diff --git a/src/app/api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks/route.test.ts b/src/app/api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks/route.test.ts
index c2e282e..ce1163e 100644
--- a/src/app/api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks/route.test.ts
+++ b/src/app/api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks/route.test.ts
@@ -120,6 +120,37 @@ describe("POST /api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks", () => {
     expect((await res.json()).nextSkip).toBe(9);
   });
 
+  it("applies a since filter to scope the backfill to recent orders", async () => {
+    const { getAdminPocketBase } = await import("@/lib/server/pocketbase-admin");
+    const getListSpy = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({
+      items: [{ id: "recent-1" }],
+      totalItems: 1,
+      page: 1,
+      perPage: 500,
+    });
+    vi.mocked(getAdminPocketBase).mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      autoCancellation: vi.fn(),
+      collection: () => ({ getList: getListSpy }),
+    } as unknown as Awaited<ReturnType<typeof getAdminPocketBase>>);
+
+    const res = await POST(backfillRequest("?limit=500&since=2026-08-24"));
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+    // The since param translates to a PB `created >= "<date> 00:00:00.000Z"`
+    // filter so the backfill only re-scans orders from that day forward.
+    expect(getListSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      1,
+      500,
+      expect.objectContaining({ filter: 'created >= "2026-08-24 00:00:00.000Z"' }),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("returns 400 when since is malformed", async () => {
+    const res = await POST(backfillRequest("?since=not-a-date"));
+    expect(res.status).toBe(400);
+    const body = await res.json();
+    expect(body.error).toMatch(/since must be YYYY-MM-DD/);
+  });
+
   it("returns 401 when AGENT_API_KEY is missing", async () => {
     delete process.env.AGENT_API_KEY;
     const res = await POST(backfillRequest());
diff --git a/src/app/api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks/route.ts b/src/app/api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks/route.ts
index 0ea8abd..7df4b8f 100644
--- a/src/app/api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks/route.ts
+++ b/src/app/api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks/route.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,13 @@
  *     POST /api/v1/orders/backfill-duplicate-checks?limit=500&skip=$skip
  *   done
  *
+ * Scoped backfill (recent orders only): pass `?since=YYYY-MM-DD`
+ * (ISO date) to filter to orders created on or after that date.
+ * Combines with `limit`/`skip` — e.g.
+ * `?since=2026-08-24&limit=200` re-scans the last 7 days of orders
+ * (or however far back `since` reaches) up to 200 rows. Useful for
+ * off-peak sanity passes without disturbing the operator workflow.
+ *
  * Why not a single call? At ~25 orders/min on a busy PB instance the
  * matcher is N+1 on candidates — a 5,000-order table is ~3 hours of
  * sequential work. Chunking keeps each response under Next.js's
@@ -77,6 +84,7 @@ export async function POST(req: NextRequest) {
   const { searchParams } = new URL(req.url);
   const limitRaw = Number(searchParams.get("limit"));
   const skipRaw = Number(searchParams.get("skip"));
+  const sinceRaw = searchParams.get("since");
   const limit = Number.isFinite(limitRaw) && limitRaw > 0 ? Math.floor(limitRaw) : DEFAULT_LIMIT;
   const skip = Number.isFinite(skipRaw) && skipRaw >= 0 ? Math.floor(skipRaw) : 0;
   if (limit > MAX_LIMIT) {
@@ -86,6 +94,21 @@ export async function POST(req: NextRequest) {
     );
   }
 
+  // `since` accepts an ISO date (YYYY-MM-DD). PB's date filter expects
+  // the same wire format the matcher writes — `YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.sssZ`,
+  // so we anchor `since` at the start of that day in UTC. We reject
+  // malformed dates with a 400 rather than silently no-op'ing.
+  let sinceFilter: string | null = null;
+  if (sinceRaw) {
+    if (!/^\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}$/.test(sinceRaw)) {
+      return NextResponse.json(
+        { error: `since must be YYYY-MM-DD, got "${sinceRaw}"` },
+        { status: 400 },
+      );
+    }
+    sinceFilter = `created >= "${sinceRaw} 00:00:00.000Z"`;
+  }
+
   const pb = await getAdminPocketBase();
   pb.autoCancellation(false);
 
@@ -102,9 +125,13 @@ export async function POST(req: NextRequest) {
     {
       fields: "id",
       sort: "created",
+      ...(sinceFilter ? { filter: sinceFilter } : {}),
     },
   );
   const slice = orders.items;
+  // `hasMore` accounts for the date filter: PB's `totalItems` is the
+  // count of rows matching the filter, not the full collection size.
+  // So `nextSkip + slice.length < filteredTotal` is the right bound.
   const hasMore = skip + slice.length < orders.totalItems;
 
   let ordersProcessed = 0;