also caps memory+swap, override via
+`PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_MEMSWAP_LIMIT`), `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_CPUS`, and
 `PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_TMPFS`. As with the Postgres container, these only
 take effect when pgdevkit creates the container, not when restarting an
 existing stopped one (`docker rm -f pgdevkit-mssql` first if you've changed
diff --git a/pgdevkit/testdb/_docker.py b/pgdevkit/testdb/_docker.py
index 9a1bebd..c3a49b0 100644
--- a/pgdevkit/testdb/_docker.py
+++ b/pgdevkit/testdb/_docker.py
@@ -57,9 +57,13 @@ def _parse_tmpfs(spec: str) -> dict[str, str]:
     return mounts
 
 
-def resource_kwargs(*, tmpfs: str, shm_size: str, mem_limit: str, cpus: str) -> dict:
+def resource_kwargs(*, tmpfs: str, shm_size: str, mem_limit: str, cpus: str, memswap_limit: str = "") -> dict:
     """Build the `containers.run()` kwargs for the tmpfs/shm_size/mem_limit/cpus
     overrides, omitting any that aren't set so Docker's own defaults apply.
+    A mem_limit without an explicit memswap_limit also caps memory+swap at the
+    same value (the `--memory-swap=<same>` idiom), so the container can't
+    spill past its limit into swap; pass memswap_limit="-1" to allow unlimited swap.
+    A memswap_limit without a mem_limit is ignored (Docker/Podman need both).
     Shared by the Postgres and MSSQL container modules -- these are Docker-level
     resource knobs, not anything specific to either engine."""
     kwargs: dict = {}
@@ -69,6 +73,7 @@ def resource_kwargs(*, tmpfs: str, shm_size: str, mem_limit: str, cpus: str) ->
         kwargs["shm_size"] = shm_size
     if mem_limit:
         kwargs["mem_limit"] = mem_limit
+        kwargs["memswap_limit"] = memswap_limit or mem_limit
     if cpus:
         kwargs["nano_cpus"] = int(float(cpus) * 1_000_000_000)
     return kwargs
diff --git a/pgdevkit/testdb/constants.py b/pgdevkit/testdb/constants.py
index 9916041..2acfb7c 100644
--- a/pgdevkit/testdb/constants.py
+++ b/pgdevkit/testdb/constants.py
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 TMPFS = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_TMPFS", "")
 SHM_SIZE = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_SHM_SIZE", "")
 MEM_LIMIT = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MEM_LIMIT", "")
+# Defaults to MEM_LIMIT (no swap) when that is set; "-1" allows unlimited swap.
+MEMSWAP_LIMIT = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MEMSWAP_LIMIT", "")
 CPUS = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_CPUS", "")
 PG_SPEED_FLAGS = ["-c", "fsync=off", "-c", "synchronous_commit=off", "-c", "full_page_writes=off"]
 # Production connects with session timezone=UTC; the container image's own default
@@ -24,7 +26,22 @@
 # rows near local midnight. Forcing UTC here -- both as the server's own timezone GUC
 # and as PGTZ/TZ for any client library that consults the environment instead -- keeps
 # test parity with prod instead of depending on the host/image's locale.
-PG_STARTUP_FLAGS = [*PG_SPEED_FLAGS, "-c", "timezone=UTC"]
+# Extra server settings as whitespace-separated key=value pairs (no spaces in values; e.g.
+# "shared_buffers=128MB max_connections=50"), each passed as `-c key=value` after the
+# defaults so it wins -- for capping a test server's memory footprint on small CI hosts.
+PG_SETTINGS = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_PG_SETTINGS", "")
+
+
+def pg_settings_flags(spec: str) -> list[str]:
+    flags: list[str] = []
+    for pair in spec.split():
+        if "=" not in pair:
+            raise ValueError(f"PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_PG_SETTINGS entry {pair!r} is not key=value")
+        flags += ["-c", pair]
+    return flags
+
+
+PG_STARTUP_FLAGS = [*PG_SPEED_FLAGS, "-c", "timezone=UTC", *pg_settings_flags(PG_SETTINGS)]
 
 
 def conninfo(dbname: str, *, connect_timeout: int | None = None) -> str:
diff --git a/pgdevkit/testdb/container.py b/pgdevkit/testdb/container.py
index ac8081b..64c2b21 100644
--- a/pgdevkit/testdb/container.py
+++ b/pgdevkit/testdb/container.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ def _create_container(client: docker.DockerClient) -> None:
                 shm_size=constants.SHM_SIZE,
                 mem_limit=constants.MEM_LIMIT,
                 cpus=constants.CPUS,
+                memswap_limit=constants.MEMSWAP_LIMIT,
             ),
         )
     except docker.errors.APIError as e:
diff --git a/pgdevkit/testdb/mssql/constants.py b/pgdevkit/testdb/mssql/constants.py
index 4dce5e2..98df12f 100644
--- a/pgdevkit/testdb/mssql/constants.py
+++ b/pgdevkit/testdb/mssql/constants.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 TMPFS = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_TMPFS", "")
 SHM_SIZE = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_SHM_SIZE", "")
 MEM_LIMIT = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_MEM_LIMIT", "")
+MEMSWAP_LIMIT = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_MEMSWAP_LIMIT", "")
 CPUS = os.environ.get("PGDEVKIT_TESTDB_MSSQL_CPUS", "")
 
 
diff --git a/pgdevkit/testdb/mssql/container.py b/pgdevkit/testdb/mssql/container.py
index fb0d953..4c01b5b 100644
--- a/pgdevkit/testdb/mssql/container.py
+++ b/pgdevkit/testdb/mssql/container.py
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ def _create_container(client: docker.DockerClient) -> None:
                 shm_size=constants.SHM_SIZE,
                 mem_limit=constants.MEM_LIMIT,
                 cpus=constants.CPUS,
+                memswap_limit=constants.MEMSWAP_LIMIT,
             ),
         )
     except docker.errors.APIError as e:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 44e127c..8414a42 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ packages = ["pgdevkit"]
 
 [project]
 name = "pgdevkit"
-version = "0.16.1"
+version = "0.17.0"
 description = "A helper for developing with Postgres"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.14"
diff --git a/tests/testdb/test_constants.py b/tests/testdb/test_constants.py
index a790ddb..5fedcc7 100644
--- a/tests/testdb/test_constants.py
+++ b/tests/testdb/test_constants.py
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 import importlib
 
+import pytest
+
 from pgdevkit.testdb import constants
 
 
@@ -65,3 +67,18 @@ def test_env_vars_override_docker_resource_defaults(monkeypatch):
     finally:
         monkeypatch.undo()
         importlib.reload(constants)
+
+
+def test_pg_settings_flags_become_dash_c_pairs():
+    assert constants.pg_settings_flags("shared_buffers=128MB max_connections=50") == [
+        "-c", "shared_buffers=128MB", "-c", "max_connections=50",
+    ]
+
+
+def test_pg_settings_flags_empty_spec_adds_nothing():
+    assert constants.pg_settings_flags("") == []
+
+
+def test_pg_settings_flags_rejects_entry_without_equals():
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="key=value"):
+        constants.pg_settings_flags("shared_buffers")
diff --git a/tests/testdb/test_container.py b/tests/testdb/test_container.py
index 4177a5e..8905fbc 100644
--- a/tests/testdb/test_container.py
+++ b/tests/testdb/test_container.py
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ def test_create_container_passes_through_resource_overrides(monkeypatch):
     assert client.containers.run_kwargs["tmpfs"] == {"/var/lib/postgresql/data": "size=512m"}
     assert client.containers.run_kwargs["shm_size"] == "256m"
     assert client.containers.run_kwargs["mem_limit"] == "1g"
+    assert client.containers.run_kwargs["memswap_limit"] == "1g"
     assert client.containers.run_kwargs["nano_cpus"] == 2_000_000_000
 
 
diff --git a/tests/testdb/test_docker.py b/tests/testdb/test_docker.py
index 26e99ce..a465c9f 100644
--- a/tests/testdb/test_docker.py
+++ b/tests/testdb/test_docker.py
@@ -33,7 +33,23 @@ def test_resource_kwargs_all_unset_returns_empty_dict():
 
 def test_resource_kwargs_only_includes_set_values():
     kwargs = resource_kwargs(tmpfs="/data:size=512m", shm_size="", mem_limit="1g", cpus="")
-    assert kwargs == {"tmpfs": {"/data": "size=512m"}, "mem_limit": "1g"}
+    assert kwargs == {"tmpfs": {"/data": "size=512m"}, "mem_limit": "1g", "memswap_limit": "1g"}
+
+
+def test_resource_kwargs_memswap_limit_defaults_to_mem_limit():
+    assert resource_kwargs(tmpfs="", shm_size="", mem_limit="512m", cpus="") == {
+        "mem_limit": "512m",
+        "memswap_limit": "512m",
+    }
+
+
+def test_resource_kwargs_explicit_memswap_limit_wins():
+    kwargs = resource_kwargs(tmpfs="", shm_size="", mem_limit="512m", cpus="", memswap_limit="1g")
+    assert kwargs == {"mem_limit": "512m", "memswap_limit": "1g"}
+
+
+def test_resource_kwargs_memswap_limit_without_mem_limit_is_ignored():
+    assert resource_kwargs(tmpfs="", shm_size="", mem_limit="", cpus="", memswap_limit="1g") == {}
 
 
 def test_resource_kwargs_cpus_converted_to_nano_cpus():
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index efe15c5..ef76b18 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ wheels = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "pgdevkit"
-version = "0.16.1"
+version = "0.17.0"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "docker" },