diff --git a/cargo-pgrx/src/command/init.rs b/cargo-pgrx/src/command/init.rs
index b0a33b2411..41741b94f6 100644
--- a/cargo-pgrx/src/command/init.rs
+++ b/cargo-pgrx/src/command/init.rs
@@ -70,6 +70,13 @@ pub(crate) struct Init {
     base_testing_port: Option<u16>,
     #[clap(long, help = "Additional flags to pass to the configure script")]
     configure_flag: Vec<String>,
+    /// Compile PostgreSQL with the necessary flags to detect a good amount of
+    /// memory errors when run under Valgrind.
+    ///
+    /// Building PostgreSQL with these flags requires that Valgrind be
+    /// installed, but the resulting build is usable without valgrind.
+    #[clap(long)]
+    valgrind: bool,
 }
 
 impl CommandExecute for Init {
@@ -280,8 +287,20 @@ fn configure_postgres(pg_config: &PgConfig, pgdir: &PathBuf, init: &Init) -> eyr
     let mut configure_path = pgdir.clone();
     configure_path.push("configure");
     let mut command = std::process::Command::new(configure_path);
+    // Some of these are redundant with `--enable-debug`.
+    let mut existing_cppflags = std::env::var("CPPFLAGS").unwrap_or_default();
+    existing_cppflags += " -DMEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING=1 -DMEMORY_CONTEXT_CHECKING=1 \
+        -DCLOBBER_FREED_MEMORY=1 -DRANDOMIZE_ALLOCATED_MEMORY=1 ";
+    if init.valgrind {
+        // `-Og` turns on light optimizations, which is useful for getting
+        // something usable. `USE_VALGRIND` allows valgrind to understand PG's
+        // memory context shenanigans.
+        let valgrind_flags = "-DUSE_VALGRIND=1 -Og ";
+        existing_cppflags += valgrind_flags;
+    }
 
     command
+        .env("CPPFLAGS", existing_cppflags)
         .arg(format!("--prefix={}", get_pg_installdir(pgdir).display()))
         .arg(format!("--with-pgport={}", pg_config.port()?))
         .arg("--enable-debug")
diff --git a/pgrx-tests/src/framework.rs b/pgrx-tests/src/framework.rs
index 69b6d9f72f..9174473866 100644
--- a/pgrx-tests/src/framework.rs
+++ b/pgrx-tests/src/framework.rs
@@ -446,8 +446,31 @@ fn start_pg(loglines: LogLines) -> eyre::Result<String> {
     wait_for_pidfile()?;
 
     let pg_config = get_pg_config()?;
-    let mut command =
-        Command::new(pg_config.postmaster_path().wrap_err("unable to determine postmaster path")?);
+    let postmaster_path =
+        pg_config.postmaster_path().wrap_err("unable to determine postmaster path")?;
+
+    let mut command = if use_valgrind() {
+        let mut cmd = Command::new("valgrind").args([
+            "--leak-check=no",
+            "--gen-suppressions=all",
+            "--time-stamp=yes",
+            "--error-markers=VALGRINDERROR-BEGIN,VALGRINDERROR-END",
+            "--log-file=target/pg-valgrind-%p.log",
+            "--trace-children=yes",
+        ]);
+        // Try to provide a suppressions file, we'll likely get false positives
+        // if we can't, but that might be better than nothing.
+        if let Ok(path) = valgrind_suppressions_path(&pg_config) {
+            if path.exists() {
+                cmd.arg(format!("--suppressions={}", path.display()));
+            }
+        }
+
+        cmd.arg(postmaster_path);
+        cmd
+    } else {
+        Command::new(postmaster_path)
+    };
     command
         .arg("-D")
         .arg(get_pgdata_path()?.to_str().unwrap())
@@ -469,6 +492,13 @@ fn start_pg(loglines: LogLines) -> eyre::Result<String> {
     Ok(session_id)
 }
 
+fn valgrind_suppressions_path(pg_config: &PgConfig) -> Result<PathBuf, eyre::Report> {
+    let mut home = Pgrx::home()?;
+    home.push(pg_config.version()?);
+    home.push("src/tools/valgrind.supp");
+    Ok(home)
+}
+
 fn wait_for_pidfile() -> Result<(), eyre::Report> {
     const MAX_PIDFILE_RETRIES: usize = 10;
 
@@ -756,3 +786,7 @@ fn find_on_path(program: &str) -> Option<PathBuf> {
     let paths = std::env::var_os("PATH")?;
     std::env::split_paths(&paths).map(|p| p.join(program)).find(|abs| abs.exists())
 }
+
+fn use_valgrind() -> bool {
+    std::env::var_os("USE_VALGRIND").is_some()
+}