diff --git a/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/README.md b/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/README.md
index 857bc2a337..3efd6a1651 100644
--- a/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/README.md
+++ b/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/README.md
@@ -106,20 +106,13 @@ Then use this command to launch the proxy in the background:
 
 ### Testing the application
 
-2. Next, install the Node.js packages necessary to run the app locally by running the following command:
+1. Next, install the Node.js packages necessary to run the app locally by running the following command:
 
     ```
     npm install
     ```
 
-3. Run `createTable.js` to create the database table the app requires and to ensure that the database is properly configured.
-With the Cloud SQL proxy running, run the following command to create the sample app's table in your Cloud SQL PostgreSQL database:
-
-    ```
-    node createTable.js $DB_USER $DB_PW $DB_NAME $CLOUD_SQL_CONNECTION_NAME
-    ```
-
-4. Run the sample app locally with the following command:
+2. Run the sample app locally with the following command:
 
     ```
     npm start
diff --git a/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/createTable.js b/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/createTable.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 4f515b82c4..0000000000
--- a/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/createTable.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,60 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2018 Google LLC
-//
-// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-// You may obtain a copy of the License at
-//
-//      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-//
-// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-// limitations under the License.
-
-'use strict';
-
-const Knex = require('knex');
-
-const createTable = async config => {
-  const socketPath = process.env.DB_SOCKET_PATH || '/cloudsql';
-  const tableName = config.tableName;
-
-  // Connect to the database
-  if (config.dbHost) {
-    const dbSocketAddr = config.dbHost.split(':');
-    config.host = dbSocketAddr[0];
-    config.port = dbSocketAddr[1];
-  } else {
-    config.host = `${socketPath}/${config.connectionName}`;
-  }
-
-  const knex = Knex({client: 'pg', connection: config});
-
-  // Create the "votes" table
-  try {
-    await knex.schema.createTable(tableName, table => {
-      table.bigIncrements('vote_id').notNull();
-      table.timestamp('time_cast').notNull();
-      table.specificType('candidate', 'CHAR(6) NOT NULL');
-    });
-
-    console.log(`Successfully created '${tableName}' table.`);
-    return knex.destroy();
-  } catch (err) {
-    console.log(`Failed to create '${tableName}' table: ${err}`);
-    console.error(`Failed to create '${tableName}' table:`, err);
-    if (knex) {
-      knex.destroy();
-    }
-  }
-};
-
-require('yargs')
-  .command(
-    '* <user> <password> <database> <connectionName> <tableName> [dbHost]',
-    'Create a table',
-    {},
-    createTable
-  )
-  .help().argv;
diff --git a/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/server.js b/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/server.js
index 3ed432d64b..06389a3b40 100644
--- a/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/server.js
+++ b/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/server.js
@@ -49,8 +49,21 @@ const logger = winston.createLogger({
 // testing different configurations.
 let pool;
 
+app.use(async (req, res, next) => {
+  if (pool) {
+    return next();
+  }
+  try {
+    pool = await createPoolAndEnsureSchema();
+    next();
+  } catch (err) {
+    logger.error(err);
+    return next(err);
+  }
+});
+
 // [START cloud_sql_postgres_knex_create_tcp]
-const createTcpPool = config => {
+const createTcpPool = async config => {
   // Extract host and port from socket address
   const dbSocketAddr = process.env.DB_HOST.split(':'); // e.g. '127.0.0.1:5432'
 
@@ -71,7 +84,7 @@ const createTcpPool = config => {
 // [END cloud_sql_postgres_knex_create_tcp]
 
 // [START cloud_sql_postgres_knex_create_socket]
-const createUnixSocketPool = config => {
+const createUnixSocketPool = async config => {
   const dbSocketPath = process.env.DB_SOCKET_PATH || '/cloudsql';
 
   // Establish a connection to the database
@@ -90,7 +103,7 @@ const createUnixSocketPool = config => {
 // [END cloud_sql_postgres_knex_create_socket]
 
 // Initialize Knex, a Node.js SQL query builder library with built-in connection pooling.
-const createPool = () => {
+const createPool = async () => {
   // Configure which instance and what database user to connect with.
   // Remember - storing secrets in plaintext is potentially unsafe. Consider using
   // something like https://cloud.google.com/kms/ to help keep secrets secret.
@@ -133,6 +146,29 @@ const createPool = () => {
   }
 };
 
+const ensureSchema = async pool => {
+  const hasTable = await pool.schema.hasTable('votes');
+  if (!hasTable) {
+    return pool.schema.createTable('votes', table => {
+      table.increments('vote_id').primary();
+      table.timestamp('time_cast', 30).notNullable();
+      table.specificType('candidate', 'CHAR(6)').notNullable();
+    });
+  }
+  logger.info("Ensured that table 'votes' exists");
+};
+
+const createPoolAndEnsureSchema = async () =>
+  await createPool()
+    .then(async pool => {
+      await ensureSchema(pool);
+      return pool;
+    })
+    .catch(err => {
+      logger.error(err);
+      throw err;
+    });
+
 // [START cloud_sql_postgres_knex_connection]
 /**
  * Insert a vote record into the database.
@@ -177,7 +213,7 @@ const getVoteCount = async (pool, candidate) => {
 };
 
 app.get('/', async (req, res) => {
-  pool = pool || createPool();
+  pool = pool || (await createPoolAndEnsureSchema());
   try {
     // Query the total count of "TABS" from the database.
     const tabsResult = await getVoteCount(pool, 'TABS');
@@ -222,7 +258,7 @@ app.get('/', async (req, res) => {
 });
 
 app.post('/', async (req, res) => {
-  pool = pool || createPool();
+  pool = pool || (await createPoolAndEnsureSchema());
   // Get the team from the request and record the time of the vote.
   const {team} = req.body;
   const timestamp = new Date();
diff --git a/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/test/createTable.test.js b/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/test/createTable.test.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 9df6f2d9d2..0000000000
--- a/cloud-sql/postgres/knex/test/createTable.test.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,101 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2018 Google LLC
-//
-// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-// You may obtain a copy of the License at
-//
-//      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-//
-// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-// limitations under the License.
-
-'use strict';
-
-const assert = require('assert');
-const path = require('path');
-const Knex = require('knex');
-const {exec} = require('child_process');
-
-const cwd = path.join(__dirname, '..');
-
-const {DB_USER, DB_PASS, DB_NAME, INSTANCE_CONNECTION_NAME, DB_HOST} =
-  process.env;
-const SOCKET_PATH = process.env.DB_SOCKET_PATH || '/cloudsql';
-
-let knex;
-
-before(async () => {
-  const connection = {
-    user: DB_USER,
-    password: DB_PASS,
-    database: DB_NAME,
-  };
-
-  if (DB_HOST) {
-    const dbSocketAddr = process.env.DB_HOST.split(':');
-    connection.host = dbSocketAddr[0];
-    connection.port = dbSocketAddr[1];
-  } else {
-    connection.host = `${SOCKET_PATH}/${INSTANCE_CONNECTION_NAME}`;
-  }
-
-  try {
-    knex = Knex({
-      client: 'pg',
-      connection,
-    });
-  } catch (err) {
-    console.log(err.message);
-  }
-});
-
-after(async () => {
-  await knex.schema.dropTable('votes_tcp');
-  await knex.schema.dropTable('votes_unix');
-  knex.destroy();
-});
-
-it('should create a table over tcp', done => {
-  assert.notStrictEqual(DB_USER, undefined);
-  assert.notStrictEqual(DB_PASS, undefined);
-  assert.notStrictEqual(DB_NAME, undefined);
-  assert.notStrictEqual(DB_HOST, undefined);
-  exec(
-    `node createTable.js ${DB_USER} ${DB_PASS} ${DB_NAME} ${INSTANCE_CONNECTION_NAME} votes_tcp ${DB_HOST}`,
-    {cwd},
-    (err, stdout) => {
-      assert.ok(stdout.startsWith("Successfully created 'votes_tcp' table."));
-      done();
-    }
-  );
-});
-
-it('should create a table via unix', done => {
-  assert.notStrictEqual(DB_USER, undefined);
-  assert.notStrictEqual(DB_PASS, undefined);
-  assert.notStrictEqual(DB_NAME, undefined);
-  assert.notStrictEqual(INSTANCE_CONNECTION_NAME, undefined);
-  exec(
-    `node createTable.js ${DB_USER} ${DB_PASS} ${DB_NAME} ${INSTANCE_CONNECTION_NAME} votes_unix`,
-    {cwd},
-    (err, stdout) => {
-      assert.ok(stdout.includes("Successfully created 'votes_unix' table."));
-      done();
-    }
-  );
-});
-
-it('should handle existing tables', done => {
-  exec(
-    `node createTable.js ${DB_USER} ${DB_PASS} ${DB_NAME} ${INSTANCE_CONNECTION_NAME} votes ${DB_HOST}`,
-    {cwd},
-    (err, stdout, stderr) => {
-      assert.ok(stderr.includes("Failed to create 'votes' table:"));
-      assert.ok(stderr.includes('already exists'));
-      done();
-    }
-  );
-});