diff --git a/scripts/__init_script__.php b/scripts/__init_script__.php
--- a/scripts/__init_script__.php
+++ b/scripts/__init_script__.php
@@ -1,24 +1,3 @@
 <?php
 
-function init_phabricator_script() {
-  error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);
-  ini_set('display_errors', 1);
-
-  $include_path = ini_get('include_path');
-  ini_set(
-    'include_path',
-    $include_path.PATH_SEPARATOR.dirname(__FILE__).'/../../');
-  @include_once 'libphutil/scripts/__init_script__.php';
-  if (!@constant('__LIBPHUTIL__')) {
-    echo "ERROR: Unable to load libphutil. Update your PHP 'include_path' to ".
-      "include the parent directory of libphutil/.\n";
-    exit(1);
-  }
-
-  phutil_load_library('arcanist/src');
-  phutil_load_library(dirname(__FILE__).'/../src/');
-
-  PhabricatorEnv::initializeScriptEnvironment();
-}
-
-init_phabricator_script();
+require_once dirname(__FILE__).'/init/init-script.php';
diff --git a/scripts/init/init-script.php b/scripts/init/init-script.php
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/init/init-script.php
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<?php
+
+// Initialize a standard script.
+
+require_once dirname(__FILE__).'/lib.php';
+
+init_phabricator_script(
+  array(
+    'config.optional' => false,
+  ));
diff --git a/scripts/init/init-setup.php b/scripts/init/init-setup.php
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/init/init-setup.php
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+<?php
+
+// Initialize a setup script which may run before database connections have
+// been configured. Scripts initialized in this way ignore database errors
+// while building database configuration and continue.
+
+require_once dirname(__FILE__).'/lib.php';
+
+init_phabricator_script(
+  array(
+    'config.optional' => true,
+  ));
diff --git a/scripts/__init_script__.php b/scripts/init/lib.php
copy from scripts/__init_script__.php
copy to scripts/init/lib.php
--- a/scripts/__init_script__.php
+++ b/scripts/init/lib.php
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 <?php
 
-function init_phabricator_script() {
+function init_phabricator_script(array $options) {
   error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);
   ini_set('display_errors', 1);
 
   $include_path = ini_get('include_path');
   ini_set(
     'include_path',
-    $include_path.PATH_SEPARATOR.dirname(__FILE__).'/../../');
+    $include_path.PATH_SEPARATOR.dirname(__FILE__).'/../../../');
   @include_once 'libphutil/scripts/__init_script__.php';
   if (!@constant('__LIBPHUTIL__')) {
     echo "ERROR: Unable to load libphutil. Update your PHP 'include_path' to ".
@@ -16,9 +16,8 @@
   }
 
   phutil_load_library('arcanist/src');
-  phutil_load_library(dirname(__FILE__).'/../src/');
+  phutil_load_library(dirname(__FILE__).'/../../src/');
 
-  PhabricatorEnv::initializeScriptEnvironment();
+  $config_optional = $options['config.optional'];
+  PhabricatorEnv::initializeScriptEnvironment($config_optional);
 }
-
-init_phabricator_script();
diff --git a/scripts/setup/manage_config.php b/scripts/setup/manage_config.php
--- a/scripts/setup/manage_config.php
+++ b/scripts/setup/manage_config.php
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 <?php
 
 $root = dirname(dirname(dirname(__FILE__)));
-require_once $root.'/scripts/__init_script__.php';
+require_once $root.'/scripts/init/init-setup.php';
 
 $args = new PhutilArgumentParser($argv);
 $args->setTagline(pht('manage configuration'));
diff --git a/scripts/sql/manage_storage.php b/scripts/sql/manage_storage.php
--- a/scripts/sql/manage_storage.php
+++ b/scripts/sql/manage_storage.php
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 <?php
 
 $root = dirname(dirname(dirname(__FILE__)));
-require_once $root.'/scripts/__init_script__.php';
+require_once $root.'/scripts/init/init-setup.php';
 
 $args = new PhutilArgumentParser($argv);
 $args->setTagline(pht('manage Phabricator storage and schemata'));
diff --git a/src/infrastructure/env/PhabricatorEnv.php b/src/infrastructure/env/PhabricatorEnv.php
--- a/src/infrastructure/env/PhabricatorEnv.php
+++ b/src/infrastructure/env/PhabricatorEnv.php
@@ -68,11 +68,11 @@
    * @phutil-external-symbol class PhabricatorStartup
    */
   public static function initializeWebEnvironment() {
-    self::initializeCommonEnvironment();
+    self::initializeCommonEnvironment(false);
   }
 
-  public static function initializeScriptEnvironment() {
-    self::initializeCommonEnvironment();
+  public static function initializeScriptEnvironment($config_optional) {
+    self::initializeCommonEnvironment($config_optional);
 
     // NOTE: This is dangerous in general, but we know we're in a script context
     // and are not vulnerable to CSRF.
@@ -88,11 +88,11 @@
   }
 
 
-  private static function initializeCommonEnvironment() {
+  private static function initializeCommonEnvironment($config_optional) {
     PhutilErrorHandler::initialize();
 
     self::resetUmask();
-    self::buildConfigurationSourceStack();
+    self::buildConfigurationSourceStack($config_optional);
 
     // Force a valid timezone. If both PHP and Phabricator configuration are
     // invalid, use UTC.
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@
     }
   }
 
-  private static function buildConfigurationSourceStack() {
+  private static function buildConfigurationSourceStack($config_optional) {
     self::dropConfigCache();
 
     $stack = new PhabricatorConfigStackSource();
@@ -235,6 +235,14 @@
       // If the database is not available, just skip this configuration
       // source. This happens during `bin/storage upgrade`, `bin/conf` before
       // schema setup, etc.
+    } catch (AphrontConnectionQueryException $ex) {
+      if (!$config_optional) {
+        throw $ex;
+      }
+    } catch (AphrontInvalidCredentialsQueryException $ex) {
+      if (!$config_optional) {
+        throw $ex;
+      }
     }
   }