diff --git a/.changeset/wild-buses-guess.md b/.changeset/wild-buses-guess.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8fae63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/wild-buses-guess.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'prool': patch
+---
+
+Made the testcontainers Tempo instance startup timeout configurable via `startupTimeout`. This also introduces a shared internal container-options shape for testcontainers-backed instances, so future container adapters can reuse the same option pattern. The default timeout remains `10_000ms`.
diff --git a/src/testcontainers/Instance.ts b/src/testcontainers/Instance.ts
index 78efd6f..f806942 100644
--- a/src/testcontainers/Instance.ts
+++ b/src/testcontainers/Instance.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import {
 } from 'testcontainers'
 import * as Instance from '../Instance.js'
 import { command, type tempo as core_tempo } from '../instances/tempo.js'
+import * as ContainerOptions from './containerOptions.js'
 
 export type { Instance, InstanceOptions } from '../Instance.js'
 
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ export const tempo = Instance.define((parameters?: tempo.Parameters) => {
     containerName = `tempo.${crypto.randomUUID()}`,
     image = 'ghcr.io/tempoxyz/tempo:latest',
     log: log_,
+    startupTimeout,
     ...args
   } = parameters || {}
 
@@ -80,7 +82,9 @@ export const tempo = Instance.define((parameters?: tempo.Parameters) => {
             promise.reject(new Error(`Failed to start: ${error.message}`))
           })
         })
-        .withStartupTimeout(10_000)
+        .withStartupTimeout(
+          ContainerOptions.resolveStartupTimeout(startupTimeout),
+        )
 
       c.start()
         .then((c) => {
@@ -100,7 +104,8 @@ export const tempo = Instance.define((parameters?: tempo.Parameters) => {
 })
 
 export declare namespace tempo {
-  export type Parameters = Omit<core_tempo.Parameters, 'binary'> & {
+  export type Parameters = Omit<core_tempo.Parameters, 'binary'> &
+    ContainerOptions.Parameters & {
     /**
      * Name of the container.
      */
diff --git a/src/testcontainers/containerOptions.ts b/src/testcontainers/containerOptions.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a7a41e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/testcontainers/containerOptions.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+export const defaults = {
+  startupTimeout: 10_000,
+} as const
+
+export type Parameters = {
+  /**
+   * Startup timeout (in milliseconds) for testcontainers readiness checks.
+   *
+   * Increase this when running in CI or environments with slow image pulls.
+   *
+   * @default 10_000
+   */
+  startupTimeout?: number | undefined
+}
+
+export function resolveStartupTimeout(
+  startupTimeout: number | undefined,
+): number {
+  return startupTimeout ?? defaults.startupTimeout
+}