diff --git a/docs/releases.md b/docs/releases.md
index 1ee3f1d6..0acc5ac8 100644
--- a/docs/releases.md
+++ b/docs/releases.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ and the [ntfy Android app](https://github.com/binwiederhier/ntfy-android/release
 Please check out the release notes for [upcoming releases](#not-released-yet) below.
 
 ## ntfy server v2.19.0
+Released March 15, 2026
 
 This is a fast-follow release that enables Postgres read replica support.
 
diff --git a/tools/pgimport/main.go b/tools/pgimport/main.go
index 3ba5273e..77c1d4cf 100644
--- a/tools/pgimport/main.go
+++ b/tools/pgimport/main.go
@@ -65,12 +65,12 @@ const (
 			key TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
 			value BIGINT
 		);
-		INSERT INTO message_stats (key, value) VALUES ('messages', 0);
+		INSERT INTO message_stats (key, value) VALUES ('messages', 0) ON CONFLICT (key) DO NOTHING;
 		CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS schema_version (
 			store TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
 			version INT NOT NULL
 		);
-		INSERT INTO schema_version (store, version) VALUES ('message', 14);
+		INSERT INTO schema_version (store, version) VALUES ('message', 14) ON CONFLICT (store) DO NOTHING;
 	`
 
 	// Initial PostgreSQL schema for user store (from user/manager_postgres_schema.go)
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ const (
 		INSERT INTO "user" (id, user_name, pass, role, sync_topic, provisioned, created)
 		VALUES ('` + everyoneID + `', '*', '', 'anonymous', '', false, EXTRACT(EPOCH FROM NOW())::BIGINT)
 		ON CONFLICT (id) DO NOTHING;
-		INSERT INTO schema_version (store, version) VALUES ('user', 6);
+		INSERT INTO schema_version (store, version) VALUES ('user', 6) ON CONFLICT (store) DO NOTHING;
 	`
 
 	// Initial PostgreSQL schema for web push store (from webpush/store_postgres.go)
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ const (
 			store TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
 			version INT NOT NULL
 		);
-		INSERT INTO schema_version (store, version) VALUES ('webpush', 1);
+		INSERT INTO schema_version (store, version) VALUES ('webpush', 1) ON CONFLICT (store) DO NOTHING;
 	`
 )
 
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ var flags = []cli.Flag{
 	altsrc.NewStringFlag(&cli.StringFlag{Name: "auth-file", Aliases: []string{"auth_file"}, Usage: "SQLite user/auth database file path"}),
 	altsrc.NewStringFlag(&cli.StringFlag{Name: "web-push-file", Aliases: []string{"web_push_file"}, Usage: "SQLite web push database file path"}),
 	&cli.BoolFlag{Name: "create-schema", Usage: "create initial PostgreSQL schema before importing"},
+	&cli.BoolFlag{Name: "pre-import", Usage: "pre-import messages while ntfy is still running (only imports messages)"},
 }
 
 func main() {
@@ -207,10 +208,17 @@ func execImport(c *cli.Context) error {
 	cacheFile := c.String("cache-file")
 	authFile := c.String("auth-file")
 	webPushFile := c.String("web-push-file")
+	preImport := c.Bool("pre-import")
 
 	if databaseURL == "" {
 		return fmt.Errorf("database-url must be set (via --database-url or config file)")
 	}
+	if preImport {
+		if cacheFile == "" {
+			return fmt.Errorf("--cache-file must be set when using --pre-import")
+		}
+		return execPreImport(c, databaseURL, cacheFile)
+	}
 	if cacheFile == "" && authFile == "" && webPushFile == "" {
 		return fmt.Errorf("at least one of --cache-file, --auth-file, or --web-push-file must be set")
 	}
@@ -261,7 +269,8 @@ func execImport(c *cli.Context) error {
 		if err := verifySchemaVersion(pgDB, "message", expectedMessageSchemaVersion); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		if err := importMessages(cacheFile, pgDB); err != nil {
+		sinceTime := maxMessageTime(pgDB)
+		if err := importMessages(cacheFile, pgDB, sinceTime); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("cannot import messages: %w", err)
 		}
 	}
@@ -300,6 +309,54 @@ func execImport(c *cli.Context) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func execPreImport(c *cli.Context, databaseURL, cacheFile string) error {
+	fmt.Println("pgimport - PRE-IMPORT mode (ntfy can keep running)")
+	fmt.Println()
+	fmt.Println("Source:")
+	printSource("  Cache file:    ", cacheFile)
+	fmt.Println()
+	fmt.Println("Target:")
+	fmt.Printf("  Database URL:  %s\n", maskPassword(databaseURL))
+	fmt.Println()
+	fmt.Println("This will pre-import messages into PostgreSQL while ntfy is still running.")
+	fmt.Println("After this completes, stop ntfy and run pgimport again without --pre-import")
+	fmt.Println("to import remaining messages, users, and web push subscriptions.")
+	fmt.Print("Continue? (y/n): ")
+
+	var answer string
+	fmt.Scanln(&answer)
+	if strings.TrimSpace(strings.ToLower(answer)) != "y" {
+		fmt.Println("Aborted.")
+		return nil
+	}
+	fmt.Println()
+
+	pgHost, err := pg.Open(databaseURL)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot connect to PostgreSQL: %w", err)
+	}
+	pgDB := pgHost.DB
+	defer pgDB.Close()
+
+	if c.Bool("create-schema") {
+		if err := createSchema(pgDB, cacheFile, "", ""); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("cannot create schema: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	if err := verifySchemaVersion(pgDB, "message", expectedMessageSchemaVersion); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := importMessages(cacheFile, pgDB, 0); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot import messages: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	fmt.Println()
+	fmt.Println("Pre-import complete. Now stop ntfy and run pgimport again without --pre-import")
+	fmt.Println("to import any remaining messages, users, and web push subscriptions.")
+	return nil
+}
+
 func createSchema(pgDB *sql.DB, cacheFile, authFile, webPushFile string) error {
 	fmt.Println("Creating initial PostgreSQL schema ...")
 	// User schema must be created before message schema, because message_stats and
@@ -645,16 +702,41 @@ func importUserPhones(sqlDB, pgDB *sql.DB) (int, error) {
 
 // Message import
 
-func importMessages(sqliteFile string, pgDB *sql.DB) error {
+const preImportTimeDelta = 30 // seconds to subtract from max time to account for in-flight messages
+
+// maxMessageTime returns the maximum message time in PostgreSQL minus a small buffer,
+// or 0 if there are no messages yet. This is used after a --pre-import run to only
+// import messages that arrived since the pre-import.
+func maxMessageTime(pgDB *sql.DB) int64 {
+	var maxTime sql.NullInt64
+	if err := pgDB.QueryRow(`SELECT MAX(time) FROM message`).Scan(&maxTime); err != nil || !maxTime.Valid || maxTime.Int64 == 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	sinceTime := maxTime.Int64 - preImportTimeDelta
+	if sinceTime < 0 {
+		return 0
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("Pre-imported messages detected (max time: %d), importing delta (since time %d) ...\n", maxTime.Int64, sinceTime)
+	return sinceTime
+}
+
+func importMessages(sqliteFile string, pgDB *sql.DB, sinceTime int64) error {
 	sqlDB, err := openSQLite(sqliteFile)
 	if err != nil {
 		fmt.Printf("Skipping message import: %s\n", err)
 		return nil
 	}
 	defer sqlDB.Close()
-	fmt.Printf("Importing messages from %s ...\n", sqliteFile)
 
-	rows, err := sqlDB.Query(`SELECT mid, sequence_id, time, event, expires, topic, message, title, priority, tags, click, icon, actions, attachment_name, attachment_type, attachment_size, attachment_expires, attachment_url, attachment_deleted, sender, user, content_type, encoding, published FROM messages`)
+	query := `SELECT mid, sequence_id, time, event, expires, topic, message, title, priority, tags, click, icon, actions, attachment_name, attachment_type, attachment_size, attachment_expires, attachment_url, attachment_deleted, sender, user, content_type, encoding, published FROM messages`
+	var rows *sql.Rows
+	if sinceTime > 0 {
+		fmt.Printf("Importing messages from %s (since time %d) ...\n", sqliteFile, sinceTime)
+		rows, err = sqlDB.Query(query+` WHERE time >= ?`, sinceTime)
+	} else {
+		fmt.Printf("Importing messages from %s ...\n", sqliteFile)
+		rows, err = sqlDB.Query(query)
+	}
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("querying messages: %w", err)
 	}
@@ -837,7 +919,9 @@ func importWebPush(sqliteFile string, pgDB *sql.DB) error {
 }
 
 func toUTF8(s string) string {
-	return strings.ToValidUTF8(s, "\uFFFD")
+	s = strings.ToValidUTF8(s, "\uFFFD")
+	s = strings.ReplaceAll(s, "\x00", "")
+	return s
 }
 
 // Verification