diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zillabase/cli/internal/commands/start/ZillabaseStartCommand.java b/cli/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zillabase/cli/internal/commands/start/ZillabaseStartCommand.java
index af845383..0dc74eef 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zillabase/cli/internal/commands/start/ZillabaseStartCommand.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/io/aklivity/zillabase/cli/internal/commands/start/ZillabaseStartCommand.java
@@ -216,6 +216,8 @@ protected void invoke(
 
         seedKafkaAndRegistry(config);
 
+        processInitSql(config);
+
         processSql(config);
 
         createConfigServerKafkaTopic(config);
@@ -338,10 +340,33 @@ private void startContainers(
         System.out.println("Verified containers are healthy");
     }
 
+    private void processInitSql(
+        ZillabaseConfig config)
+    {
+        PgsqlHelper pgsql = new PgsqlHelper(config.risingwave, "postgres");
+
+        pgsql.connect();
+
+        if (pgsql.connected)
+        {
+            pgsql.process("<initdb>",
+                """
+                CREATE USER zillabase;
+                CREATE SCHEMA zb_catalog AUTHORIZATION postgres;
+                CREATE TABLE zb_catalog.zviews(
+                    name VARCHAR PRIMARY KEY,
+                    sql VARCHAR);
+                CREATE TABLE zb_catalog.ztables(
+                    name VARCHAR PRIMARY KEY,
+                    sql VARCHAR);
+                """);
+        }
+    }
+
     private void processSql(
         ZillabaseConfig config)
     {
-        PgsqlHelper pgsql = new PgsqlHelper(config.risingwave);
+        PgsqlHelper pgsql = new PgsqlHelper(config.risingwave, "zillabase");
 
         pgsql.connect();
 
@@ -2292,7 +2317,6 @@ CreateContainerCmd createContainer(
         }
     }
 
-
     private static final class CreateRisingWaveFactory extends CreateContainerFactory
     {
         CreateRisingWaveFactory(
@@ -2708,12 +2732,13 @@ private final class PgsqlHelper
 
 
         PgsqlHelper(
-            ZillabaseRisingWaveConfig config)
+            ZillabaseRisingWaveConfig config,
+            String user)
         {
             this.config = config;
 
             Properties props = new Properties();
-            props.setProperty("user", "root");
+            props.setProperty("user", user);
             props.setProperty("preferQueryMode", PreferQueryMode.SIMPLE.value());
 
             this.url = "jdbc:postgresql://localhost:4567/%s".formatted(config.db);
@@ -2757,11 +2782,11 @@ void process(
             String content = readSql(sql);
             if (content != null)
             {
-                execute(sql.getFileName().toString(), content);
+                process(sql.getFileName().toString(), content);
             }
         }
 
-        private void execute(
+        void process(
             String filename,
             String content)
         {
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 43073892..000bb0bf 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -69,12 +69,12 @@
       <dependency>
         <groupId>com.github.docker-java</groupId>
         <artifactId>docker-java-core</artifactId>
-        <version>3.3.6</version>
+        <version>3.4.1</version>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>com.github.docker-java</groupId>
         <artifactId>docker-java-transport-httpclient5</artifactId>
-        <version>3.3.6</version>
+        <version>3.4.1</version>
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>jakarta.json.bind</groupId>