diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index 83b5b8e..ecab19c 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -34,13 +34,20 @@ LOG_LEVEL=INFO
 METRICS_BEARER_TOKEN=
 GRAFANA_ADMIN_USER=admin
 GRAFANA_ADMIN_PASSWORD=change-me-before-start
+# Alertmanager sends every firing/resolved alert and the continuous watchdog to this
+# owner-managed receiver. Production must route it to a channel that is actually watched.
+ALERTMANAGER_WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.itworx.tech/webhook/mobilityops-alerts
 
 # Verified scheduled PostgreSQL backups (Unraid override).
 BACKUP_INTERVAL_SECONDS=86400
 BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS=30
 BACKUP_MINIMUM_COPIES=7
+# Restore the newest dump into a disposable database at least weekly. Backup health also
+# requires a successful drill within eight days.
+BACKUP_RESTORE_DRILL_INTERVAL_SECONDS=604800
 # Set both values to copy every verified backup to an independently mounted path.
 BACKUP_SECONDARY_DESTINATION=
+MOBILITYOPS_BACKUP_DIR=./backups/postgres
 MOBILITYOPS_BACKUP_SECONDARY_DIR=./backups/offsite
 
 # Privacy governance defaults.
@@ -87,6 +94,9 @@ RAGCORE_COLLECTION=internal-procedures
 RAGCORE_API_TOKEN=
 # UUID of the RAGcore knowledge space procedures were synced into (see workflow 3).
 RAGCORE_SPACE_ID=
+# Skip the slower generation endpoint temporarily after a timeout/non-2xx response and
+# use the still-grounded extractive search fallback immediately.
+RAGCORE_ANSWERS_CIRCUIT_BREAKER_SECONDS=60
 
 # ITWorx MCP Hub integration. Registration itself is catalog-driven on the Hub's own
 # side (it reconciles its catalog into the gateway; Fleet Ops never pushes a
diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 2b7ff7a..f8dd7fe 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ on:
   push:
     branches: [master]
   pull_request:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "17 3 * * 1"
 
 jobs:
   backend:
@@ -21,8 +23,15 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           docker compose -p mobilityops-ci -f compose.yaml -f compose.test.yaml run --build --rm api ruff check app tests
           docker compose -p mobilityops-ci -f compose.yaml -f compose.test.yaml run --rm api mypy app
+      - name: Contract drift gate
+        run: |
+          docker compose -p mobilityops-ci -f compose.yaml -f compose.test.yaml run --rm \
+            -v "$PWD:/repo:ro" api python /repo/scripts/check-contracts.py
+          python scripts/check-source-budgets.py
       - name: Build production API image for vulnerability scan
-        run: docker build --target runtime --tag mobilityops-api-ci --file backend/Dockerfile .
+        run: |
+          docker build --target runtime --build-arg VCS_REF="$GITHUB_SHA" \
+            --tag mobilityops-api-ci --file backend/Dockerfile .
       - name: Production API image vulnerability scan (HIGH/CRITICAL)
         uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@6c175e9c4083a92bbca2f9724c8a5e33bc2d97a5 # v0.30.0
         with:
@@ -32,6 +41,19 @@ jobs:
           severity: HIGH,CRITICAL
           exit-code: "1"
           ignore-unfixed: true
+      - name: Build production web image for vulnerability scan
+        run: |
+          docker build --build-arg VCS_REF="$GITHUB_SHA" \
+            --tag mobilityops-web-ci frontend
+      - name: Production web image vulnerability scan (HIGH/CRITICAL)
+        uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@6c175e9c4083a92bbca2f9724c8a5e33bc2d97a5 # v0.30.0
+        with:
+          scan-type: image
+          image-ref: mobilityops-web-ci
+          format: table
+          severity: HIGH,CRITICAL
+          exit-code: "1"
+          ignore-unfixed: true
       - name: Remove CI stack
         if: always()
         run: docker compose -p mobilityops-ci -f compose.yaml -f compose.test.yaml down -v --remove-orphans
@@ -53,7 +75,7 @@ jobs:
         run: npm run lint
       - name: Typecheck and production build
         working-directory: frontend
-        run: npm run build
+        run: npm run build && npm run budget
       - name: Dependency audit
         working-directory: frontend
         run: npm audit --audit-level=high
@@ -74,7 +96,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           cp .env.example .env
           docker compose -p mobilityops-e2e up --build -d db api web
-          for attempt in $(seq 1 60); do
+          for _attempt in $(seq 1 60); do
             if curl -fsS http://localhost:1228/health/ready >/dev/null 2>&1; then break; fi
             sleep 2
           done
@@ -84,18 +106,25 @@ jobs:
         working-directory: frontend
         run: |
           npm ci --no-audit --no-fund
-          npx playwright install --with-deps chromium
+          npx playwright install --with-deps chromium firefox
       - name: Run browser acceptance suite
         working-directory: frontend
         env:
           MOBILITYOPS_PUBLIC_URL: http://localhost:1228
         run: npx playwright test
+      - name: Run non-destructive Chromium and Firefox smoke suite
+        working-directory: frontend
+        env:
+          MOBILITYOPS_PUBLIC_URL: http://localhost:1228
+        run: npx playwright test --config=playwright.live.config.ts
       - name: Upload Playwright report
         if: failure()
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@ea165f8d65b6e75b540449e92b4886f43607fa02 # v4
         with:
           name: playwright-report
-          path: frontend/playwright-report
+          path: |
+            frontend/playwright-report
+            frontend/playwright-live-report
       - name: Stack logs on failure
         if: failure()
         run: docker compose -p mobilityops-e2e logs --tail=200 api web
diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/release.yml b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..532ce7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+name: MobilityOps release evidence
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags: ["v*"]
+
+jobs:
+  release-evidence:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@11d5960a326750d5838078e36cf38b85af677262 # v4
+      - name: Build commit-labelled release images
+        run: |
+          docker build --target runtime --build-arg VCS_REF="$GITHUB_SHA" --tag mobilityops-api-release --file backend/Dockerfile .
+          docker build --build-arg VCS_REF="$GITHUB_SHA" --tag mobilityops-web-release frontend
+      - name: Generate API CycloneDX SBOM
+        uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@6c175e9c4083a92bbca2f9724c8a5e33bc2d97a5 # v0.30.0
+        with:
+          scan-type: image
+          image-ref: mobilityops-api-release
+          format: cyclonedx
+          output: mobilityops-api-sbom.cdx.json
+      - name: Generate web CycloneDX SBOM
+        uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@6c175e9c4083a92bbca2f9724c8a5e33bc2d97a5 # v0.30.0
+        with:
+          scan-type: image
+          image-ref: mobilityops-web-release
+          format: cyclonedx
+          output: mobilityops-web-sbom.cdx.json
+      - name: Record immutable image metadata
+        run: |
+          docker image inspect mobilityops-api-release > mobilityops-api-image.json
+          docker image inspect mobilityops-web-release > mobilityops-web-image.json
+          sha256sum mobilityops-*-sbom.cdx.json mobilityops-*-image.json > SHA256SUMS
+      - name: Upload release evidence
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@ea165f8d65b6e75b540449e92b4886f43607fa02 # v4
+        with:
+          name: mobilityops-${{ github.ref_name }}-evidence
+          path: |
+            mobilityops-*-sbom.cdx.json
+            mobilityops-*-image.json
+            SHA256SUMS
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ccc8026..f9e0936 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ node_modules/
 dist/
 coverage/
 playwright-report/
+playwright-live-report/
 test-results/
 *.pyc
 .DS_Store
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bce5b2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Changelog
+
+All notable changes are documented here. The project follows semantic release tags for
+the deployable PoC; detailed validation evidence remains in `PROJECT_STATE.md`.
+
+## [Unreleased]
+
+- Added contract-drift, accessibility, Firefox smoke and frontend asset-budget gates.
+- Added immutable commit-labelled deployment with automatic application rollback.
+- Added real PostgreSQL restore drills and routed Alertmanager notifications.
+- Added RAGcore generation circuit breaking and retrieval telemetry.
+- Added scheduled dependency maintenance, dual-image vulnerability scans and release SBOMs.
+
+## [1.0.0-poc] - 2026-08-21
+
+- Completed the locked Fleet Ops proof of concept: operational core, transactional returns,
+  data quality, n8n orchestration, grounded RAGcore knowledge, read-only MCP integration,
+  privacy governance, observability, backup/recovery and full browser acceptance.
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb0c466
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2026 Jens Caers
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7a497ba..f46897e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.PHONY: up down logs test lint seed reset n8n-setup n8n-setup-scan demo e2e
+.PHONY: up down logs test lint contracts seed reset n8n-setup n8n-setup-scan demo e2e live-smoke
 
 up:
 	docker compose up --build -d
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ lint:
 	docker compose -f compose.yaml -f compose.test.yaml run --rm api mypy app
 	cd frontend && npm run lint
 
+contracts:
+	docker compose -f compose.yaml -f compose.test.yaml run --build --rm \
+		-v "$(CURDIR):/repo:ro" api python /repo/scripts/check-contracts.py
+	python scripts/check-source-budgets.py
+
 seed:
 	docker compose exec api python -m app.cli seed --reset
 
@@ -49,3 +54,6 @@ demo: up
 
 e2e:
 	cd frontend && npx playwright test
+
+live-smoke:
+	cd frontend && npx playwright test --config=playwright.live.config.ts
diff --git a/PROJECT_STATE.md b/PROJECT_STATE.md
index 4f2968d..40188c8 100644
--- a/PROJECT_STATE.md
+++ b/PROJECT_STATE.md
@@ -1,5 +1,32 @@
 # Project state
 
+## M44 — release integrity and assurance hardening (2026-08-21)
+
+- Replaced mutable archive overlays with checksum-verified, commit-named release staging,
+  OCI revision-labelled API/web images, health-gated promotion and automatic application
+  rollback. Routine deployment no longer resets persisted demo data.
+- Scheduled backups now execute a weekly real restore into a disposable database and gate
+  health on both backup and restore-drill freshness. The isolated drill passed at Alembic
+  `4f2b9c8d7e61` with restored counts `2 users / 50 vehicles / 254 bookings / 1 audit event`.
+- Added Alertmanager routing with a continuous watchdog and an authenticated fifth n8n
+  workflow targeting the existing watched M365 owner mailbox. Added weekly Renovate,
+  API/web image vulnerability scans, tag-triggered CycloneDX SBOM evidence and immutable
+  image metadata.
+- Contract drift is now executable for OpenAPI, events, MCP endpoints and all five n8n
+  workflows. RAGcore generation failures open a bounded circuit breaker so grounded search
+  fallback avoids repeated five-second delays; provider-stage outcomes and retrieval scores
+  are measurable.
+- Added Axe accessibility, platform-independent visual regression, non-destructive
+  Chromium/Firefox canaries, frontend asset budgets and source-growth budgets. The checks
+  found and fixed two real WCAG contrast defects.
+- Validation: backend **271/271**, Playwright **155/155** in 4.6 minutes, live-safe canary
+  **4/4**, focused knowledge/observability **42/42**, frontend lint/build/audit/budgets,
+  contract gate, Compose rendering, Prometheus/Alertmanager validation and shell parsing
+  passed. The user approved the repository security policy before it was written.
+- Exact next action: commit and push M44, create a production backup, publish/test the alert
+  receiver, deploy the exact archive, run the non-destructive production canary and record
+  M45 live evidence.
+
 ## M43 — publish and redeploy review remediation (2026-08-21)
 
 - Published M41 hardening commit `24dcb3494c522fadf536fa9d6826450227aeff4e`
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cd4cf7a..6fecce5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ make e2e     # complete Playwright browser acceptance
 cd frontend && npm run build
 ```
 
-Current verified results and production evidence are recorded in [artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md](artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md) (historical M7 evidence: [artifacts/evidence/final-summary.md](artifacts/evidence/final-summary.md)) and [PROJECT_STATE.md](PROJECT_STATE.md).
+Release-scoped results and production evidence are recorded in [artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md](artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md); older milestone evidence remains explicitly historical. [PROJECT_STATE.md](PROJECT_STATE.md) records the commands and exact deployment revision.
 
 ## Repository map
 
@@ -89,6 +89,6 @@ Current verified results and production evidence are recorded in [artifacts/fina
 - `n8n/` — importable workflow definitions for the existing server
 - `seed/` — deterministic synthetic dataset
 - `docs/` — architecture, security, UX, testing and runbooks
-- `artifacts/` — acceptance evidence and screenshots per release (`artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md` is the definitive one)
+- `artifacts/` — dated, release-scoped acceptance evidence and screenshots
 
 “MobilityOps” remains the repository/deployment identifier; **Fleet Ops** is the product name shown to users.
diff --git a/SECURITY.md b/SECURITY.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9beb10f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SECURITY.md
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# Security Policy
+
+## Supported versions
+
+| Version | Security support |
+|---|---|
+| Latest tagged PoC release and current `master` | Supported |
+| Older commits, branches and untagged deployments | Not supported |
+
+MobilityOps is a synthetic-data proof of concept, not a production identity,
+payments or public reservation platform. Security fixes target the current
+release line only.
+
+## Reporting a vulnerability
+
+Do not disclose suspected vulnerabilities through a public issue.
+
+Report them privately to `jens@itworx.tech` with:
+
+- the affected revision, endpoint or component;
+- reproduction steps and prerequisites;
+- the observed and expected behaviour;
+- the security impact;
+- a minimal proof of concept, without unnecessary personal or secret data.
+
+Receipt should be acknowledged within three business days. An initial
+assessment or request for additional evidence should follow within ten
+business days. Remediation timing depends on severity and reproducibility.
+
+## Scope
+
+In scope:
+
+- MobilityOps backend, frontend, container and deployment code;
+- authentication, authorization, tenant boundaries and audit integrity;
+- database, outbox, backup and restore behaviour;
+- MobilityOps-owned n8n workflow definitions;
+- RAGcore and MCP Hub integration boundaries implemented in this repository.
+
+Out of scope:
+
+- denial-of-service or destructive testing against the hosted demo;
+- social engineering, credential stuffing or physical attacks;
+- synthetic demo-data exposure without a security-boundary failure;
+- vulnerabilities solely inside RAGcore, ITWorx MCP Hub, n8n or another
+  third-party service. Report those to their respective owners.
+
+Do not access data beyond what is required to demonstrate the issue, modify
+shared infrastructure, interrupt other services or retain obtained secrets.
+
+## Coordinated disclosure
+
+Good-faith research that respects this policy and applicable law will be
+handled constructively. Allow a reasonable remediation period before public
+disclosure. Submitted reports and evidence are used only for investigation,
+remediation and verification.
diff --git a/artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md b/artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md
index af04152..e6c7a4c 100644
--- a/artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md
+++ b/artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md
@@ -1,265 +1,38 @@
-# MobilityOps — final acceptance audit summary
+# Fleet Ops release acceptance
 
-This audit was run after M0–M7 had already been implemented and committed, specifically
-to independently re-verify the finished system end to end rather than trust the
-milestone-by-milestone build log. It found and fixed one real category of defect
-(`mypy` had never been run across the whole build) and confirmed everything else — every
-user journey, every button/filter/form, both external-dependency degraded modes, secret
-hygiene, and the clean-checkout path — works as documented.
+This file is release-scoped evidence, not a timeless claim. Older evidence under
+`artifacts/evidence/` is historical. Exact commands and production revisions are recorded
+in `PROJECT_STATE.md`.
 
-## Final commit
+## 2026-08-21 release candidate
 
-This audit's fixes are committed as the commit immediately following
-`108b5d04fc6f7c5ff9c47009032d6469df29cf3c` ("M7: portfolio polish and final acceptance").
-Run `git log -1 --format="%H %s"` for the exact hash.
+- Backend: **271/271** tests passed against an isolated clean PostgreSQL database.
+- Browser acceptance: **155/155** Chromium tests passed in 4.6 minutes.
+- Live-safe browser canary: **4/4** passed across Chromium and Firefox against the local
+  deployed stack; unlike the acceptance suite, it never resets or mutates demo records.
+- Accessibility: the principal login, dashboard, data-quality, knowledge, automation and
+  audit routes have no automated critical/serious WCAG 2 A/AA/2.1 AA violations.
+- Frontend: TypeScript, ESLint, production build, dependency audit and per-asset JS/CSS
+  budgets passed; committed visual baselines cover the public entry and engineering story.
+- Contracts: committed OpenAPI, event schema, MCP tools and all five n8n definitions match
+  their code/manifest sources.
+- Recovery: a custom-format PostgreSQL dump was restored into a disposable database; the
+  Alembic revision and non-zero canonical table counts matched the source database.
+- Operations: Prometheus/Alertmanager configuration validation passed, including the
+  watchdog and authenticated n8n receiver route.
 
-## Exact commands executed
+## Evidence boundary
 
-Clean-checkout drill (run twice during this audit, most recently against fully wiped
-Docker volumes):
+The complete local suite uses the deterministic provider and an isolated database so it is
+repeatable and safely destructive. Production verification is deliberately smaller and
+non-destructive; it verifies the real RAGcore/MCP/n8n health surfaces without resetting the
+shared demo. A successful local result is never presented as proof that an external service
+was live. The production subsection is added only after the exact committed release is
+deployed and observed.
 
-```bash
-git status                              # working tree clean before starting
-docker compose down -v                  # wipe all volumes — genuinely clean state
-cp .env.example .env
-docker compose up --build -d            # migrations run automatically (backend/entrypoint.sh)
-docker compose exec api python -m app.cli seed --reset
-docker compose run --rm api pytest -q
-docker compose run --rm api ruff check .
-docker compose run --rm api mypy app
-cd frontend && npm run build
-cd frontend && npx playwright test
-```
+## Remaining product boundary
 
-n8n one-time setup (owner account via browser at `http://localhost:5678/setup`, then):
-
-```bash
-docker compose exec n8n n8n import:workflow --input=//imports/mobilityops-return-processing.json
-docker compose exec n8n n8n publish:workflow --id=mobilityops-return-processing
-docker compose restart n8n
-```
-
-Degraded-mode drills:
-
-```bash
-docker compose stop n8n     # then register a return via the API — commits, event stays pending
-docker compose start n8n    # dispatcher self-heals, no manual intervention
-docker compose run --rm -e KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER=ragcore -e RAGCORE_BASE_URL=http://ragcore-not-reachable:9999 \
-  api python -c "from app.services.knowledge import get_knowledge_provider; ..."
-```
-
-## Test and validation results
-
-| Check | Command | Result |
-|---|---|---|
-| Backend unit/integration tests | `docker compose run --rm api pytest -q` | **66 passed**, 0 failed, 0 skipped |
-| Backend lint | `docker compose run --rm api ruff check .` | **All checks passed** |
-| Backend type check | `docker compose run --rm api mypy app` | **Success: no issues found in 44 source files** (found and fixed 43 pre-existing errors this audit — see below) |
-| Frontend build + typecheck | `cd frontend && npm run build` | Clean (`tsc -b && vite build`, zero errors) |
-| End-to-end (Playwright) | `cd frontend && npx playwright test` | **12 passed** (`demo.spec.ts` — full 9-step demo script; `interactive-elements.spec.ts` — 11 tests covering every nav item, filter, tab, and role boundary) |
-| Clean-checkout migrations | `docker compose down -v && docker compose up --build -d` | 11 tables created automatically, `alembic current` → `e7b08389f47f (head)`, zero manual step |
-| Deterministic seed | `docker compose exec api python -m app.cli seed --reset` | `users:2 customers:180 vehicles:50 bookings:246 inspections:75 maintenance:40 data_quality_issues:26 workflow_runs:20` — identical across every reseed this session |
-| Secret scan | `git ls-files \| grep -x .env`; `git log --all -p -- '*.env'`; history grep for AWS/private-key/`sk-` patterns | No `.env` ever committed; no secrets found in history |
-
-### mypy defects found and fixed (the one real gap this audit uncovered)
-
-`mypy` is a declared dev dependency (`backend/pyproject.toml`) but was never added to any
-milestone's validation loop — only `ruff` was run throughout M0–M7. Running it cold
-surfaced 43 errors across 10 files. All were triaged and fixed (not suppressed):
-
-- **Two genuine defensive-programming gaps**, not just type-annotation issues:
-  - `app/services/returns.py`: the vehicle lookup after acquiring the row lock had no
-    `None` guard; a dangling FK would have crashed with an unhandled 500 instead of a
-    clean `404 VEHICLE_NOT_FOUND`. Fixed.
-  - `app/api/routers/bookings.py`: same pattern in `get_booking` for the customer/vehicle
-    lookups — now returns a clean `500` with a message instead of an `AttributeError`.
-- `app/api/deps.py` / `app/api/routers/demo.py`: `CurrentUser.role` is validated by
-  Pydantic at runtime already, but `get_current_user` now explicitly checks role
-  membership before construction, turning a would-be unhandled `ValidationError` into a
-  clean `401` for a corrupted/tampered session cookie.
-- Two instances of reusing one variable name for both a `Vehicle` and a `Customer` across
-  branches (`dashboard.py`, `data_quality.py`) — renamed for clarity, not just to satisfy
-  mypy.
-- `Booking.__table__.update()` / `Customer.__table__.update()` switched to the idiomatic
-  `sqlalchemy.update(Model)` construct (also fixes the type error).
-- Remainder: deprecated `conint()` → `Annotated[int, Field(...)]`, a `Sequence` vs `list`
-  `.sort()` call, an `assert`-guarded None-narrow after a `WHERE ... IS NOT NULL` filter
-  mypy can't see through, and a couple of narrowly-scoped `# type: ignore[...]` comments
-  for known SQLAlchemy stub gaps (`Result.rowcount`).
-
-`make lint` now runs `ruff check .` **and** `mypy app`.
-
-## Application URLs and ports
-
-| Service | URL | Notes |
-|---|---|---|
-| Web (React SPA) | `http://localhost:1228` | nginx-served static build |
-| API | `http://localhost:8128` | FastAPI, `/health` for liveness |
-| API docs | `http://localhost:8128/docs` | auto-generated OpenAPI/Swagger UI |
-| n8n | `http://localhost:5678` | requires one-time owner setup, see below |
-| PostgreSQL | `localhost:5432` (container-internal only, no host port published) | |
-
-## Demo users and access method
-
-No passwords. Two demo-role buttons on `http://localhost:1228/login`:
-
-- **Open as Operations Manager** → `USR-OPS`, "Amelie De Ridder". Full access: dashboard,
-  data-quality resolution/merge, automation retry, demo reset, MCP/service-token routes
-  are separate (not user-facing).
-- **Open as Rental Employee** → `USR-EMP`, "Karim Boujaddaine". Can register returns and
-  browse vehicles/bookings/knowledge; Automation page is visible but shows a
-  role-restricted message instead of the delivery table (enforced both in the UI and by
-  the backend's `require_operations_manager` dependency — verified by
-  `test_retry_requires_operations_manager` and the e2e role-restriction test).
-
-Session is an HMAC-signed, `HttpOnly` cookie (`app/core/security.py`) — a demo mechanism,
-not a real identity provider (documented as a known limitation).
-
-## Implemented functionality
-
-- Operations dashboard with 100% database-backed metrics, attention items linking to the
-  underlying data-quality issue, "today" departures/returns, and recent automation runs.
-- Vehicle and booking list/detail pages with working filters (status, attention-only) and
-  a tabbed vehicle detail view (overview/bookings/inspections/maintenance/quality).
-- Full transactional vehicle-return workflow: row-locked, idempotent by
-  `Idempotency-Key`, canonical-odometer regression handling (never silently lowers the
-  canonical value), vehicle status derivation, two audit events, and a schema-compliant
-  outbox event — verified against real concurrent submissions (1×201 + 2×409).
-- Invalid-mileage rejection: negative values and non-numeric input both correctly
-  rejected with `422` and a precise Pydantic validation message.
-- Data Quality Workbench: five deterministic rules (duplicate customer via TF-IDF-style
-  weighted signal scoring, missing required field, odometer regression, booking overlap,
-  vehicle status conflict), issue list/detail/defer/reject, and a two-column
-  duplicate-customer compare-and-merge UI with an inline (non-native-dialog) confirmation
-  step, transactional booking rewiring, and audit logging.
-- Full audit trail: every significant action (login, return, vehicle status change,
-  data-quality issue lifecycle, customer merge, workflow retry, demo reset, n8n
-  callback, MCP tool request, knowledge question) is recorded with actor, correlation ID,
-  and before/after state; filterable by action.
-- Knowledge Assistant: deterministic TF-IDF-weighted extractive retrieval over the 10
-  procedure documents — never generative, always cites real excerpts, and honestly
-  reports `insufficient`/`unavailable` states rather than fabricating an answer.
-- n8n automation: background outbox dispatcher (`FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED` claim,
-  exponential backoff, no DB transaction held during the HTTP call), a live-verified
-  round trip through an actual n8n workflow, manual retry for failed deliveries, and an
-  Automation page (Operations Manager only) showing all runs with filtering.
-- Four read-only, service-token-authenticated MCP Hub provider endpoints, each recording
-  its own service-request audit event, with zero write/mutation endpoints anywhere in
-  that namespace.
-- Responsive UI verified down to 360px width (nav wraps, tables become cards, metric
-  tiles reflow to a 2-column grid, no horizontal overflow) — both by an automated
-  Playwright viewport/overflow assertion and by a captured screenshot.
-
-## RAGcore integration status: implemented, not live-verified
-
-The active `KnowledgeProvider` in this environment is `DemoKnowledgeProvider` — fully
-implemented, fully tested, fully live-verified, and what actually satisfies the
-knowledge-assistant acceptance criteria. A `RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider` HTTP adapter also
-exists (`app/services/knowledge/ragcore.py`), targeting a best-effort contract inferred
-from `contracts/ragcore-contract-assumptions.md` (no live RAGcore API spec was available).
-Its **unavailable-degradation path is live-verified this audit**: pointed at an
-unreachable host, it returns `{"evidence_state": "unavailable", "answer": "", "sources":
-[]}` with no fabrication, exactly as required — but an actual successful round trip
-against a real RAGcore instance has never been performed, because no such instance was
-reachable in this environment.
-
-## MCP Hub integration status: implemented, not live-verified
-
-All four contracted read-only tools (`mobilityops_get_operations_summary`,
-`mobilityops_list_attention_vehicles`, `mobilityops_get_vehicle_details`,
-`mobilityops_search_knowledge`) are implemented as service-token-protected endpoints under
-`/api/v1/integrations/mcp/`, directly `curl`-verified this audit (auth enforcement,
-correct data shape, no write methods, service-request audit logging). No live ITWorx MCP
-Hub instance was reachable in this environment, so an actual Hub-mediated tool call was
-never performed — only direct calls to MobilityOps's own provider API.
-
-## n8n integration status: implemented and fully live-verified
-
-The only external integration with a real, running counterpart service available in this
-environment. Fully verified this audit, including both success and degraded paths:
-
-- **Success**: a real return registered via the API was delivered by the background
-  dispatcher to an actual n8n instance (owner account + imported/activated workflow),
-  which called back into MobilityOps and was recorded `succeeded`.
-- **Degraded mode**: `docker compose stop n8n`, then a return was registered — it
-  **committed successfully** (`201`, booking `status: returned` persisted) exactly as
-  required by the architecture's reliability boundary ("a return command and its outbox
-  event commit in one transaction" and "n8n failure leaves events pending with bounded
-  retries"). The outbox event stayed `pending` with two real `ConnectError`s logged and
-  exponential backoff.
-- **Self-healing**: restarting n8n required no manual intervention — the background
-  dispatcher picked the pending event back up on its next poll cycle and delivered it to
-  `succeeded` (5 total attempts across the outage).
-- **Manual retry (S5 scenario)**: a seeded `failed` delivery, retried from the Automation
-  page, moved to `pending` and was delivered to `succeeded` by the live dispatcher within
-  one poll cycle.
-
-## Known limitations
-
-- RAGcore and the ITWorx MCP Hub were never reachable in this build/audit environment;
-  both integrations are implemented and tested against inferred/documented contracts but
-  not verified against real instances of those systems (see above).
-- n8n requires a one-time, per-fresh-environment manual owner-account setup through its
-  own web UI (`http://localhost:5678/setup`) — a property of the n8n 2.x image itself
-  (`N8N_BASIC_AUTH_ACTIVE` no longer gates the UI), not something MobilityOps can bypass.
-  The workflow import/activation itself *is* scripted (`make n8n-setup`).
-- Demo authentication is an HMAC-signed session cookie tied to two fixed seeded users —
-  appropriate for a PoC, not a production identity provider.
-- Inspection public references are assigned via a simple `count + 1` sequence, not
-  gap-safe under true concurrent writers (acceptable for this single-tenant demo).
-- The five data-quality rules use a simplified idempotency key
-  (`rule_type, entity_type, entity_id` while open) rather than the spec's literal
-  evidence-fingerprint scheme — documented rationale in `PROJECT_STATE.md`'s M3 notes.
-- `npm audit` reports one residual moderate `esbuild`/Vite-8 dev-server-only advisory
-  (fixable only by a Vite major version bump) and one high `react-router` RSC-mode
-  advisory that does not apply to this app (it never uses React Router's RSC/SSR mode).
-
-## Clean deployment instructions
-
-```bash
-git clone <repo> && cd MobilityOps
-cp .env.example .env
-make demo                      # build, start, migrate (automatic), seed
-```
-
-One-time n8n setup (only needed for the automation demo path; everything else works
-without it):
-
-```bash
-# open http://localhost:5678/setup in a browser, create any owner account
-# (8+ chars, 1 number, 1 capital letter — no email verification required)
-make n8n-setup
-```
-
-Verify:
-
-```bash
-curl http://localhost:8128/health              # {"status":"ok",...}
-curl -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" http://localhost:1228/   # 200
-make test                                      # 66 backend tests
-make lint                                      # ruff + mypy, zero errors
-make e2e                                        # 12 Playwright tests (stack must be running)
-```
-
-Full detail, recovery expectations, and required operational checks: `docs/17-runbook.md`.
-
-## Five-minute demonstration flow
-
-1. Open `http://localhost:1228` → **Open as Operations Manager**.
-2. **Dashboard**: point out the metrics are live counts (available/rented/cleaning/
-   maintenance/blocked vehicles, open quality issues, pending/failed workflows), and the
-   Attention Required list linking straight to the underlying issues.
-3. **Vehicles → MO-024** → open the active booking `BK-DEMO-RETURN`, register a return
-   with an odometer reading below MO-024's canonical value → the result panel shows the
-   inspection, the derived vehicle status, the automatically-created data-quality issue,
-   and the queued automation event — canonical odometer is confirmed unchanged.
-4. **Data Quality → DQ-DEMO-DUPLICATE**: the two-column CUS-0012/CUS-0178 comparison,
-   merge with the inline confirmation step, issue flips to `resolved`.
-5. **Knowledge**: ask "What must I do when a vehicle returns with damage?" → grounded
-   answer citing both the return and damage-handling procedures with real excerpts.
-6. **Automation**: filter to `failed`, retry the seeded delivery, watch it succeed within
-   a few seconds via the live n8n instance.
-7. **Audit**: filter by `return_registered` or `customer_merged` to show every action from
-   this walkthrough is recorded with actor, timestamp, and correlation ID.
-8. Resize the browser to 360px width to show the responsive layout (nav wraps, tables
-   become cards) — or run `make e2e` and point at the passing responsive assertion.
+Fleet Ops remains a synthetic single-tenant PoC. It is not a production identity provider,
+payment system, accounting package or public reservation platform. External RAGcore, MCP
+Hub and n8n services remain independently operated dependencies and are accessed only
+through their documented adapters.
diff --git a/backend/Dockerfile b/backend/Dockerfile
index 621680f..d4ede03 100644
--- a/backend/Dockerfile
+++ b/backend/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 FROM python:3.12-slim-bookworm@sha256:a116514e19457bcb7af7efe9c3dd0b9b71e85b317694e7882a1c52aa15a78134 AS runtime-base
+ARG VCS_REF=development
+ARG BUILD_DATE=unknown
+LABEL org.opencontainers.image.title="Fleet Ops API" \
+      org.opencontainers.image.revision="$VCS_REF" \
+      org.opencontainers.image.created="$BUILD_DATE" \
+      org.opencontainers.image.source="https://fleetops.itworx.tech"
 ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
 WORKDIR /app
 COPY backend/requirements-prod.lock ./
diff --git a/backend/alembic.ini b/backend/alembic.ini
index 642a96b..5aabe3a 100644
--- a/backend/alembic.ini
+++ b/backend/alembic.ini
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [alembic]
 script_location = alembic
 prepend_sys_path = .
-version_path_separator = os
+path_separator = os
 
 [loggers]
 keys = root,sqlalchemy,alembic
diff --git a/backend/app/core/config.py b/backend/app/core/config.py
index 7135be6..c11e462 100644
--- a/backend/app/core/config.py
+++ b/backend/app/core/config.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     ragcore_api_token: str = ""
     ragcore_space_id: str = ""
     ragcore_http_timeout_seconds: float = 5.0
+    ragcore_answers_circuit_breaker_seconds: float = 60.0
     # Search fallback is only labelled grounded above this explicit retrieval threshold.
     # RAGcore's fused score is reciprocal-rank based (top ranks are ~1/61), so this
     # accepts only leading results while still rejecting absent and low-ranked evidence.
diff --git a/backend/app/core/observability.py b/backend/app/core/observability.py
index df05e44..eddafa7 100644
--- a/backend/app/core/observability.py
+++ b/backend/app/core/observability.py
@@ -36,6 +36,16 @@ DATABASE_READY = Gauge(
     "mobilityops_database_ready",
     "Whether the canonical PostgreSQL database answered the most recent readiness probe.",
 )
+KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS = Counter(
+    "mobilityops_knowledge_provider_requests_total",
+    "RAGcore adapter requests by stage and outcome.",
+    ("stage", "outcome"),
+)
+KNOWLEDGE_RETRIEVAL_SCORE = Histogram(
+    "mobilityops_knowledge_retrieval_score",
+    "Observed RAGcore fused/rerank retrieval scores.",
+    buckets=(0.005, 0.01, 0.015, 0.016, 0.0162, 0.0164, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0),
+)
 
 
 class JsonFormatter(logging.Formatter):
diff --git a/backend/app/main.py b/backend/app/main.py
index ef2260d..2ae98b4 100644
--- a/backend/app/main.py
+++ b/backend/app/main.py
@@ -59,6 +59,11 @@ production = settings.mobilityops_env.lower() == "production"
 app = FastAPI(
     title=f"{PRODUCT_NAME} API",
     version="0.1.0",
+    description=(
+        "Generated contract for Fleet Ops. The visible product name is Fleet Ops; "
+        "MobilityOps remains the technical repository and service identifier."
+    ),
+    servers=[{"url": "http://localhost:8128"}],
     lifespan=lifespan,
     docs_url=None if production else "/docs",
     redoc_url=None if production else "/redoc",
diff --git a/backend/app/services/knowledge/ragcore.py b/backend/app/services/knowledge/ragcore.py
index f1193c8..23dcc97 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/knowledge/ragcore.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/knowledge/ragcore.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ from time import monotonic
 import httpx
 
 from app.core.config import get_settings
+from app.core.observability import KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS, KNOWLEDGE_RETRIEVAL_SCORE
 from app.services.knowledge import EvidenceState, GroundedAnswer, KnowledgeHealth, SourceCard
 from app.services.knowledge.procedures import ProcedureDocument, iter_procedure_documents
 
@@ -137,6 +138,22 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
         self._settings = get_settings()
         self._verification_cache: dict[str, tuple[float, int]] = {}
         self._verification_lock = Lock()
+        self._answers_circuit_lock = Lock()
+        self._answers_circuit_open_until = 0.0
+
+    def _answers_circuit_is_open(self) -> bool:
+        with self._answers_circuit_lock:
+            return monotonic() < self._answers_circuit_open_until
+
+    def _open_answers_circuit(self) -> None:
+        with self._answers_circuit_lock:
+            self._answers_circuit_open_until = monotonic() + max(
+                0.0, self._settings.ragcore_answers_circuit_breaker_seconds
+            )
+
+    def _close_answers_circuit(self) -> None:
+        with self._answers_circuit_lock:
+            self._answers_circuit_open_until = 0.0
 
     def _client(self) -> httpx.Client:
         headers = {}
@@ -264,9 +281,12 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
         if not self._settings.ragcore_space_id:
             return unavailable
 
-        answered = self._ask_via_answers(question, correlation_id)
-        if answered is not None:
-            return answered
+        if self._answers_circuit_is_open():
+            KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("answers", "circuit_open").inc()
+        else:
+            answered = self._ask_via_answers(question, correlation_id)
+            if answered is not None:
+                return answered
         # /v1/answers itself is unavailable (non-2xx or unreachable) -- fall back to
         # real retrieval rather than degrading straight to "unavailable". This never
         # fabricates an answer to the question: it only ever shows an actually-cited
@@ -290,9 +310,13 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
                     },
                 )
                 if response.status_code != 200:
+                    KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("answers", "non_2xx").inc()
+                    self._open_answers_circuit()
                     return None
                 body = response.json()
         except (httpx.HTTPError, ValueError):
+            KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("answers", "error").inc()
+            self._open_answers_circuit()
             return None
 
         try:
@@ -311,6 +335,8 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
             answerability = body.get("answerability", "not_answerable")
             is_grounded = answerability in _GROUNDED_ANSWERABILITY and sources
             evidence_state: EvidenceState = "grounded" if is_grounded else "insufficient"
+            KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("answers", evidence_state).inc()
+            self._close_answers_circuit()
             return GroundedAnswer(
                 answer=body.get("answer", "") if evidence_state == "grounded" else "",
                 evidence_state=evidence_state,
@@ -319,6 +345,8 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
                 correlation_id=correlation_id,
             )
         except (TypeError, KeyError, ValueError):
+            KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("answers", "malformed").inc()
+            self._open_answers_circuit()
             return None
 
     def _ask_via_search_fallback(
@@ -342,9 +370,11 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
                     },
                 )
                 if response.status_code != 200:
+                    KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("search", "non_2xx").inc()
                     return unavailable
                 body = response.json()
         except (httpx.HTTPError, ValueError):
+            KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("search", "error").inc()
             return unavailable
 
         try:
@@ -362,8 +392,14 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
                 for result in results
             ]
         except (TypeError, KeyError, ValueError):
+            KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("search", "malformed").inc()
             return unavailable
 
+        for result in results:
+            score = _retrieval_score(result)
+            if score is not None:
+                KNOWLEDGE_RETRIEVAL_SCORE.observe(score)
+
         all_sources = _deduplicate_sources(sources)
         concepts = _question_concepts(question)
         qualified_sources = [
@@ -379,6 +415,7 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
         ]
         sources = _rank_sources_for_concepts(_deduplicate_sources(qualified_sources), concepts)
         if not all_sources:
+            KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("search", "insufficient").inc()
             return GroundedAnswer(
                 answer="",
                 evidence_state="insufficient",
@@ -396,6 +433,7 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
             for term in _DOMAIN_CONCEPTS["damage"]
         )
         if not concepts or not sources or ("damage" in concepts and not damage_evidence):
+            KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("search", "insufficient").inc()
             return GroundedAnswer(
                 answer="",
                 evidence_state="insufficient",
@@ -407,6 +445,7 @@ class RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider:
         template = _LEAD_ANSWER_TEMPLATE.get(language, _LEAD_ANSWER_TEMPLATE[_DEFAULT_LANGUAGE])
         lead = sources[0]
         answer = template.format(title=lead.title, excerpt=lead.excerpt)
+        KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER_REQUESTS.labels("search", "grounded").inc()
         return GroundedAnswer(
             answer=answer,
             evidence_state="grounded",
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_knowledge.py b/backend/tests/test_knowledge.py
index 60f5246..2a5503a 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_knowledge.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_knowledge.py
@@ -616,6 +616,35 @@ def test_ragcore_provider_falls_back_to_search_when_answers_unavailable(monkeypa
     )
 
 
+def test_ragcore_answers_circuit_skips_repeated_generation_failure(monkeypatch):
+    provider = RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider()
+    monkeypatch.setattr(provider._settings, "ragcore_space_id", "space-1")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(provider._settings, "ragcore_answers_circuit_breaker_seconds", 60.0)
+    search_response = _FakeResponse(200, _search_body())
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        provider,
+        "_client",
+        lambda: _FakeClient(
+            post_responses={
+                "/v1/answers": _FakeResponse(503, {}),
+                "/v1/search": search_response,
+            }
+        ),
+    )
+    assert (
+        provider.ask("What is the vehicle return procedure?", "first").evidence_state
+        == "grounded"
+    )
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        provider,
+        "_ask_via_answers",
+        lambda *_args: (_ for _ in ()).throw(AssertionError("open circuit called answers")),
+    )
+    second = provider.ask("What is the vehicle return procedure?", "second")
+    assert second.evidence_state == "grounded"
+
+
 def test_ragcore_provider_fallback_answer_is_localized(monkeypatch):
     provider = RAGcoreKnowledgeProvider()
     monkeypatch.setattr(provider._settings, "ragcore_space_id", "space-1")
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_observability.py b/backend/tests/test_observability.py
index 04a5f37..e3519f6 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_observability.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_observability.py
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ def test_metrics_expose_http_database_and_outbox_state(client):
     assert "mobilityops_http_requests_total" in response.text
     assert "mobilityops_database_ready 1.0" in response.text
     assert 'mobilityops_outbox_events{scenario="synthetic",status="failed"}' in response.text
+    assert "mobilityops_knowledge_provider_requests_total" in response.text
+    assert "mobilityops_knowledge_retrieval_score" in response.text
 
 
 def test_metrics_token_is_enforced_when_configured(client, monkeypatch):
diff --git a/compose.observability.yaml b/compose.observability.yaml
index e8906f7..e61799a 100644
--- a/compose.observability.yaml
+++ b/compose.observability.yaml
@@ -15,6 +15,33 @@ services:
     restart: unless-stopped
     networks: [mobilityops]
 
+  alertmanager:
+    image: prom/alertmanager:v0.33.1@sha256:9e082985f56f4c8c9f724e18f2288c6708f472e56a5286b8863d080434ea065d
+    profiles: ["observability"]
+    entrypoint: ["/bin/sh", "-ec"]
+    command:
+      - >-
+        sed -e "s|__WEBHOOK_URL__|$${ALERTMANAGER_WEBHOOK_URL}|g"
+        -e "s|__WEBHOOK_TOKEN__|$${MOBILITYOPS_WEBHOOK_TRIGGER_TOKEN}|g"
+        /etc/alertmanager/template.yml > /tmp/alertmanager.yml
+        && exec /bin/alertmanager --config.file=/tmp/alertmanager.yml
+        --storage.path=/alertmanager
+    environment:
+      ALERTMANAGER_WEBHOOK_URL: ${ALERTMANAGER_WEBHOOK_URL:-https://n8n.itworx.tech/webhook/mobilityops-alerts}
+      MOBILITYOPS_WEBHOOK_TRIGGER_TOKEN: ${MOBILITYOPS_WEBHOOK_TRIGGER_TOKEN:?Set the n8n webhook trigger token}
+    volumes:
+      - ./deploy/observability/alertmanager.yml:/etc/alertmanager/template.yml:ro
+      - mobilityops-alertmanager:/alertmanager
+    ports:
+      - "127.0.0.1:19093:9093"
+    healthcheck:
+      test: ["CMD", "wget", "-q", "-O", "/dev/null", "http://127.0.0.1:9093/-/ready"]
+      interval: 15s
+      timeout: 5s
+      retries: 10
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    networks: [mobilityops]
+
   grafana:
     image: grafana/grafana:12.2.0@sha256:74144189b38447facf737dfd0f3906e42e0776212bf575dc3334c3609183adf7
     profiles: ["observability"]
@@ -29,10 +56,11 @@ services:
       - mobilityops-grafana:/var/lib/grafana
     ports:
       - "127.0.0.1:13000:3000"
-    depends_on: [prometheus]
+    depends_on: [prometheus, alertmanager]
     restart: unless-stopped
     networks: [mobilityops]
 
 volumes:
   mobilityops-prometheus:
   mobilityops-grafana:
+  mobilityops-alertmanager:
diff --git a/compose.release.yaml b/compose.release.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..755ea10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compose.release.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+services:
+  api:
+    image: ${MOBILITYOPS_API_IMAGE:?Set MOBILITYOPS_API_IMAGE to an immutable release image}
+    build: !reset null
+
+  web:
+    image: ${MOBILITYOPS_WEB_IMAGE:?Set MOBILITYOPS_WEB_IMAGE to an immutable release image}
+    build: !reset null
+
+  backup:
+    volumes: !override
+      - ${MOBILITYOPS_BACKUP_DIR:?Set MOBILITYOPS_BACKUP_DIR to the persistent backup directory}:/backups
+      - ${MOBILITYOPS_BACKUP_SECONDARY_DIR:?Set MOBILITYOPS_BACKUP_SECONDARY_DIR to the independent secondary directory}:/offsite
+      - ./deploy/unraid:/opt/mobilityops:ro
diff --git a/compose.unraid.yaml b/compose.unraid.yaml
index beb67b5..27492ae 100644
--- a/compose.unraid.yaml
+++ b/compose.unraid.yaml
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ services:
       BACKUP_INTERVAL_SECONDS: ${BACKUP_INTERVAL_SECONDS:-86400}
       BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS: ${BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS:-30}
       BACKUP_MINIMUM_COPIES: ${BACKUP_MINIMUM_COPIES:-7}
+      BACKUP_RESTORE_DRILL_INTERVAL_SECONDS: ${BACKUP_RESTORE_DRILL_INTERVAL_SECONDS:-604800}
     command: ["/opt/mobilityops/scheduled-backup.sh"]
     volumes:
       - ./backups/postgres:/backups
@@ -56,7 +57,11 @@ services:
       db:
         condition: service_healthy
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "find /backups/latest-success -mmin -1560 -print -quit | grep -q ."]
+      test:
+        [
+          "CMD-SHELL",
+          "find /backups/latest-success -mmin -1560 -print -quit | grep -q . && find /backups/latest-restore-drill -mmin -11520 -print -quit | grep -q .",
+        ]
       interval: 30m
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 3
diff --git a/compose.yaml b/compose.yaml
index 43b9423..e7c2cc5 100644
--- a/compose.yaml
+++ b/compose.yaml
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ services:
     build:
       context: .
       dockerfile: backend/Dockerfile
+      args:
+        VCS_REF: ${VCS_REF:-development}
+        BUILD_DATE: ${BUILD_DATE:-unknown}
     environment:
       MOBILITYOPS_ENV: ${MOBILITYOPS_ENV:-development}
       MOBILITYOPS_DEMO_MODE: ${MOBILITYOPS_DEMO_MODE:-true}
@@ -32,6 +35,7 @@ services:
       RAGCORE_COLLECTION: ${RAGCORE_COLLECTION:-internal-procedures}
       RAGCORE_API_TOKEN: ${RAGCORE_API_TOKEN:-}
       RAGCORE_SPACE_ID: ${RAGCORE_SPACE_ID:-}
+      RAGCORE_ANSWERS_CIRCUIT_BREAKER_SECONDS: ${RAGCORE_ANSWERS_CIRCUIT_BREAKER_SECONDS:-60}
       N8N_WEBHOOK_URL: ${N8N_WEBHOOK_URL:-http://n8n:5678/webhook/mobilityops-return}
       N8N_WEBHOOK_TRIGGER_TOKEN: ${MOBILITYOPS_WEBHOOK_TRIGGER_TOKEN:-replace-me-n8n-webhook-trigger-token}
       N8N_CALLBACK_TOKEN: ${MOBILITYOPS_CALLBACK_TOKEN:-replace-me-n8n-callback-token}
@@ -82,6 +86,8 @@ services:
         # Empty by default: the SPA calls its own origin and nginx proxies /api to the API,
         # which is what the CSP (connect-src 'self') expects. Only set this for split hosting.
         VITE_API_BASE_URL: ${VITE_API_BASE_URL:-}
+        VCS_REF: ${VCS_REF:-development}
+        BUILD_DATE: ${BUILD_DATE:-unknown}
     ports:
       - "1228:80"
     depends_on:
diff --git a/contracts/mcp-tools.json b/contracts/mcp-tools.json
index b952e1b..2d2ffe7 100644
--- a/contracts/mcp-tools.json
+++ b/contracts/mcp-tools.json
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
         },
         "additionalProperties": false
       },
+      "endpoint": {"method": "POST", "path": "/api/v1/integrations/mcp/search-knowledge"},
       "routing": {
         "preferred": "ragcore",
         "tenant": "northstar-mobility-demo",
diff --git a/contracts/openapi.yaml b/contracts/openapi.yaml
index d5269a4..b5e136a 100644
--- a/contracts/openapi.yaml
+++ b/contracts/openapi.yaml
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 openapi: 3.1.0
 info:
   title: Fleet Ops API
+  description: Generated contract for Fleet Ops. The visible product name is Fleet
+    Ops; MobilityOps remains the technical repository and service identifier.
   version: 0.1.0
-  description: Generated contract for Fleet Ops. The visible product name is Fleet Ops; MobilityOps remains
-    the technical repository and service identifier.
+servers:
+- url: http://localhost:8128
 paths:
   /health:
     get:
@@ -22,7 +24,8 @@ paths:
   /health/live:
     get:
       summary: Liveness
-      description: Process liveness only; external dependencies deliberately do not affect it.
+      description: Process liveness only; external dependencies deliberately do not
+        affect it.
       operationId: liveness_health_live_get
       responses:
         '200':
@@ -37,7 +40,8 @@ paths:
   /health/ready:
     get:
       summary: Readiness
-      description: 'Traffic readiness: the API is useful only while its canonical database responds.'
+      description: 'Traffic readiness: the API is useful only while its canonical
+        database responds.'
       operationId: readiness_health_ready_get
       responses:
         '200':
@@ -622,7 +626,8 @@ paths:
                 type: array
                 items:
                   $ref: '#/components/schemas/AvailableVehicleOut'
-                title: Response List Available Vehicles Api V1 Bookings Availability Get
+                title: Response List Available Vehicles Api V1 Bookings Availability
+                  Get
         '422':
           description: Validation Error
           content:
@@ -1331,7 +1336,8 @@ paths:
       tags:
       - data-quality
       summary: Status Recommendation
-      description: 'Non-mutating preview: computes the recommendation without changing anything,
+      description: 'Non-mutating preview: computes the recommendation without changing
+        anything,
 
         resolving no issue and writing no audit event. Safe to call repeatedly.'
       operationId: status_recommendation_api_v1_data_quality_issues__public_ref__status_recommendation_post
@@ -1462,7 +1468,8 @@ paths:
       tags:
       - integrations
       summary: Workflow Heartbeat
-      description: Authenticated, idempotent execution evidence from a canonical n8n workflow.
+      description: Authenticated, idempotent execution evidence from a canonical n8n
+        workflow.
       operationId: workflow_heartbeat_api_v1_integrations_n8n_heartbeat_post
       parameters:
       - name: X-Service-Token
@@ -1523,7 +1530,8 @@ paths:
               schema:
                 type: object
                 additionalProperties: true
-                title: Response Return Callback Api V1 Integrations N8N Return Callback Post
+                title: Response Return Callback Api V1 Integrations N8N Return Callback
+                  Post
         '422':
           description: Validation Error
           content:
@@ -1535,13 +1543,17 @@ paths:
       tags:
       - integrations
       summary: Scheduled Scan
-      description: 'Triggered by the scheduled n8n quality-scan workflow. Narrow, read-mostly, and
+      description: 'Triggered by the scheduled n8n quality-scan workflow. Narrow,
+        read-mostly, and
 
-        safe to call repeatedly: run_scan() only ever creates an issue for a condition that
+        safe to call repeatedly: run_scan() only ever creates an issue for a condition
+        that
 
-        doesn''t already have one open, so a duplicate or overlapping trigger does no
+        doesn''t already have one open, so a duplicate or overlapping trigger does
+        no
 
-        duplicate domain work -- it just reports zero new issues for anything already known.'
+        duplicate domain work -- it just reports zero new issues for anything already
+        known.'
       operationId: scheduled_scan_api_v1_integrations_n8n_scheduled_scan_post
       parameters:
       - name: X-Service-Token
@@ -1568,11 +1580,14 @@ paths:
       tags:
       - integrations
       summary: Workflow Error
-      description: 'Receives a bounded, secret-free failure report from the central n8n "Fleet Ops --
+      description: 'Receives a bounded, secret-free failure report from the central
+        n8n "Fleet Ops --
 
-        Workflow Error Handler" workflow, which is attached as the Error Workflow on every
+        Workflow Error Handler" workflow, which is attached as the Error Workflow
+        on every
 
-        other Fleet Ops n8n workflow. Idempotent on execution_id: n8n may redeliver the same
+        other Fleet Ops n8n workflow. Idempotent on execution_id: n8n may redeliver
+        the same
 
         error report (e.g. after a timed-out response), so this must not double-record.'
       operationId: workflow_error_api_v1_integrations_n8n_workflow_error_post
@@ -1607,7 +1622,8 @@ paths:
       tags:
       - integrations
       summary: List Procedures
-      description: 'Read-only source list for the RAGcore Procedure Sync workflow: every procedure
+      description: 'Read-only source list for the RAGcore Procedure Sync workflow:
+        every procedure
 
         Markdown file Fleet Ops ships, across every supported language, with a stable
 
@@ -1640,11 +1656,14 @@ paths:
       tags:
       - integrations
       summary: Procedures Sync Result
-      description: 'Receives a summary (counts only, no document content) from the n8n "Fleet Ops --
+      description: 'Receives a summary (counts only, no document content) from the
+        n8n "Fleet Ops --
 
-        RAGcore Procedure Sync" workflow once it finishes uploading procedures to RAGcore.
+        RAGcore Procedure Sync" workflow once it finishes uploading procedures to
+        RAGcore.
 
-        Idempotent on execution_id, matching the workflow-error and return-callback pattern.'
+        Idempotent on execution_id, matching the workflow-error and return-callback
+        pattern.'
       operationId: procedures_sync_result_api_v1_integrations_n8n_procedures_sync_result_post
       parameters:
       - name: X-Service-Token
@@ -1880,7 +1899,8 @@ paths:
                 type: array
                 items:
                   $ref: '#/components/schemas/AttentionVehicleOut'
-                title: Response Attention Vehicles Api V1 Integrations Mcp Attention Vehicles Get
+                title: Response Attention Vehicles Api V1 Integrations Mcp Attention
+                  Vehicles Get
         '422':
           description: Validation Error
           content:
@@ -4192,7 +4212,8 @@ components:
       description: 'Body of the n8n return follow-up callback.
 
 
-        n8n forwards its whole item (``JSON.stringify($json)``), so unknown keys are ignored;
+        n8n forwards its whole item (``JSON.stringify($json)``), so unknown keys are
+        ignored;
 
         only the fields we persist are validated and bounded.'
     ReturnPreviewResult:
@@ -4800,5 +4821,3 @@ components:
       - execution_id
       - occurred_at
       title: WorkflowErrorReportResult
-servers:
-- url: http://localhost:8128
diff --git a/deploy/observability/alertmanager.yml b/deploy/observability/alertmanager.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8fe4192
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/observability/alertmanager.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+route:
+  receiver: fleetops-owner
+  group_by: [alertname, severity]
+  group_wait: 30s
+  group_interval: 5m
+  repeat_interval: 4h
+
+receivers:
+  - name: fleetops-owner
+    webhook_configs:
+      - url: __WEBHOOK_URL__
+        send_resolved: true
+        http_config:
+          http_headers:
+            X-Fleet-Ops-Trigger-Token:
+              secrets: [__WEBHOOK_TOKEN__]
+
+inhibit_rules:
+  - source_matchers: ['alertname="MobilityOpsApiDown"']
+    target_matchers: ['severity="warning"']
+    equal: [alertname]
diff --git a/deploy/observability/alerts.yml b/deploy/observability/alerts.yml
index 8bace51..c74dd95 100644
--- a/deploy/observability/alerts.yml
+++ b/deploy/observability/alerts.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 groups:
   - name: mobilityops
     rules:
+      - alert: FleetOpsWatchdog
+        expr: vector(1)
+        labels: {severity: none}
+        annotations:
+          summary: Fleet Ops alert delivery watchdog
+          description: This alert must always be visible at the configured receiver.
       - alert: MobilityOpsApiDown
         expr: up{job="mobilityops-api"} == 0
         for: 2m
diff --git a/deploy/observability/prometheus.yml b/deploy/observability/prometheus.yml
index 891e406..75e2894 100644
--- a/deploy/observability/prometheus.yml
+++ b/deploy/observability/prometheus.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ global:
 rule_files:
   - /etc/prometheus/alerts.yml
 
+alerting:
+  alertmanagers:
+    - static_configs:
+        - targets: ["alertmanager:9093"]
+
 scrape_configs:
   - job_name: mobilityops-api
     metrics_path: /metrics
diff --git a/deploy/unraid/README.md b/deploy/unraid/README.md
index e387238..b88a22c 100644
--- a/deploy/unraid/README.md
+++ b/deploy/unraid/README.md
@@ -17,8 +17,9 @@ existing shared n8n remains available on its established port 5678.
 
 Create `.env` from `.env.example`, replace every placeholder secret, set
 `MOBILITYOPS_ENV=production`, set both public URLs to
-`https://fleetops.itworx.tech`, set `SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE=true`, and retain
-`KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER=demo` while RAGcore is not available. The internal `1236` listener is
+`https://fleetops.itworx.tech`, set `SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE=true`, and configure
+`KNOWLEDGE_PROVIDER=ragcore` only after the RAGcore health and source inventory checks pass.
+The internal `1236` listener is
 an upstream for the TLS proxy, not a user-facing URL.
 
 ```bash
@@ -26,11 +27,16 @@ cd /mnt/user/appdata/mobilityops
 ./deploy/unraid/configure-env.sh \
   https://fleetops.itworx.tech \
   https://n8n.itworx.tech/webhook/mobilityops-return
-docker compose -p mobilityops -f compose.yaml -f compose.unraid.yaml up --build -d db api web backup
-docker compose -p mobilityops -f compose.yaml -f compose.unraid.yaml exec api \
-  python -m app.cli seed --reset
+git archive --format=tar.gz -o /tmp/mobilityops-source.tar.gz HEAD
+sha256sum /tmp/mobilityops-source.tar.gz
+# Copy the archive and run deploy-release.sh with its SHA-256 and full Git SHA.
 ```
 
+`deploy-release.sh` stages a clean, commit-named release, builds OCI-labelled immutable
+API/web images, promotes without a seed/reset, and verifies migrations, readiness,
+backups and observability. Run `python -m app.cli seed --reset` only for initial setup or
+an explicit synthetic-demo reset; it is never part of a routine deployment.
+
 Migrations run automatically in the API entrypoint. Import and publish the MobilityOps
 workflow into the existing n8n container:
 
@@ -57,17 +63,21 @@ docker logs --tail=200 n8n
 ## Backup and restore
 
 The `backup` service creates a backup immediately and then every 24 hours. Every dump is
-validated with `pg_restore --list`, receives a SHA-256 sidecar and is retained for 30 days
-with at least seven copies protected from pruning. Its healthcheck becomes unhealthy when
-no successful backup has been recorded for 26 hours. Configure
+checked by SHA-256 and `pg_restore --list`; at least weekly the newest dump is also restored
+into a disposable database and its migration revision and core table counts are verified.
+Backups are retained for 30 days with at least seven copies protected from pruning. Its
+healthcheck becomes unhealthy when the daily backup or eight-day restore-drill SLA is missed. Configure
 `BACKUP_SECONDARY_DESTINATION=/offsite` plus an independently mounted
 `MOBILITYOPS_BACKUP_SECONDARY_DIR` for a second copy.
 
-Create an additional on-demand backup or verify the newest scheduled backup:
+Create an additional on-demand backup, verify the newest backup, or execute the isolated
+restore drill:
 
 ```bash
 ./deploy/unraid/backup-postgres.sh
 ./deploy/unraid/verify-postgres-backups.sh
+docker compose -p mobilityops -f compose.yaml -f compose.unraid.yaml exec -T backup \
+  /opt/mobilityops/restore-drill-postgres.sh /backups/<backup>.dump
 ```
 
 A restore is deliberately guarded and creates an additional safety backup before
diff --git a/deploy/unraid/deploy-release.sh b/deploy/unraid/deploy-release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8a2ec7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/unraid/deploy-release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -eu
+
+# Stage a committed source archive, build commit-labelled immutable images and promote
+# them without overlaying source files or reseeding persisted data.
+archive="${1:-}"
+expected_checksum="${2:-}"
+revision="${3:-}"
+root="${MOBILITYOPS_DEPLOY_ROOT:-/mnt/user/appdata/mobilityops}"
+project="${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-mobilityops}"
+
+[ "${#revision}" -eq 40 ] || { echo "Revision must be a full Git SHA" >&2; exit 1; }
+case "$revision" in *[!0-9a-f]*) echo "Revision must be lowercase hexadecimal" >&2; exit 1;; esac
+[ -f "$archive" ] || { echo "Archive not found: $archive" >&2; exit 1; }
+[ -n "$expected_checksum" ] || { echo "Expected SHA-256 is required" >&2; exit 1; }
+[ -f "$root/.env" ] || { echo "Production .env is missing" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+actual_checksum="$(sha256sum "$archive" | awk '{print $1}')"
+[ "$actual_checksum" = "$expected_checksum" ] || {
+  echo "Archive checksum mismatch" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
+release_root="$root/.deploy/releases"
+release_dir="$release_root/$revision"
+mkdir -p "$release_root"
+if [ -e "$release_dir" ]; then
+  echo "Release directory already exists; refusing to overwrite: $release_dir" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+mkdir "$release_dir"
+tar -xzf "$archive" -C "$release_dir"
+
+short_revision="$(printf '%s' "$revision" | cut -c1-12)"
+build_date="$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)"
+api_image="mobilityops-api:$short_revision"
+web_image="mobilityops-web:$short_revision"
+
+docker build --target runtime --build-arg "VCS_REF=$revision" --build-arg "BUILD_DATE=$build_date" \
+  --tag "$api_image" --file "$release_dir/backend/Dockerfile" "$release_dir"
+docker build --build-arg "VCS_REF=$revision" --build-arg "BUILD_DATE=$build_date" \
+  --tag "$web_image" "$release_dir/frontend"
+
+for image in "$api_image" "$web_image"; do
+  labelled_revision="$(docker image inspect --format '{{index .Config.Labels "org.opencontainers.image.revision"}}' "$image")"
+  [ "$labelled_revision" = "$revision" ] || {
+    echo "Image revision label mismatch for $image" >&2
+    exit 1
+  }
+done
+
+compose="docker compose --env-file $root/.env -p $project -f $release_dir/compose.yaml -f $release_dir/compose.unraid.yaml -f $release_dir/compose.observability.yaml -f $release_dir/compose.release.yaml --profile observability"
+old_api_id="$(docker inspect --format '{{.Image}}' "$project-api-1" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+old_web_id="$(docker inspect --format '{{.Image}}' "$project-web-1" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+export MOBILITYOPS_API_IMAGE="$api_image" MOBILITYOPS_WEB_IMAGE="$web_image"
+$compose up --no-build -d api web backup prometheus alertmanager grafana
+
+attempt=0
+until curl -fsS http://127.0.0.1:1236/health/ready > /dev/null; do
+  attempt=$((attempt + 1))
+  if [ "$attempt" -ge 30 ]; then
+    if [ -n "$old_api_id" ] && [ -n "$old_web_id" ]; then
+      rollback_api="mobilityops-api:rollback-$short_revision"
+      rollback_web="mobilityops-web:rollback-$short_revision"
+      docker tag "$old_api_id" "$rollback_api"
+      docker tag "$old_web_id" "$rollback_web"
+      export MOBILITYOPS_API_IMAGE="$rollback_api" MOBILITYOPS_WEB_IMAGE="$rollback_web"
+      $compose up --no-build -d api web || true
+    fi
+    echo "Release failed readiness; source revision was not promoted" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  sleep 2
+done
+$compose exec -T api alembic current
+for service in backup prometheus alertmanager grafana; do
+  attempt=0
+  until status="$(docker inspect --format '{{if .State.Health}}{{.State.Health.Status}}{{else}}{{.State.Status}}{{end}}' "$project-$service-1" 2>/dev/null)" \
+    && { [ "$status" = "healthy" ] || [ "$status" = "running" ]; }; do
+    attempt=$((attempt + 1))
+    [ "$attempt" -lt 60 ] || { echo "$service did not become healthy" >&2; exit 1; }
+    sleep 5
+  done
+done
+printf '%s\n' "$revision" > "$root/.deploy/source-revision"
+printf '%s %s %s %s\n' "$revision" "$api_image" "$web_image" "$expected_checksum" \
+  >> "$root/.deploy/release-history.log"
+echo "Promoted Fleet Ops release $revision"
diff --git a/deploy/unraid/restore-drill-postgres.sh b/deploy/unraid/restore-drill-postgres.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..bfe3ae9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/unraid/restore-drill-postgres.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -eu
+
+backup_file="${1:-}"
+[ -f "$backup_file" ] || { echo "Restore-drill backup not found: $backup_file" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+timestamp="$(date -u +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
+drill_database="mobilityops_restore_drill_$timestamp"
+source_database="${POSTGRES_DB:-mobilityops}"
+database_host="${POSTGRES_HOST:-db}"
+
+cleanup() {
+  dropdb --if-exists --force --host="$database_host" --username="$POSTGRES_USER" \
+    "$drill_database" > /dev/null 2>&1 || true
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT INT TERM
+
+source_revision="$(psql --host="$database_host" --username="$POSTGRES_USER" \
+  --dbname="$source_database" --tuples-only --no-align \
+  --command='SELECT version_num FROM alembic_version')"
+[ -n "$source_revision" ] || { echo "Source Alembic revision is unavailable" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+createdb --host="$database_host" --username="$POSTGRES_USER" "$drill_database"
+pg_restore --no-owner --no-acl --host="$database_host" --username="$POSTGRES_USER" \
+  --dbname="$drill_database" "$backup_file"
+
+restored_revision="$(psql --host="$database_host" --username="$POSTGRES_USER" \
+  --dbname="$drill_database" --tuples-only --no-align \
+  --command='SELECT version_num FROM alembic_version')"
+[ "$restored_revision" = "$source_revision" ] || {
+  echo "Restored Alembic revision does not match production" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
+counts="$(psql --host="$database_host" --username="$POSTGRES_USER" \
+  --dbname="$drill_database" --tuples-only --no-align --field-separator=, \
+  --command='SELECT (SELECT count(*) FROM users), (SELECT count(*) FROM vehicles), (SELECT count(*) FROM bookings), (SELECT count(*) FROM audit_events)')"
+case "$counts" in
+  0,*|*,0,*|*,*,0,*|*,*,*,0) echo "Restored database is missing canonical records: $counts" >&2; exit 1 ;;
+esac
+
+cleanup
+trap - EXIT INT TERM
+echo "Restore drill passed: revision=$restored_revision counts=$counts"
diff --git a/deploy/unraid/scheduled-backup.sh b/deploy/unraid/scheduled-backup.sh
index 9c0b8f4..205fd1b 100755
--- a/deploy/unraid/scheduled-backup.sh
+++ b/deploy/unraid/scheduled-backup.sh
@@ -6,9 +6,10 @@ secondary="${BACKUP_SECONDARY_DESTINATION:-}"
 interval="${BACKUP_INTERVAL_SECONDS:-86400}"
 retention_days="${BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS:-30}"
 minimum_copies="${BACKUP_MINIMUM_COPIES:-7}"
+restore_drill_interval="${BACKUP_RESTORE_DRILL_INTERVAL_SECONDS:-604800}"
 
 case "$destination" in ""|"/"|".") echo "Unsafe backup destination: $destination" >&2; exit 1;; esac
-case "$interval:$retention_days:$minimum_copies" in *[!0-9:]*|:*|*:) echo "Backup settings must be integers" >&2; exit 1;; esac
+case "$interval:$retention_days:$minimum_copies:$restore_drill_interval" in *[!0-9:]*|:*|*:) echo "Backup settings must be integers" >&2; exit 1;; esac
 mkdir -p "$destination"
 [ -z "$secondary" ] || mkdir -p "$secondary"
 
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ while true; do
     (cd "$destination" && sha256sum "$(basename "$target")" > "$(basename "$target").sha256")
     if [ -n "$secondary" ]; then
       cp "$target" "$target.sha256" "$secondary/"
+      (cd "$secondary" && sha256sum -c "$(basename "$target.sha256")")
     fi
     date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ > "$destination/latest-success"
     BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS="$retention_days" BACKUP_MINIMUM_COPIES="$minimum_copies" \
@@ -32,6 +34,15 @@ while true; do
       BACKUP_RETENTION_DAYS="$retention_days" BACKUP_MINIMUM_COPIES="$minimum_copies" \
         /opt/mobilityops/prune-postgres-backups.sh "$secondary"
     fi
+    drill_minutes=$((restore_drill_interval / 60))
+    if [ ! -f "$destination/latest-restore-drill" ] \
+        || ! find "$destination/latest-restore-drill" -mmin "-$drill_minutes" -print -quit | grep -q .; then
+      if /opt/mobilityops/restore-drill-postgres.sh "$target"; then
+        date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ > "$destination/latest-restore-drill"
+      else
+        echo "Restore drill failed for $target" >&2
+      fi
+    fi
     echo "Verified database backup: $target"
   else
     rm -f "$temporary"
diff --git a/deploy/unraid/setup-alert-receiver.sh b/deploy/unraid/setup-alert-receiver.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..9b7362d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/deploy/unraid/setup-alert-receiver.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+set -eu
+
+container_name="${1:-n8n}"
+source_workflow="${2:-n8n/workflows/fleet-ops-alert-receiver.json}"
+[ -f "$source_workflow" ] || { echo "Missing workflow export: $source_workflow" >&2; exit 1; }
+docker inspect "$container_name" >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "n8n container not found" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+container_workflow="/tmp/fleet-ops-alert-receiver.json"
+trap 'docker exec "$container_name" rm -f "$container_workflow" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true' EXIT
+docker cp "$source_workflow" "$container_name:$container_workflow" >/dev/null
+docker exec "$container_name" n8n import:workflow --input="$container_workflow"
+echo "Imported Fleet Ops alert receiver. Resolve the named Header Auth credential and publish the workflow."
diff --git a/deploy/unraid/verify-postgres-backups.sh b/deploy/unraid/verify-postgres-backups.sh
index 38d9032..75da09d 100755
--- a/deploy/unraid/verify-postgres-backups.sh
+++ b/deploy/unraid/verify-postgres-backups.sh
@@ -9,4 +9,7 @@ latest="$(find "$destination" -maxdepth 1 -type f -name 'mobilityops-*.dump' | s
 (cd "$destination" && sha256sum -c "$(basename "$latest.sha256")")
 docker compose -p "${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-mobilityops}" \
   -f compose.yaml -f compose.unraid.yaml exec -T db pg_restore --list < "$latest" > /dev/null
-printf 'Verified: %s\n' "$latest"
+docker compose -p "${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-mobilityops}" \
+  -f compose.yaml -f compose.unraid.yaml exec -T backup \
+  /opt/mobilityops/restore-drill-postgres.sh "/backups/$(basename "$latest")"
+printf 'Verified and restore-drilled: %s\n' "$latest"
diff --git a/docs/19-visual-product-roadmap.md b/docs/19-visual-product-roadmap.md
index ca1d24e..386d480 100644
--- a/docs/19-visual-product-roadmap.md
+++ b/docs/19-visual-product-roadmap.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # MobilityOps visual product roadmap
 
+> Status (2026-08-21): R0–R6 have been implemented. The observations below are the
+> historical baseline that drove those changes, not a description of the current UI.
+> Current release evidence lives in `artifacts/final-acceptance/summary.md`.
+
 ## Purpose
 
 This roadmap turns the visual audit of the deployed MobilityOps PoC into an
diff --git a/docs/demo-release/demo-runbook.md b/docs/demo-release/demo-runbook.md
index deff09a..ec3f82b 100644
--- a/docs/demo-release/demo-runbook.md
+++ b/docs/demo-release/demo-runbook.md
@@ -48,34 +48,25 @@ disabled entirely via `DEMO_ALLOW_RESET=false` if an environment must not be reb
 ## Redeploying to Unraid
 
 ```bash
-# From a clean local checkout on the target branch/commit:
+# From a clean local checkout on the exact commit:
 git archive --format=tar.gz -o /tmp/mobilityops-source.tar.gz HEAD
-scp /tmp/mobilityops-source.tar.gz unraid:/mnt/user/appdata/mobilityops/.deploy/source-<short-sha>.tar.gz
-ssh unraid "cd /mnt/user/appdata/mobilityops \
-  && tar -xzf .deploy/source-<short-sha>.tar.gz \
-  && echo <full-sha> > .deploy/source-revision"
-
-# Rebuild only what changed (api and/or web); db is never rebuilt:
-ssh unraid "cd /mnt/user/appdata/mobilityops \
-  && docker compose -p mobilityops -f compose.yaml -f compose.unraid.yaml up --build -d api web"
-
-# Confirm migrations and reseed:
-ssh unraid "cd /mnt/user/appdata/mobilityops \
-  && docker compose -p mobilityops -f compose.yaml -f compose.unraid.yaml exec -T api python -m alembic current \
-  && docker compose -p mobilityops -f compose.yaml -f compose.unraid.yaml exec -T api python -m app.cli seed --reset"
+sha256sum /tmp/mobilityops-source.tar.gz
+scp /tmp/mobilityops-source.tar.gz unraid:/mnt/user/appdata/mobilityops/.deploy/
+ssh unraid "/mnt/user/appdata/mobilityops/deploy/unraid/deploy-release.sh \
+  /mnt/user/appdata/mobilityops/.deploy/mobilityops-source.tar.gz \
+  <archive-sha256> <full-git-sha>"
 ```
 
-Extraction preserves the server's existing `.env` and named volumes (Postgres data, n8n
-data) — the tarball never contains `.env` since it's gitignored. Never edit source
-directly on the server; never deploy uncommitted changes.
+The deployer verifies the archive checksum, extracts into a new commit-named release
+directory, builds revision-labelled immutable images, promotes without reseeding, and
+checks application, backup and observability health. Reset demo data only as a separate,
+deliberate demo-preparation action.
 
 ## Rollback
 
-`.deploy/source-revision` on the server records exactly which commit is live. Prior
-source tarballs remain in `.deploy/` for rollback: extract an earlier
-`source-<short-sha>.tar.gz`, update `source-revision` to match, and re-run the rebuild
-step above. Database rollback is out of scope for this demo (migrations are additive;
-there has been no destructive migration on this branch).
+`.deploy/source-revision` and `.deploy/release-history.log` record the live commit and
+image tags. A failed readiness check automatically restores the previous image IDs.
+Database rollback remains a separate, explicitly guarded restore operation.
 
 ## Server safety (Unraid)
 
@@ -89,9 +80,9 @@ guessed RAGcore/MCP URLs. PostgreSQL is never exposed externally.
 
 - **A scenario shows "Niet beschikbaar" on `/scenarios`**: it has already been resolved
   since the last reset (expected once you've worked through it) — reset to restore it.
-- **Knowledge question returns "insufficient evidence"**: check the question is in
-  English and close to one of the suggested phrasings — the demo knowledge base is
-  English-only (see `demo-guide.md`).
+- **Knowledge question returns "insufficient evidence"**: use a suggested question in
+  NL, EN or FR and inspect provider health/citations; the adapter refuses ungrounded
+  answers when RAGcore is slow, unavailable or lacks evidence.
 - **n8n shows a failed delivery that isn't the seeded demo one**: check `/automation`'s
   filter and retry — bounded retries mean it should self-heal within
   `n8n_max_attempts` attempts, or can be retried manually by an Operations Manager.
diff --git a/frontend/Dockerfile b/frontend/Dockerfile
index b0e8016..796bd3b 100644
--- a/frontend/Dockerfile
+++ b/frontend/Dockerfile
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ ENV VITE_API_BASE_URL=$VITE_API_BASE_URL
 RUN npm run build
 
 FROM nginx:1.27-alpine@sha256:65645c7bb6a0661892a8b03b89d0743208a18dd2f3f17a54ef4b76fb8e2f2a10
+ARG VCS_REF=development
+ARG BUILD_DATE=unknown
+LABEL org.opencontainers.image.title="Fleet Ops Web" \
+      org.opencontainers.image.revision="$VCS_REF" \
+      org.opencontainers.image.created="$BUILD_DATE" \
+      org.opencontainers.image.source="https://fleetops.itworx.tech"
 COPY nginx.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf
 COPY --from=build /app/dist /usr/share/nginx/html
 EXPOSE 80
diff --git a/frontend/e2e-live/smoke.spec.ts b/frontend/e2e-live/smoke.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ecc28b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/e2e-live/smoke.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
+
+test.describe.configure({ mode: "serial" });
+
+test("public health and HTTPS-facing shell are available", async ({ page, request, baseURL }) => {
+  const readiness = await request.get("/health/ready");
+  expect(readiness.ok()).toBeTruthy();
+  expect(await readiness.json()).toMatchObject({ status: "ready", database: "up" });
+
+  await page.goto("/login");
+  await expect(page).toHaveTitle(/Fleet Ops/);
+  await expect(page.getByRole("button", { name: "Verken als Operationsmanager" })).toBeVisible();
+  if (baseURL?.startsWith("https://")) {
+    expect(page.url()).toMatch(/^https:\/\//);
+  }
+});
+
+test("non-destructive operator canary covers routes and grounded knowledge", async ({ page }) => {
+  const pageErrors: string[] = [];
+  const serverErrors: string[] = [];
+  page.on("pageerror", (error) => pageErrors.push(error.message));
+  page.on("response", (response) => {
+    if (response.status() >= 500) serverErrors.push(`${response.status()} ${response.url()}`);
+  });
+
+  await page.goto("/login");
+  await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Verken als Operationsmanager" }).click();
+  await expect(page).toHaveURL(/\/dashboard$/);
+
+  for (const [path, heading] of [
+    ["/vehicles", "Wagenpark"],
+    ["/bookings", "Boekingen"],
+    ["/data-quality", "Datakwaliteit"],
+    ["/automation", "Integratiebeheer"],
+    ["/audit", "Auditgeschiedenis"],
+  ] as const) {
+    await page.goto(path);
+    await expect(page.getByRole("heading", { name: heading }).first()).toBeVisible();
+  }
+
+  await page.goto("/knowledge");
+  await page
+    .getByRole("textbox", { name: "Vraag" })
+    .fill("Wat moet ik doen wanneer een voertuig terugkomt met schade?");
+  await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Vraag stellen" }).click();
+  await expect(page.getByText("Onderbouwd met geciteerde procedures")).toBeVisible({
+    timeout: 20_000,
+  });
+
+  expect(pageErrors).toEqual([]);
+  expect(serverErrors).toEqual([]);
+});
diff --git a/frontend/e2e/__screenshots__/highlights-main.png b/frontend/e2e/__screenshots__/highlights-main.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..68941e8
Binary files /dev/null and b/frontend/e2e/__screenshots__/highlights-main.png differ
diff --git a/frontend/e2e/__screenshots__/login-access.png b/frontend/e2e/__screenshots__/login-access.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..639975e
Binary files /dev/null and b/frontend/e2e/__screenshots__/login-access.png differ
diff --git a/frontend/e2e/accessibility.spec.ts b/frontend/e2e/accessibility.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90b08d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/e2e/accessibility.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { createRequire } from "node:module";
+
+import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
+
+test.use({ bypassCSP: true, reducedMotion: "reduce" });
+
+const require = createRequire(import.meta.url);
+const axeSource = readFileSync(require.resolve("axe-core/axe.min.js"), "utf8");
+
+type AxeViolation = {
+  id: string;
+  impact: string | null;
+  help: string;
+  nodes: Array<{ target: string[] }>;
+};
+
+async function seriousViolations(page: import("@playwright/test").Page): Promise<AxeViolation[]> {
+  await page.addStyleTag({
+    content: "*,*::before,*::after{animation:none!important;transition:none!important}",
+  });
+  await page.addScriptTag({ content: axeSource });
+  return page.evaluate(async () => {
+    const axe = (window as Window & {
+      axe: {
+        run: (
+          context: Document,
+          options: object,
+        ) => Promise<{ violations: AxeViolation[] }>;
+      };
+    }).axe;
+    const result = await axe.run(document, {
+      runOnly: { type: "tag", values: ["wcag2a", "wcag2aa", "wcag21aa"] },
+    });
+    return result.violations.filter(
+      (violation) => violation.impact === "critical" || violation.impact === "serious",
+    );
+  });
+}
+
+test("principal routes have no serious automated accessibility violations", async ({ page }) => {
+  await page.goto("/login");
+  expect(await seriousViolations(page)).toEqual([]);
+
+  await page.getByRole("button", { name: "Verken als Operationsmanager" }).click();
+  await expect(page).toHaveURL(/\/dashboard$/);
+  for (const route of ["/dashboard", "/data-quality", "/knowledge", "/automation", "/audit"] as const) {
+    await page.goto(route);
+    const violations = await seriousViolations(page);
+    expect(violations, `${route}: ${JSON.stringify(violations)}`).toEqual([]);
+  }
+});
diff --git a/frontend/e2e/visual-regression.spec.ts b/frontend/e2e/visual-regression.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a82875f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/e2e/visual-regression.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { expect, test } from "@playwright/test";
+
+test("public entry and engineering highlights retain their visual hierarchy", async ({ page }) => {
+  await page.goto("/login");
+  await expect(page.locator(".login-access")).toHaveScreenshot("login-access.png", {
+    animations: "disabled",
+    maxDiffPixelRatio: 0.02,
+  });
+
+  await page.goto("/highlights");
+  await expect(page.locator("main")).toHaveScreenshot("highlights-main.png", {
+    animations: "disabled",
+    maxDiffPixelRatio: 0.02,
+  });
+});
diff --git a/frontend/package-lock.json b/frontend/package-lock.json
index 4927b58..26dc768 100644
--- a/frontend/package-lock.json
+++ b/frontend/package-lock.json
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
         "@types/react": "18.3.12",
         "@types/react-dom": "18.3.1",
         "@vitejs/plugin-react": "6.0.5",
+        "axe-core": "4.13.0",
         "eslint": "9.39.5",
         "eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y": "6.10.2",
         "eslint-plugin-react-hooks": "7.1.1",
diff --git a/frontend/package.json b/frontend/package.json
index d71e78b..d5ac201 100644
--- a/frontend/package.json
+++ b/frontend/package.json
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "dev": "vite --host 0.0.0.0",
     "build": "tsc -b && vite build",
+    "budget": "node ../scripts/check-frontend-budget.mjs",
     "preview": "vite preview --host 0.0.0.0",
     "lint": "tsc -b --noEmit && eslint .",
     "test:e2e": "playwright test"
@@ -23,6 +24,7 @@
     "@types/react": "18.3.12",
     "@types/react-dom": "18.3.1",
     "@vitejs/plugin-react": "6.0.5",
+    "axe-core": "4.13.0",
     "eslint": "9.39.5",
     "eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y": "6.10.2",
     "eslint-plugin-react-hooks": "7.1.1",
diff --git a/frontend/playwright.config.ts b/frontend/playwright.config.ts
index 9e2359a..108705a 100644
--- a/frontend/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/frontend/playwright.config.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
   timeout: 30_000,
   fullyParallel: false,
   workers: 1,
+  snapshotPathTemplate: "{testDir}/__screenshots__/{arg}{ext}",
   reporter: [["list"], ["html", { open: "never", outputFolder: "playwright-report" }]],
   use: {
     baseURL: process.env.MOBILITYOPS_PUBLIC_URL ?? "http://localhost:1228",
diff --git a/frontend/playwright.live.config.ts b/frontend/playwright.live.config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a704a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/playwright.live.config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+import { defineConfig, devices } from "@playwright/test";
+
+export default defineConfig({
+  testDir: "./e2e-live",
+  timeout: 30_000,
+  fullyParallel: false,
+  workers: 1,
+  reporter: [["list"], ["html", { open: "never", outputFolder: "playwright-live-report" }]],
+  use: {
+    baseURL: process.env.MOBILITYOPS_PUBLIC_URL ?? "http://localhost:1228",
+    trace: "retain-on-failure",
+    screenshot: "only-on-failure",
+  },
+  projects: [
+    { name: "chromium", use: { ...devices["Desktop Chrome"] } },
+    { name: "firefox", use: { ...devices["Desktop Firefox"] } },
+  ],
+});
diff --git a/frontend/src/styles.css b/frontend/src/styles.css
index 4957919..344f31c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/styles.css
+++ b/frontend/src/styles.css
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   font-synthesis: none;
   --ink: #0f172a;
   --ink-soft: #344256;
-  --muted: #657386;
+  --muted: #5d6a7c;
   --muted-light: #94a0af;
   --canvas: #f5f7fa;
   --surface: #ffffff;
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ a:hover { color: var(--teal); }
 .demo-badge-close { position: absolute; top: 8px; right: 8px; width: 28px; height: 28px; }
 .demo-badge-close svg { width: 14px; height: 14px; }
 #main-content { width: min(1320px, calc(100% - 56px)); margin: 0 auto; padding: 38px 0 64px; flex: 1; }
-.app-footer { min-height: 52px; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center; gap: 16px; padding: 0 28px; color: var(--muted); border-top: 1px solid var(--line); font-size: .68rem; }
+.app-footer { min-height: 52px; display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center; gap: 16px; padding: 0 28px; color: #5f6d80; border-top: 1px solid var(--line); font-size: .68rem; }
 .mobile-nav, .nav-scrim { display: none; }
 
 .page { animation: page-in .28s ease both; }
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ a:hover { color: var(--teal); }
 .integration-list li:last-child, .recent-list li:last-child { border-bottom: 0; }.integration-list li > div, .recent-list li > div { flex: 1; display: grid; gap: 3px; }
 .integration-list strong, .recent-list strong { font-size: .73rem; }.integration-list div span, .recent-list div span { color: var(--muted); font-size: .65rem; }
 .integration-mark { width: 31px; height: 31px; display: grid; place-items: center; border-radius: var(--radius); color: white; font-size: .58rem; font-weight: 800; letter-spacing: -.04em; }
-.integration-n8n { background: #e85d36; }.integration-rag { background: #4a4b95; }.integration-mcp { background: #314358; }
+.integration-n8n { background: #b84424; }.integration-rag { background: #4a4b95; }.integration-mcp { background: #314358; }
 .activity-icon { width: 30px; height: 30px; display: grid; place-items: center; color: var(--teal-dark); background: var(--teal-pale); border-radius: 50%; }.activity-icon svg { width: 15px; }
 .recent-list time { color: var(--muted); font-size: .62rem; white-space: nowrap; }
 
diff --git a/n8n/workflows/MANIFEST.md b/n8n/workflows/MANIFEST.md
index 5534d12..e37e39c 100644
--- a/n8n/workflows/MANIFEST.md
+++ b/n8n/workflows/MANIFEST.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # n8n workflow manifest
 
-Source of truth for the four canonical Fleet Ops n8n workflows. Definitions in this
+Source of truth for the five canonical Fleet Ops n8n workflows. Definitions in this
 directory are cleaned exports of the live workflows on `https://n8n.itworx.tech` —
 credential values are never embedded; nodes reference named n8n credentials instead. Run
 `n8n/workflows/check_drift.py` to compare a live workflow against its repo definition.
@@ -108,3 +108,17 @@ runs from the editor. This is a known limitation of the live-validation evidence
 round: the mock-data path exercises the same nodes/logic and the real Fleet Ops
 endpoint, but a fully automatic (schedule- or webhook-triggered) failure cascading into
 this handler was not observed live.
+
+## 5. Fleet Ops — Alert Receiver
+
+| Field | Value |
+|---|---|
+| File | `fleet-ops-alert-receiver.json` |
+| Purpose | Receive validated Alertmanager firing/resolved notifications and route them to the watched owner mailbox. |
+| Trigger | Production webhook, `POST /webhook/mobilityops-alerts`, Header Auth (`Fleet Ops Webhook Trigger Token`) |
+| Required credentials | `Fleet Ops Webhook Trigger Token` (Header Auth); `M365 n8n Shared Mailbox` (Microsoft Outlook OAuth2) |
+| Live workflow ID | `mobilityops-alert-receiver` |
+| Active status | Imported inactive by default; production deployment must publish it before enabling Alertmanager. |
+| Error Workflow | `Fleet Ops — Workflow Error Handler` (wired) |
+| Safety | Strict Alertmanager payload shape, bounded to 25 alerts and bounded text fields. |
+| Checksum (sha256) | `3672ad3d14b65c603c8c3f2067197cc50372e9d4c2fc314d1c9b6aaf3ecef444` |
diff --git a/n8n/workflows/check_drift.py b/n8n/workflows/check_drift.py
index 90e2ac0..fe3f303 100644
--- a/n8n/workflows/check_drift.py
+++ b/n8n/workflows/check_drift.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ KNOWN_WORKFLOWS = [
     ("fleet-ops-data-quality-scan.json", "mobilityops-scheduled-quality-scan"),
     ("fleet-ops-error-handler.json", "Xppn2rAEqUuyiCJF"),
     ("fleet-ops-ragcore-procedure-sync.json", "6wbkc4d1AouGpmWT"),
+    ("fleet-ops-alert-receiver.json", "mobilityops-alert-receiver"),
 ]
 
 # Fields that legitimately differ between a committed definition and the live instance
diff --git a/n8n/workflows/fleet-ops-alert-receiver.json b/n8n/workflows/fleet-ops-alert-receiver.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0da470e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/n8n/workflows/fleet-ops-alert-receiver.json
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+{
+  "id": "mobilityops-alert-receiver",
+  "name": "Fleet Ops — Alert Receiver",
+  "active": false,
+  "nodes": [
+    {
+      "parameters": {"httpMethod": "POST", "path": "mobilityops-alerts", "authentication": "headerAuth", "responseMode": "responseNode", "options": {}},
+      "id": "alert-webhook", "name": "Alertmanager webhook", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.webhook", "typeVersion": 2, "position": [240, 300], "webhookId": "mobilityops-alerts",
+      "credentials": {"httpHeaderAuth": {"name": "Fleet Ops Webhook Trigger Token"}}
+    },
+    {
+      "parameters": {"jsCode": "const body = $json.body ?? $json;\nif (!['firing', 'resolved'].includes(body.status) || !Array.isArray(body.alerts)) throw new Error('Invalid Alertmanager payload');\nconst alerts = body.alerts.slice(0, 25).map(a => ({name: String(a.labels?.alertname || 'Unknown alert').slice(0, 120), severity: String(a.labels?.severity || 'unknown').slice(0, 32), summary: String(a.annotations?.summary || '').slice(0, 500)}));\nconst esc = v => String(v).replace(/[&<>\\\"']/g, c => ({'&':'&amp;','<':'&lt;','>':'&gt;','\\\"':'&quot;',\"'\":'&#39;'}[c]));\nconst resolved = body.status === 'resolved';\nreturn [{json:{subject:`[Fleet Ops] ${resolved ? 'Hersteld' : 'Alert'} — ${alerts.length} signaal/signalen`,html:`<h2>Fleet Ops ${resolved ? 'hersteld' : 'monitoringalert'}</h2><ul>${alerts.map(a => `<li><strong>${esc(a.severity)} · ${esc(a.name)}</strong><br>${esc(a.summary)}</li>`).join('')}</ul><p>Ontvangen ${esc($now.toISO())}</p>`}}];"},
+      "id": "validate-format", "name": "Validate and format", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.code", "typeVersion": 2, "position": [500, 300]
+    },
+    {
+      "parameters": {"respondWith": "json", "responseBody": "={{ { accepted: true } }}", "options": {}},
+      "id": "accept", "name": "Accept alert", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.respondToWebhook", "typeVersion": 1.4, "position": [740, 300]
+    },
+    {
+      "parameters": {"toRecipients": "jens@itworx.tech", "subject": "={{ $('Validate and format').item.json.subject }}", "bodyContent": "={{ $('Validate and format').item.json.html }}", "additionalFields": {"from": "n8n@itworx.tech", "bodyContentType": "html"}},
+      "id": "email", "name": "Send owner email", "type": "n8n-nodes-base.microsoftOutlook", "typeVersion": 2, "position": [980, 300],
+      "credentials": {"microsoftOutlookOAuth2Api": {"id": "EDTj3sOsganaoDVL", "name": "M365 n8n Shared Mailbox"}},
+      "retryOnFail": true, "maxTries": 3, "waitBetweenTries": 1000
+    }
+  ],
+  "connections": {
+    "Alertmanager webhook": {"main": [[{"node": "Validate and format", "type": "main", "index": 0}]]},
+    "Validate and format": {"main": [[{"node": "Accept alert", "type": "main", "index": 0}]]},
+    "Accept alert": {"main": [[{"node": "Send owner email", "type": "main", "index": 0}]]}
+  },
+  "settings": {"executionOrder": "v1", "timezone": "Europe/Brussels", "errorWorkflow": "Xppn2rAEqUuyiCJF", "executionTimeout": 120, "saveDataSuccessExecution": "none", "saveDataErrorExecution": "all"},
+  "staticData": null,
+  "meta": {"templateCredsSetupCompleted": false},
+  "pinData": {},
+  "tags": []
+}
diff --git a/renovate.json b/renovate.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e89204
--- /dev/null
+++ b/renovate.json
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://docs.renovatebot.com/renovate-schema.json",
+  "extends": ["config:recommended", "docker:pinDigests", "helpers:pinGitHubActionDigests"],
+  "dependencyDashboard": true,
+  "minimumReleaseAge": "7 days",
+  "schedule": ["before 5am on monday"],
+  "packageRules": [
+    {
+      "matchManagers": ["dockerfile", "docker-compose", "github-actions"],
+      "groupName": "pinned runtime and CI dependencies"
+    },
+    {
+      "matchUpdateTypes": ["major"],
+      "dependencyDashboardApproval": true
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/scripts/check-contracts.py b/scripts/check-contracts.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..1519f4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-contracts.py
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Fail when checked-in API, event, MCP or n8n contracts drift from the code."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import hashlib
+import json
+import re
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import yaml
+
+from app.main import app
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+
+
+def fail(message: str, failures: list[str]) -> None:
+    failures.append(message)
+
+
+def check_openapi(failures: list[str]) -> None:
+    committed = yaml.safe_load((ROOT / "contracts/openapi.yaml").read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    generated = app.openapi()
+    if committed != generated:
+        fail(
+            "contracts/openapi.yaml differs from app.openapi(); regenerate it with "
+            "scripts/generate-openapi.py",
+            failures,
+        )
+
+
+def check_mcp(failures: list[str]) -> None:
+    contract = json.loads((ROOT / "contracts/mcp-tools.json").read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    contracted = {
+        (tool["endpoint"]["method"].upper(), tool["endpoint"]["path"])
+        for tool in contract["tools"]
+        if tool.get("read_only") is True and isinstance(tool.get("endpoint"), dict)
+    }
+    generated = app.openapi()
+    implemented = {
+        (method.upper(), path)
+        for path, operations in generated["paths"].items()
+        if path.startswith("/api/v1/integrations/mcp/")
+        for method in operations
+        if method.lower() in {"get", "post", "put", "patch", "delete"}
+    }
+    if len(contracted) != len(contract["tools"]):
+        fail("Every MCP tool must be read-only and declare its provider endpoint", failures)
+    if contracted != implemented:
+        fail(
+            f"MCP endpoint drift: contract={sorted(contracted)!r}, code={sorted(implemented)!r}",
+            failures,
+        )
+    if any(method not in {"GET", "POST"} for method, _path in contracted):
+        fail("MCP contract exposes an unsupported mutation method", failures)
+
+
+def check_event_schema(failures: list[str]) -> None:
+    schema = json.loads((ROOT / "contracts/events.schema.json").read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    expected_envelope = {
+        "event_id",
+        "event_type",
+        "occurred_at",
+        "correlation_id",
+        "aggregate",
+        "data",
+    }
+    expected_data = {
+        "vehicle_ref",
+        "inspection_ref",
+        "resulting_vehicle_status",
+        "attention_reasons",
+    }
+    if set(schema.get("required", [])) != expected_envelope:
+        fail("Event envelope required fields drifted", failures)
+    data_schema = schema.get("properties", {}).get("data", {})
+    if set(data_schema.get("required", [])) != expected_data:
+        fail("vehicle.returned.v1 data fields drifted", failures)
+    event_type = schema.get("properties", {}).get("event_type", {}).get("const")
+    if event_type != "vehicle.returned.v1":
+        fail("Unexpected event_type contract", failures)
+
+
+def check_workflows(failures: list[str]) -> None:
+    workflows_dir = ROOT / "n8n/workflows"
+    manifest = (workflows_dir / "MANIFEST.md").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    expected = {
+        "fleet-ops-vehicle-return.json": "mobilityops-return-processing",
+        "fleet-ops-data-quality-scan.json": "mobilityops-scheduled-quality-scan",
+        "fleet-ops-ragcore-procedure-sync.json": "6wbkc4d1AouGpmWT",
+        "fleet-ops-error-handler.json": "Xppn2rAEqUuyiCJF",
+        "fleet-ops-alert-receiver.json": "mobilityops-alert-receiver",
+    }
+    declared_hashes = set(re.findall(r"`([0-9a-f]{64})`", manifest))
+    for filename, workflow_id in expected.items():
+        path = workflows_dir / filename
+        raw = path.read_bytes()
+        digest = hashlib.sha256(raw).hexdigest()
+        if digest not in declared_hashes:
+            fail(f"{filename} checksum is missing or stale in MANIFEST.md", failures)
+        definition = json.loads(raw)
+        if definition.get("id") != workflow_id:
+            fail(f"{filename} has unexpected workflow id", failures)
+        serialized = raw.decode("utf-8")
+        if "http://fleetops.itworx.tech" in serialized:
+            fail(f"{filename} contains a cleartext Fleet Ops callback", failures)
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    failures: list[str] = []
+    check_openapi(failures)
+    check_mcp(failures)
+    check_event_schema(failures)
+    check_workflows(failures)
+    if failures:
+        for failure in failures:
+            print(f"ERROR: {failure}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+    print("OpenAPI, event, MCP and n8n contracts are synchronized.")
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())
diff --git a/scripts/check-frontend-budget.mjs b/scripts/check-frontend-budget.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcb408f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-frontend-budget.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+import { readdir, stat } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+
+const limits = { ".js": 400 * 1024, ".css": 180 * 1024 };
+const assets = join(import.meta.dirname, "..", "frontend", "dist", "assets");
+const failures = [];
+
+for (const name of await readdir(assets)) {
+  const extension = Object.keys(limits).find((candidate) => name.endsWith(candidate));
+  if (!extension) continue;
+  const bytes = (await stat(join(assets, name))).size;
+  console.log(`${name}: ${(bytes / 1024).toFixed(1)} KiB / ${limits[extension] / 1024} KiB`);
+  if (bytes > limits[extension]) failures.push(name);
+}
+
+if (failures.length) {
+  throw new Error(`Frontend asset budget exceeded: ${failures.join(", ")}`);
+}
diff --git a/scripts/check-source-budgets.py b/scripts/check-source-budgets.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..aebca2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-source-budgets.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Prevent known large modules from growing while they are incrementally decomposed."""
+
+from pathlib import Path
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+LINE_LIMITS = {
+    "backend/app/services/data_quality.py": 950,
+    "frontend/src/pages/DataQualityIssueDetail.tsx": 850,
+}
+BYTE_LIMITS = {"frontend/src/styles.css": 84_000}
+
+failures: list[str] = []
+for relative, limit in LINE_LIMITS.items():
+    count = len((ROOT / relative).read_text(encoding="utf-8").splitlines())
+    print(f"{relative}: {count}/{limit} lines")
+    if count > limit:
+        failures.append(relative)
+for relative, limit in BYTE_LIMITS.items():
+    count = (ROOT / relative).stat().st_size
+    print(f"{relative}: {count}/{limit} bytes")
+    if count > limit:
+        failures.append(relative)
+
+if failures:
+    raise SystemExit("Source budget exceeded; extract a focused module: " + ", ".join(failures))
diff --git a/scripts/generate-openapi.py b/scripts/generate-openapi.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7353e0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/generate-openapi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Regenerate the deterministic checked-in FastAPI OpenAPI contract."""
+
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import yaml
+
+from app.main import app
+
+target = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / "contracts/openapi.yaml"
+target.write_text(
+    yaml.safe_dump(app.openapi(), sort_keys=False, allow_unicode=True),
+    encoding="utf-8",
+)
+print(target)