diff --git a/backend/package.json b/backend/package.json
index 07ef3a74..377f58f3 100644
--- a/backend/package.json
+++ b/backend/package.json
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
     "main": "dist/app.js",
     "scripts": {
         "build": "cross-env NODE_ENV=production tsc --build",
-        "predev": "cross-env cd .. && npm run build && cd backend",
+        "predev": "tsc --build ../common/tsconfig.json",
         "dev": "cross-env NODE_ENV=development tsx tool/seed.ts && tsx watch --env-file=.env.development.local src/app.ts",
         "start": "cross-env NODE_ENV=production node --env-file=.env dist/app.js",
         "format": "prettier --write src/",
diff --git a/frontend/tests/setup-backend.ts b/frontend/tests/setup-backend.ts
index 36671088..722accb5 100644
--- a/frontend/tests/setup-backend.ts
+++ b/frontend/tests/setup-backend.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { spawn } from "child_process";
-import { ChildProcess } from "node:child_process";
+import { ChildProcess, execSync } from 'node:child_process';
 
+let wasRunningBefore: boolean;
 let backendProcess: ChildProcess;
 
 async function waitForEndpoint(url: string, delay = 1000, retries = 60): Promise<void> {
@@ -15,12 +16,14 @@ async function waitForEndpoint(url: string, delay = 1000, retries = 60): Promise
 }
 
 export async function setup(): Promise<void> {
-    // Spin up the database
-    spawn("docker", ["compose", "up", "db", "--detach"], {
-        cwd: "..",
-        stdio: "inherit",
-    });
+    // Check if the database container is already running
+    const containerCheck = execSync("docker ps --filter 'name=db' --format '{{.Names}}'");
+    wasRunningBefore = !(containerCheck.toString().includes("db"));
 
+    // Spin up the database
+    execSync("docker compose up db --detach");
+
+    // Spin up the backend
     backendProcess = spawn("npm", ["run", "dev"], {
         cwd: "../backend",
         stdio: "inherit",
@@ -35,8 +38,10 @@ export async function teardown(): Promise<void> {
         backendProcess.kill();
     }
 
-    spawn("docker", ["compose", "down"], {
-        cwd: "..",
-        stdio: "inherit",
-    });
+    if (wasRunningBefore) {
+        spawn("docker", ["compose", "down"], {
+            cwd: "..",
+            stdio: "inherit",
+        });
+    }
 }