diff --git a/scripts/backfill.ts b/scripts/backfill.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7f92d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/backfill.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+/**
+ * One-off backfill helper.
+ *
+ * Not part of the product — this is a CLI shim that performs the same flow
+ * the ingest core does, without pulling server-only modules. Run with:
+ *   set -a && source .env.local && set +a
+ *   npx tsx scripts/backfill.ts <projectId>
+ */
+
+import PocketBase from "pocketbase";
+
+const PB_URL = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_PB_URL!;
+const FORGEJO_URL = process.env.FORGEJO_URL!;
+const PAGE_SIZE = 50;
+
+// Conventional-commit parser (mirrors src/lib/git/conventional.ts)
+function parseCommitMessage(message: string) {
+  const firstLine = (message ?? "").split("\n")[0].trim();
+  const match = /^([a-zA-Z]+)(?:\(([^)]+)\))?(!?):\s+(.*)$/.exec(firstLine);
+  if (!match) {
+    return { type: "other", scope: "", subject: firstLine.slice(0, 200), breaking: false };
+  }
+  const [, type, scope, bang, subject] = match;
+  return {
+    type: type.toLowerCase(),
+    scope: (scope ?? "").toLowerCase().trim(),
+    subject: subject.trim().slice(0, 200),
+    breaking: bang === "!",
+  };
+}
+
+async function fetchCommitPage(owner: string, repo: string, page: number) {
+  const url =
+    `${FORGEJO_URL}/api/v1/repos/${encodeURIComponent(owner)}/${encodeURIComponent(repo)}/commits` +
+    `?page=${page}&limit=${PAGE_SIZE}&stat=false&files=false&verification=false`;
+  const response = await fetch(url, { headers: { accept: "application/json" }, cache: "no-store" });
+  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Forgejo returned ${response.status}`);
+  const commits = await response.json();
+  return {
+    commits,
+    hasMore: response.headers.get("x-hasmore") === "true",
+    pageCount: Number(response.headers.get("x-pagecount") ?? 1),
+  };
+}
+
+async function main() {
+  const projectId = process.argv[2];
+  if (!projectId) throw new Error("Usage: tsx scripts/backfill.ts <projectId>");
+
+  const pb = new PocketBase(PB_URL);
+  pb.autoCancellation(false);
+  await pb.collection("_superusers").authWithPassword(
+    process.env.PB_SUPERUSER_EMAIL!,
+    process.env.PB_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD!
+  );
+
+  const project = await pb.collection("projects").getOne(projectId);
+  if (!project.repo_owner || !project.repo_name) {
+    throw new Error("Project has no repo linked");
+  }
+
+  console.log(`Backfilling ${project.repo_owner}/${project.repo_name}...`);
+
+  let page = 1;
+  let created = 0;
+  let skipped = 0;
+
+  for (;;) {
+    const result = await fetchCommitPage(project.repo_owner, project.repo_name, page);
+    if (result.commits.length === 0) break;
+
+    const shas = result.commits.map((c) => `sha = "${c.sha}"`).join(" || ");
+    const existing = await pb.collection("commits").getFullList({
+      filter: `project = "${projectId}" && (${shas})`,
+      fields: "sha",
+    });
+    const known = new Set(existing.map((r) => r.sha as string));
+
+    for (const commit of result.commits) {
+      if (known.has(commit.sha)) {
+        skipped += 1;
+        continue;
+      }
+      const parsed = parseCommitMessage(commit.commit.message);
+      const isMerge = (commit.parents?.length ?? 0) > 1;
+      await pb.collection("commits").create({
+        project: projectId,
+        sha: commit.sha,
+        short_sha: commit.sha.slice(0, 7),
+        message: commit.commit.message.slice(0, 50000),
+        subject: parsed.subject,
+        type: isMerge ? "merge" : parsed.type,
+        scope: parsed.scope,
+        author_name: commit.commit.author.name,
+        author_email: commit.commit.author.email,
+        authored_at: commit.commit.author.date,
+        is_merge: isMerge,
+        additions: commit.stats?.additions ?? 0,
+        deletions: commit.stats?.deletions ?? 0,
+        link_source: "none",
+        url: commit.html_url,
+      });
+      created += 1;
+    }
+
+    console.log(`  page ${page}: ${result.commits.length} fetched, ${created} created so far`);
+
+    if (!result.hasMore || page >= result.pageCount) break;
+    page += 1;
+  }
+
+  await pb.collection("projects").update(projectId, {
+    last_ingest_at: new Date().toISOString(),
+  });
+
+  console.log(`Done. created=${created} skipped=${skipped} pagesRead=${page}`);
+}
+
+main().catch((e) => {
+  console.error(e);
+  process.exit(1);
+});
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