diff --git a/nix/tools/withTools.nix b/nix/tools/withTools.nix
index 3417213539..eddffdd299 100644
--- a/nix/tools/withTools.nix
+++ b/nix/tools/withTools.nix
@@ -361,6 +361,7 @@ let
             "ARG_POSITIONAL_SINGLE([command], [Command to run])"
             "ARG_LEFTOVERS([command arguments])"
             "ARG_OPTIONAL_SINGLE([monitor], [m], [Enable CPU and memory monitoring of the PostgREST process and output to the designated file as markdown])"
+            "ARG_OPTIONAL_SINGLE([timeout], [t], [Timeout for the PostgREST process], [5])"
             "ARG_USE_ENV([PGRST_CMD], [], [PostgREST executable to run])"
           ];
         positionalCompletion = "_command";
@@ -412,12 +413,14 @@ let
         }
         trap cleanup EXIT
 
-        timeout -s TERM 5 ${waitForPgrstReady} || {
+        wait_start=$SECONDS
+        timeout -s TERM "$_arg_timeout" ${waitForPgrstReady} || {
           echo "timed out, output:"
           cat "$tmpdir"/run.log
           exit 1
         }
-        echo "done."
+        wait_duration=$((SECONDS - wait_start))
+        printf "done in %ss.\n" "$wait_duration"
 
         if [[ -n "$_arg_monitor" ]]; then
           ${monitorPid} "$pid" > "$_arg_monitor" &