diff --git a/.changeset/bootstrap-harness-override.md b/.changeset/bootstrap-harness-override.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3a48c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/bootstrap-harness-override.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+'@smooai/config': minor
+---
+
+`bootstrapFetch` now honors a `SMOOAI_HARNESS_<KEY>` env override (e.g.
+`SMOOAI_HARNESS_DATABASE_URL`, `SMOOAI_HARNESS_RLS_DATABASE_URL`) that
+short-circuits the HTTP fetch entirely — the same §15 escape hatch
+`packages/db` `drizzleClient.resolveDbUrl` already honors at runtime. This makes
+the prod-script override work uniformly across ALL cold-start config consumers
+(db-migrate and friends), not just the runtime drizzle client. Previously
+`bootstrapFetch` ignored the override and fell through to `env='development'`
+when no SST stage was set, silently fetching the wrong environment's value.
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/__tests__/bootstrap.test.ts b/src/bootstrap/__tests__/bootstrap.test.ts
index 1eee4d0..7369081 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/__tests__/bootstrap.test.ts
+++ b/src/bootstrap/__tests__/bootstrap.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
-import { resetBootstrapCacheForTests, bootstrapFetch } from '../index';
+import { resetBootstrapCacheForTests, bootstrapFetch, harnessEnvKey } from '../index';
 
 // Snapshot + restore process.env for full test isolation.
 const originalEnv = { ...process.env };
@@ -65,6 +65,39 @@ describe('bootstrapFetch', () => {
         expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
     });
 
+    describe('SMOOAI_HARNESS_<KEY> escape hatch', () => {
+        it('maps camelCase keys to SCREAMING_SNAKE harness env names', () => {
+            expect(harnessEnvKey('databaseUrl')).toBe('SMOOAI_HARNESS_DATABASE_URL');
+            expect(harnessEnvKey('rlsDatabaseUrl')).toBe('SMOOAI_HARNESS_RLS_DATABASE_URL');
+            expect(harnessEnvKey('voyageApiKey')).toBe('SMOOAI_HARNESS_VOYAGE_API_KEY');
+        });
+
+        it('short-circuits the HTTP fetch entirely when the override is set', async () => {
+            const fetchMock = mockFetchResponses([]); // any fetch call → "ran out of queued responses"
+            process.env.SMOOAI_HARNESS_DATABASE_URL = 'postgres://forced-prod/db';
+
+            const value = await bootstrapFetch('databaseUrl');
+            expect(value).toBe('postgres://forced-prod/db');
+            expect(fetchMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+        });
+
+        it('uses the per-key env name (rlsDatabaseUrl)', async () => {
+            const fetchMock = mockFetchResponses([]);
+            process.env.SMOOAI_HARNESS_RLS_DATABASE_URL = 'postgres://forced-rls/db';
+
+            expect(await bootstrapFetch('rlsDatabaseUrl')).toBe('postgres://forced-rls/db');
+            expect(fetchMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+        });
+
+        it('ignores an empty override and falls through to the HTTP fetch', async () => {
+            const fetchMock = mockFetchResponses([{ body: { access_token: 'TOKEN' } }, { body: { values: { databaseUrl: 'postgres://from-http' } } }]);
+            process.env.SMOOAI_HARNESS_DATABASE_URL = '';
+
+            expect(await bootstrapFetch('databaseUrl')).toBe('postgres://from-http');
+            expect(fetchMock).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+        });
+    });
+
     it('returns undefined for a missing key without throwing', async () => {
         mockFetchResponses([{ body: { access_token: 'TOKEN' } }, { body: { values: { otherKey: 'x' } } }]);
 
diff --git a/src/bootstrap/index.ts b/src/bootstrap/index.ts
index 310220b..f007320 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/index.ts
+++ b/src/bootstrap/index.ts
@@ -112,6 +112,16 @@ function resolveEnv(environment?: string): string {
     return stage;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Map a camelCase config key to its `SMOOAI_HARNESS_<SCREAMING_SNAKE>` env-var
+ * name (the documented §15 prod-script override). `databaseUrl` →
+ * `SMOOAI_HARNESS_DATABASE_URL`, `rlsDatabaseUrl` → `SMOOAI_HARNESS_RLS_DATABASE_URL`.
+ * Exported for tests.
+ */
+export function harnessEnvKey(key: string): string {
+    return `SMOOAI_HARNESS_${key.replace(/([a-z0-9])([A-Z])/g, '$1_$2').toUpperCase()}`;
+}
+
 let cached: Record<string, unknown> | undefined;
 let cachedEnv: string | undefined;
 
@@ -130,6 +140,18 @@ export function resetBootstrapCacheForTests(): void {
  * NOT throw on missing keys — only on env/auth/network errors.
  */
 export async function bootstrapFetch(key: string, options?: BootstrapOptions): Promise<string | undefined> {
+    // Local-harness escape hatch (mirrors packages/db `drizzleClient.resolveDbUrl`,
+    // the documented §15 prod-script override): an explicit `SMOOAI_HARNESS_<KEY>`
+    // env var short-circuits the HTTP fetch entirely, so prod-targeting scripts
+    // (db-migrate and friends) can be forced deterministically from a developer
+    // machine. Without this, bootstrapFetch falls through to env='development'
+    // (no SST stage) and silently fetches the WRONG environment's value over HTTP.
+    // The env name is the SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE of the camelCase key:
+    //   databaseUrl    → SMOOAI_HARNESS_DATABASE_URL
+    //   rlsDatabaseUrl → SMOOAI_HARNESS_RLS_DATABASE_URL
+    const override = process.env[harnessEnvKey(key)];
+    if (override !== undefined && override.length > 0) return override;
+
     const env = resolveEnv(options?.environment);
     if (cached === undefined || cachedEnv !== env) {
         const creds = readCreds();