diff --git a/card/mod/core/data/schema/20251110200407_remove_legacy_tables.rb b/card/mod/core/data/schema/20251110200407_remove_legacy_tables.rb
index 2143bc497d..5e4c9881f3 100644
--- a/card/mod/core/data/schema/20251110200407_remove_legacy_tables.rb
+++ b/card/mod/core/data/schema/20251110200407_remove_legacy_tables.rb
@@ -2,10 +2,16 @@
 
 class RemoveLegacyTables < Cardio::Migration::Schema
   def up
-    drop_table :card_revisions
-    drop_table :users
-    drop_table :sessions
-    remove_column :cards, :current_revision_id
-    remove_column :cards, :references_expired
+    drop_table :card_revisions, if_exists: true
+    drop_table :users, if_exists: true
+    drop_table :sessions, if_exists: true
+    remove_column_with_rescue :cards, :current_revision_id
+    remove_column_with_rescue :cards, :references_expired
+  end
+
+  def remove_column_with_rescue *args
+    remove_column *args
+  rescue StandardError
+    puts "failed to remove column #{args}"
   end
 end
diff --git a/card/mod/core/lib/tasks/card/trash.rake b/card/mod/core/lib/tasks/card/trash.rake
index be45e293fe..f85204fc46 100644
--- a/card/mod/core/lib/tasks/card/trash.rake
+++ b/card/mod/core/lib/tasks/card/trash.rake
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 namespace :card do
   namespace :trash do
     desc "empty trash"
-    task :empty do
+    task empty: :environment do
       Cardio::Utils.empty_trash
     end
   end
diff --git a/docker/template/config/database.yml.erb b/docker/template/config/database.yml.erb
index f661c457ea..eccaa9dbb7 100644
--- a/docker/template/config/database.yml.erb
+++ b/docker/template/config/database.yml.erb
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-production:
+production: &production
   host: db
   database: deckdb
   username: <%= username %>
@@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ production:
 
   adapter: <%= adapter %>
   encoding: utf8
-  reconnect: false
   pool: 5
+development: *production