diff --git a/packages/cli/src/instance.mjs b/packages/cli/src/instance.mjs
index a6bdf1f5..75463f31 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/instance.mjs
+++ b/packages/cli/src/instance.mjs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import { randomUUID } from "node:crypto";
-import postgres from "postgres";
 
 export async function bootstrapInstance(flags, options = {}) {
   if (flags.help) {
@@ -28,7 +27,11 @@ export async function bootstrapInstance(flags, options = {}) {
     return failure(flags, "--github-account-type must be organization or user");
   const targetType = input.githubAccountType === "user" ? "User" : "Organization";
 
-  const sql = (options.postgres ?? postgres)(databaseUrl, { max: 1 });
+  // Imported here rather than at module scope: `facility init` and `doctor` are
+  // documented as runnable straight from a checkout, where dependencies are not
+  // installed, and `instance bootstrap` is the only command that needs a driver.
+  const driver = options.postgres ?? (await import("postgres")).default;
+  const sql = driver(databaseUrl, { max: 1 });
   try {
     const result = await sql.begin(async (tx) => {
       await tx`SELECT pg_advisory_xact_lock(hashtext('facility-instance-bootstrap'))`;
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/plain-checkout.test.mjs b/packages/cli/test/plain-checkout.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ce1a4ef1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/test/plain-checkout.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { execFileSync, spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+import { cpSync, mkdtempSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { dirname, join, resolve } from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const pkgRoot = resolve(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "..");
+
+// README documents running the installer straight from a checkout:
+//
+//   git clone https://github.com/theam/facility.git /absolute/path/to/facility
+//   cd your-repository
+//   node /absolute/path/to/facility/packages/cli/bin/facility.mjs init
+//
+// There is no install step, and the installer is described as not requiring
+// Facility to be deployed at all. Copying the published files somewhere with no
+// node_modules reproduces that: the CLI depends on `postgres` and nothing else,
+// so any command that eagerly loads it dies here with ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND.
+function plainCheckout() {
+  const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "facility-plain-"));
+  for (const entry of ["bin", "src", "templates", "modules", "package.json"]) {
+    cpSync(join(pkgRoot, entry), join(dir, entry), { recursive: true });
+  }
+  return join(dir, "bin", "facility.mjs");
+}
+
+function targetRepo() {
+  const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "facility-target-"));
+  execFileSync("git", ["init", "-b", "main"], { cwd: dir });
+  writeFileSync(
+    join(dir, "package.json"),
+    `${JSON.stringify({ name: "demo-app", private: true, scripts: { test: "vitest run" } }, null, 2)}\n`,
+  );
+  writeFileSync(join(dir, "package-lock.json"), "{}\n");
+  return dir;
+}
+
+test("informational commands run from a checkout with no dependencies installed", () => {
+  const cli = plainCheckout();
+  for (const args of [["--version"], ["--help"]]) {
+    const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [cli, ...args], { encoding: "utf8" });
+    assert.doesNotMatch(
+      `${result.stdout}${result.stderr}`,
+      /ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND|Cannot find package/,
+      `facility ${args.join(" ")} must not require an installed dependency`,
+    );
+    assert.equal(result.status, 0, `${result.stdout}${result.stderr}`);
+  }
+});
+
+test("init installs the method from a checkout with no dependencies installed", () => {
+  const cli = plainCheckout();
+  const dir = targetRepo();
+  const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [cli, "init", "--yes", `--dir=${dir}`], {
+    cwd: dir,
+    encoding: "utf8",
+  });
+  assert.doesNotMatch(
+    `${result.stdout}${result.stderr}`,
+    /ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND|Cannot find package/,
+    "facility init must not require an installed dependency",
+  );
+  assert.equal(result.status, 0, `${result.stdout}${result.stderr}`);
+});