diff --git a/rattail_demo/web/app.py b/rattail_demo/web/app.py
index 0c58612..26858dc 100644
--- a/rattail_demo/web/app.py
+++ b/rattail_demo/web/app.py
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ def main(global_config, **settings):
     """
     This function returns a Pyramid WSGI application.
     """
+    # set some defaults for postgres
+    app.provide_postgresql_settings(settings)
+
     # prefer demo templates over tailbone
     settings.setdefault('mako.directories', ['rattail_demo.web:templates',
                                              'tailbone:templates',])
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 3881c09..b2a2a9c 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ requires = [
     #
     # package                           # low                   high
 
+    # TODO: can remove this once tailbone requires it
+    'pyramid_retry',                    # 1.0
+
     'invoke',                           # 0.22.1
     'psycopg2',                         # 2.6.2
     'rattail-corepos',                  # 0.1.0