diff --git a/backup-dashboard-api.service b/backup-dashboard-api.service
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bea917
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backup-dashboard-api.service
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=Backup Dashboard API
+After=network.target
+
+[Service]
+User=backupdash
+Group=backupdash
+WorkingDirectory=/opt/backup-dashboard/backend
+Environment=BACKUP_DASH_DB=/var/lib/backup-dashboard/backup-dashboard.db
+Environment=BACKUP_DASH_RETENTION_DAYS=90
+# Bound to localhost: only nginx can reach it, so nginx's auth can't be bypassed from outside.
+# One worker is plenty at this scale and keeps SQLite writes simple.
+ExecStart=/opt/backup-dashboard/venv/bin/uvicorn --factory app.main:create_app --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000 --proxy-headers
+Restart=on-failure
+
+StateDirectory=backup-dashboard
+NoNewPrivileges=true
+ProtectSystem=strict
+ProtectHome=true
+PrivateTmp=true
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
diff --git a/nginx.conf b/nginx.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..685b247
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nginx.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+server {
+    listen 80;
+    server_name backups.example.com;
+    # Basic auth sends the password with every request — never serve this over plain HTTP
+    return 301 https://$host$request_uri;
+}
+
+server {
+    listen 443 ssl;
+    http2 on;
+    server_name backups.example.com;
+
+    # Paths as created by `certbot certonly --nginx -d backups.example.com`
+    ssl_certificate     /etc/letsencrypt/live/backups.example.com/fullchain.pem;
+    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/backups.example.com/privkey.pem;
+
+    root /var/www/backup-dashboard/public;
+    index index.html;
+
+    # Strict CSP works because there is no inline JS/CSS
+    add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'self'; object-src 'none'; base-uri 'self'; frame-ancestors 'none'" always;
+    add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
+    add_header Referrer-Policy "no-referrer" always;
+    add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000" always;
+
+    # Dashboard users. Create with: htpasswd -B -c /etc/nginx/backup-dashboard.htpasswd <user>
+    # To move to Microsoft 365 sign-in later, replace these two lines with an auth_request to
+    # oauth2-proxy (provider=entra-id); the app itself doesn't need to change.
+    auth_basic "Backup Monitor";
+    auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/backup-dashboard.htpasswd;
+
+    location / {
+        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.html;
+    }
+
+    location /api/ {
+        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
+        proxy_set_header Host $host;
+        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
+        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
+    }
+
+    # Collectors authenticate with their own API key (Authorization: Bearer …), checked by the app
+    location = /api/v1/ingest {
+        auth_basic off;
+        client_max_body_size 256k;
+        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;
+        proxy_set_header Host $host;
+        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
+        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
+    }
+}