diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7209e0d..14fd25f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -23,3 +23,7 @@ Guest Star channel settings are described by
 token is a server-to-authenticated-client value and fixtures use a synthetic
 placeholder only.
 
+Destructive backup recovery uses the explicit `backup-restore-request.json`
+and `backup-restore-response.json` contracts; test fixtures contain no real
+database paths or credentials.
+
diff --git a/contracts/v1/backup-restore-request.json b/contracts/v1/backup-restore-request.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eb0b58e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contracts/v1/backup-restore-request.json
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
+  "$id": "https://trixie.local/contracts/v1/backup-restore-request.json",
+  "title": "Backup restore request",
+  "type": "object",
+  "required": ["filename", "confirmation"],
+  "properties": {
+    "filename": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "pattern": "^trixie-[A-Za-z0-9T_.-]+\\.dump$",
+      "maxLength": 128
+    },
+    "confirmation": { "const": "RESTORE" },
+    "emergency_override": { "type": "boolean", "default": false }
+  },
+  "additionalProperties": false
+}
diff --git a/contracts/v1/backup-restore-response.json b/contracts/v1/backup-restore-response.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f34e9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contracts/v1/backup-restore-response.json
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
+  "$id": "https://trixie.local/contracts/v1/backup-restore-response.json",
+  "title": "Backup restore response",
+  "type": "object",
+  "required": ["status", "filename", "reason"],
+  "properties": {
+    "status": { "type": "string", "enum": ["ok", "failed"] },
+    "filename": { "type": "string" },
+    "reason": { "type": ["string", "null"] }
+  },
+  "additionalProperties": false
+}
diff --git a/fixtures/v1/backup-restore-response.json b/fixtures/v1/backup-restore-response.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df239b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fixtures/v1/backup-restore-response.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+  "status": "ok",
+  "filename": "trixie-20261025T030000Z.dump",
+  "reason": null
+}