diff --git a/src/v3/lib/queue.ts b/src/v3/lib/queue.ts
index 015cb3e..1bc8a7d 100644
--- a/src/v3/lib/queue.ts
+++ b/src/v3/lib/queue.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { Pipe } from "./pipe"
 import { exec, Job } from "./job"
 import type { Storage } from "./storage"
 import { registration, type RegistrationContext } from "./context"
-import { hash, serializeError } from "./utils"
+import { isPromise, serializeError } from "./utils"
 
 type SafeKeys<K extends string> = { [k in K]: { id: k } }
 
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ export class Queue<
 	public readonly storage: Storage
 	/** @public */
 	public readonly parallel: number
+	/** @public */
+	public readonly ready: Promise<void>
 
 	constructor(opts: {
 		id: string,
@@ -69,11 +71,24 @@ export class Queue<
 			])) as Pipes
 		}
 
-		for (const job of Object.values(this.jobs)) {
-			job.start()
+		const init = this.storage.init()
+		if (isPromise(init)) {
+			this.ready = init
+			init.then(() => {
+				for (const job of Object.values(this.jobs)) {
+					job.start()
+				}
+				this.#loop()
+				this.#cron(opts.cronScheduler)
+			})
+		} else {
+			this.ready = Promise.resolve()
+			for (const job of Object.values(this.jobs)) {
+				job.start()
+			}
+			this.#loop()
+			this.#cron(opts.cronScheduler)
 		}
-		this.#loop()
-		this.#cron(opts.cronScheduler)
 	}
 
 	#registrationContext: RegistrationContext = {
diff --git a/src/v3/lib/storage.ts b/src/v3/lib/storage.ts
index 339e8e2..e66a0c7 100644
--- a/src/v3/lib/storage.ts
+++ b/src/v3/lib/storage.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import BetterSqlite3 from "better-sqlite3"
 
-type TaskStatus =
+export type TaskStatus =
 	/** task is ready to be picked up */
 	| 'pending'
 	/** task is being processed, do not pick up */
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export type Task = {
 	data: string | null
 }
 
-type StepStatus =
+export type StepStatus =
 	/** step is a promise, currently resolving */
 	| 'running'
 	/** step ran (at least) once, but needs to re-run */
@@ -84,6 +84,8 @@ export type Step = {
 }
 
 export interface Storage {
+	/** sets up the db, useful for async version of storage as a continuation of the constructor */
+	init(): void | Promise<void>
 	/** Close the database connection if any. This should only close it if the database is not external to the Storage instance */
 	close(): void | Promise<void>
 	/** Simply return the full Task based on unique index queue+job+key */
@@ -146,6 +148,11 @@ export interface Storage {
 export class SQLiteStorage implements Storage {
 	#db: BetterSqlite3.Database
 	#externalDb: boolean
+	#initialized = false
+
+	#tasksTable: string
+	#stepsTable: string
+	#eventsTable: string
 
 	constructor({
 		db,
@@ -162,20 +169,32 @@ export class SQLiteStorage implements Storage {
 	} = {}) {
 		if (!db || typeof db === 'string') {
 			this.#db = new BetterSqlite3(db)
+			this.#externalDb = false
+		} else {
+			this.#db = db
+			this.#externalDb = true
+		}
+
+		this.#tasksTable = typeof tables === 'object' ? tables.tasks ?? 'tasks' : tables ? `${tables}_tasks` : 'tasks'
+		this.#stepsTable = typeof tables === 'object' ? tables.steps ?? 'steps' : tables ? `${tables}_steps` : 'steps'
+		this.#eventsTable = typeof tables === 'object' ? tables.events ?? 'events' : tables ? `${tables}_events` : 'events'
+	}
+
+	init(): void {
+		if (this.#initialized) return
+		this.#initialized = true
+
+		if (!this.#externalDb) {
 			this.#db.pragma('journal_mode = WAL')
 			this.#db.pragma('busy_timeout = 100')
 			this.#db.pragma('synchronous = NORMAL')
 			this.#db.pragma('cache_size = 2000')
 			this.#db.pragma('temp_store = MEMORY')
-			this.#externalDb = false
-		} else {
-			this.#db = db
-			this.#externalDb = true
 		}
 
-		const tasksTable = typeof tables === 'object' ? tables.tasks : tables ? `${tables}_tasks` : 'tasks'
-		const stepsTable = typeof tables === 'object' ? tables.steps : tables ? `${tables}_steps` : 'steps'
-		const eventsTable = typeof tables === 'object' ? tables.events : tables ? `${tables}_events` : 'events'
+		const tasksTable = this.#tasksTable
+		const stepsTable = this.#stepsTable
+		const eventsTable = this.#eventsTable
 
 		this.#db.exec(/* sql */ `
 			CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ${tasksTable} (
@@ -752,12 +771,12 @@ export class SQLiteStorage implements Storage {
 		`)
 	}
 
-	#getTaskStmt: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string, job: string, key: string }, Task | undefined>
-	#getNextTaskTx: BetterSqlite3.Transaction<(queue: string) => [task: Task, steps: Step[], hasNext: boolean] | undefined>
-	#getNextFutureTaskStmt: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string }, { ms: number | null }>
-	#resolveTaskStmt: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string, job: string, key: string, status: TaskStatus, data: string | null }>
-	#loopTaskStmt: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string, job: string, key: string }>
-	#addTaskTx: BetterSqlite3.Transaction<(task: {
+	#getTaskStmt!: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string, job: string, key: string }, Task | undefined>
+	#getNextTaskTx!: BetterSqlite3.Transaction<(queue: string) => [task: Task, steps: Step[], hasNext: boolean] | undefined>
+	#getNextFutureTaskStmt!: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string }, { ms: number | null }>
+	#resolveTaskStmt!: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string, job: string, key: string, status: TaskStatus, data: string | null }>
+	#loopTaskStmt!: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string, job: string, key: string }>
+	#addTaskTx!: BetterSqlite3.Transaction<(task: {
 		queue: string,
 		job: string,
 		key: string,
@@ -769,7 +788,7 @@ export class SQLiteStorage implements Storage {
 		throttle: { s: number, id: string } | null
 		rateLimit: { s: number, id: string } | null
 	}) => [rateLimitMs: number | null, inserted: boolean, cancelled?: Task]>
-	#recordStepStmt: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{
+	#recordStepStmt!: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{
 		queue: string
 		job: string
 		key: string
@@ -785,7 +804,7 @@ export class SQLiteStorage implements Storage {
 		wait_retroactive: number | null
 		data: string | null
 	}>
-	#recordEventStmt: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string, key: string, input: string, data: string }>
+	#recordEventStmt!: BetterSqlite3.Statement<{ queue: string, key: string, input: string, data: string }>
 
 	getTask<T>(queue: string, job: string, key: string, cb: (task: Task | undefined) => T): T {
 		const task = this.#getTaskStmt.get({ queue, job, key })