diff --git a/k8s/switchboard.yaml b/k8s/switchboard.yaml
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+# k8s/backend.yaml
+# ============================================
+# Switchboard Core - Backend Deployment
+# ============================================
+# Secrets:
+#   switchboard-db-credentials  - POSTGRES_USER, POSTGRES_PASSWORD
+#   switchboard-admin           - username, password, email (optional)
+#   switchboard-encryption      - ENCRYPTION_KEY (required for v0.9.4+)
+#
+# PVC:
+#   switchboard-storage         - Extraction scratch (always needed)
+#   Requires ReadWriteMany (RWX) — see k8s/storage-pvc.yaml
+#   With S3 backend, PVC is small (extraction status only, not blobs)
+#
+# Variables (Gitea CI):
+#   STORAGE_CLASS               - StorageClass for PVC (e.g. "cephfs")
+#   STORAGE_SIZE                - PVC size (e.g. "10Gi" for PVC, "1Gi" for S3)
+#   STORAGE_BACKEND             - "pvc" or "s3" (default: "pvc")
+#   EXTRACTION_CONCURRENCY      - Max concurrent extractions (default "3")
+#   EXTRACTOR_IMAGE             - Sidecar image (LibreOffice headless)
+#
+# S3 secrets (Gitea Secrets — only when STORAGE_BACKEND=s3):
+#   S3_ENDPOINT                 - e.g. "http://minio:9000" or Ceph RGW URL
+#   S3_BUCKET                   - bucket name (must exist before deploy)
+#   S3_ACCESS_KEY               - S3 access key
+#   S3_SECRET_KEY               - S3 secret key
+#
+# Admin bootstrap: on every pod start, if SWITCHBOARD_ADMIN_* env vars
+# are set, the backend upserts an admin user. Change the secret and
+# restart the pod to reset the admin password.
+# ============================================
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: switchboard-be${DEPLOY_SUFFIX}
+  namespace: ${NAMESPACE}
+  labels:
+    app: switchboard
+    component: backend
+    env: ${ENVIRONMENT}
+spec:
+  replicas: ${BE_REPLICAS}
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      app: switchboard
+      component: backend
+      env: ${ENVIRONMENT}
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        app: switchboard
+        component: backend
+        env: ${ENVIRONMENT}
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - name: backend
+        image: ${IMAGE}:${IMAGE_TAG}
+        imagePullPolicy: Always
+        ports:
+        - containerPort: 8080
+          name: http
+        env:
+        - name: ENVIRONMENT
+          value: "${ENVIRONMENT}"
+        - name: GIN_MODE
+          value: "${GIN_MODE}"
+        - name: PORT
+          value: "8080"
+        - name: BASE_PATH
+          value: "${BASE_PATH}"
+        - name: POSTGRES_HOST
+          value: "${POSTGRES_HOST}"
+        - name: POSTGRES_PORT
+          value: "${POSTGRES_PORT}"
+        - name: POSTGRES_DB
+          value: "${DB_NAME}"
+        - name: POSTGRES_USER
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-db-credentials
+              key: POSTGRES_USER
+        - name: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-db-credentials
+              key: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
+        - name: DATABASE_URL
+          value: "postgres://$(POSTGRES_USER):$(POSTGRES_PASSWORD)@$(POSTGRES_HOST):$(POSTGRES_PORT)/$(POSTGRES_DB)?sslmode=disable"
+        - name: SWITCHBOARD_ADMIN_USERNAME
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-admin
+              key: username
+              optional: true
+        - name: SWITCHBOARD_ADMIN_PASSWORD
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-admin
+              key: password
+              optional: true
+        - name: SWITCHBOARD_ADMIN_EMAIL
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-admin
+              key: email
+              optional: true
+        - name: SEED_USERS
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-seed-users
+              key: users
+              optional: true
+        - name: ENCRYPTION_KEY
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-encryption
+              key: ENCRYPTION_KEY
+              optional: true
+        # File storage (v0.12.0+)
+        - name: STORAGE_BACKEND
+          value: "${STORAGE_BACKEND}"
+        - name: STORAGE_PATH
+          value: "/data/storage"
+        - name: EXTRACTION_MODE
+          value: "sidecar"
+        - name: EXTRACTION_CONCURRENCY
+          value: "${EXTRACTION_CONCURRENCY}"
+        # S3 storage (optional — only used when STORAGE_BACKEND=s3)
+        - name: S3_ENDPOINT
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-s3
+              key: S3_ENDPOINT
+              optional: true
+        - name: S3_BUCKET
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-s3
+              key: S3_BUCKET
+              optional: true
+        - name: S3_ACCESS_KEY
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-s3
+              key: S3_ACCESS_KEY
+              optional: true
+        - name: S3_SECRET_KEY
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-s3
+              key: S3_SECRET_KEY
+              optional: true
+        - name: S3_REGION
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-s3
+              key: S3_REGION
+              optional: true
+        - name: S3_PREFIX
+          valueFrom:
+            secretKeyRef:
+              name: switchboard-s3
+              key: S3_PREFIX
+              optional: true
+        - name: S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE
+          value: "true"
+        volumeMounts:
+        - name: storage
+          mountPath: /data/storage
+        resources:
+          requests:
+            memory: "${MEMORY_REQUEST}"
+            cpu: "${CPU_REQUEST}"
+          limits:
+            memory: "${MEMORY_LIMIT}"
+            cpu: "${CPU_LIMIT}"
+        readinessProbe:
+          httpGet:
+            path: ${BASE_PATH}/health
+            port: 8080
+          initialDelaySeconds: 5
+          periodSeconds: 10
+          timeoutSeconds: 3
+          failureThreshold: 3
+        livenessProbe:
+          httpGet:
+            path: ${BASE_PATH}/health
+            port: 8080
+          initialDelaySeconds: 10
+          periodSeconds: 30
+          timeoutSeconds: 5
+          failureThreshold: 3
+
+      # Extractor sidecar (v0.12.0 Phase 2):
+      # Uncomment when switchboard-extractor image is built.
+      # See DESIGN-0.12.0.md — Phase 2: Extraction Pipeline.
+      #
+      # - name: extractor
+      #   image: ${EXTRACTOR_IMAGE}:${IMAGE_TAG}
+      #   imagePullPolicy: Always
+      #   env:
+      #   - name: STORAGE_PATH
+      #     value: "/data/storage"
+      #   - name: EXTRACTION_CONCURRENCY
+      #     value: "${EXTRACTION_CONCURRENCY}"
+      #   volumeMounts:
+      #   - name: storage
+      #     mountPath: /data/storage
+      #   resources:
+      #     requests:
+      #       memory: "256Mi"
+      #       cpu: "100m"
+      #     limits:
+      #       memory: "1Gi"
+      #       cpu: "1000m"
+
+      volumes:
+      - name: storage
+        persistentVolumeClaim:
+          claimName: switchboard-storage${DEPLOY_SUFFIX}
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: switchboard-be${DEPLOY_SUFFIX}
+  namespace: ${NAMESPACE}
+  labels:
+    app: switchboard
+    component: backend
+    env: ${ENVIRONMENT}
+spec:
+  selector:
+    app: switchboard
+    component: backend
+    env: ${ENVIRONMENT}
+  ports:
+  - protocol: TCP
+    port: 8080
+    targetPort: 8080
+    name: http