diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index 5ef41cb..de07c18 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -194,6 +194,22 @@ services:
       - /var/run/supervisor
     deploy: { resources: { limits: { cpus: "0.5", memory: 512m } } }
 
+  # ------------------------------------------------------------ database backups
+  backup:
+    image: postgres:15  # Has pg_dump, wget, curl
+    networks: [kbnet]
+    depends_on: [postgres, qdrant]
+    env_file: [ .env ]
+    environment:
+      <<: *worker-env
+    secrets: [postgres_password]
+    volumes:
+      - ./tools/backup_databases.sh:/backup.sh:ro
+    entrypoint: ["/bin/bash"]
+    command: ["/backup.sh"]
+    profiles: [backup]  # Only start when explicitly called
+    security_opt: ["no-new-privileges=true"]
+
   # ------------------------------------------------------------ watchtower (auto-update)
   # watchtower:
   #   image: containrrr/watchtower
diff --git a/tools/backup_databases.sh b/tools/backup_databases.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f33be7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/backup_databases.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Backup Postgres and Qdrant databases to S3
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Install AWS CLI if not present (postgres:15 image doesn't include it)
+if ! command -v aws >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    echo "Installing AWS CLI, wget, and jq..."
+    apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y -qq awscli wget jq >/dev/null 2>&1
+fi
+
+# Configuration - read from environment or use defaults
+BUCKET="${S3_BACKUP_BUCKET:-equistamp-memory-backup}"
+PREFIX="${S3_BACKUP_PREFIX:-Daniel}/databases"
+REGION="${S3_BACKUP_REGION:-eu-central-1}"
+PASSWORD="${BACKUP_ENCRYPTION_KEY:?BACKUP_ENCRYPTION_KEY not set}"
+MAX_BACKUPS="${MAX_BACKUPS:-30}"  # Keep last N backups
+
+# Service names (docker-compose network)
+POSTGRES_HOST="${POSTGRES_HOST:-postgres}"
+POSTGRES_USER="${POSTGRES_USER:-kb}"
+POSTGRES_DB="${POSTGRES_DB:-kb}"
+QDRANT_URL="${QDRANT_URL:-http://qdrant:6333}"
+
+# Timestamp for backups
+DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
+DATE_SIMPLE=$(date +%Y%m%d)
+
+log() {
+    echo "[$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] $*"
+}
+
+error() {
+    echo "[$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] ERROR: $*" >&2
+}
+
+# Clean old backups - keep only last N
+cleanup_old_backups() {
+    local prefix=$1
+    local pattern=$2  # e.g., "postgres-" or "qdrant-"
+    
+    log "Checking for old ${pattern} backups to clean up..."
+    
+    # List all backups matching pattern, sorted by date (oldest first)
+    local backups
+    backups=$(aws s3 ls "s3://${BUCKET}/${prefix}/" --region "${REGION}" | \
+              grep "${pattern}" | \
+              awk '{print $4}' | \
+              sort)
+    
+    local count=$(echo "$backups" | wc -l)
+    
+    if [ "$count" -le "$MAX_BACKUPS" ]; then
+        log "Found ${count} ${pattern} backups (max: ${MAX_BACKUPS}), no cleanup needed"
+        return 0
+    fi
+    
+    local to_delete=$((count - MAX_BACKUPS))
+    log "Found ${count} ${pattern} backups, deleting ${to_delete} oldest..."
+    
+    echo "$backups" | head -n "$to_delete" | while read -r file; do
+        if [ -n "$file" ]; then
+            log "Deleting old backup: ${file}"
+            aws s3 rm "s3://${BUCKET}/${prefix}/${file}" --region "${REGION}"
+        fi
+    done
+}
+
+# Backup Postgres
+backup_postgres() {
+    log "Starting Postgres backup..."
+    
+    local output_path="s3://${BUCKET}/${PREFIX}/postgres-${DATE_SIMPLE}.sql.gz.enc"
+    
+    # Use pg_dump directly with service name (no docker exec needed)
+    export PGPASSWORD=$(cat "${POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE}")
+    if pg_dump -h "${POSTGRES_HOST}" -U "${POSTGRES_USER}" "${POSTGRES_DB}" 2>/dev/null | \
+       gzip | \
+       openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -pbkdf2 -pass "pass:${PASSWORD}" | \
+       aws s3 cp - "${output_path}" --region "${REGION}"; then
+        log "Postgres backup completed: ${output_path}"
+        unset PGPASSWORD
+        cleanup_old_backups "${PREFIX}" "postgres-"
+        return 0
+    else
+        error "Postgres backup failed"
+        unset PGPASSWORD
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
+
+# Backup Qdrant
+backup_qdrant() {
+    log "Starting Qdrant backup..."
+    
+    # Create snapshot via HTTP API (no docker exec needed)
+    local snapshot_response
+    if ! snapshot_response=$(wget -q -O - --post-data='{}' \
+                             --header='Content-Type: application/json' \
+                             "${QDRANT_URL}/snapshots" 2>/dev/null); then
+        error "Failed to create Qdrant snapshot"
+        return 1
+    fi
+    
+    local snapshot_name
+    # Parse snapshot name - wget/busybox may not have jq, so use grep/sed
+    if command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        snapshot_name=$(echo "${snapshot_response}" | jq -r '.result.name // empty')
+    else
+        # Fallback: parse JSON without jq (fragile but works for simple case)
+        snapshot_name=$(echo "${snapshot_response}" | grep -o '"name":"[^"]*"' | cut -d'"' -f4)
+    fi
+    
+    if [ -z "${snapshot_name}" ]; then
+        error "Could not extract snapshot name from response: ${snapshot_response}"
+        return 1
+    fi
+    
+    log "Created Qdrant snapshot: ${snapshot_name}"
+    
+    # Download snapshot and upload to S3
+    local output_path="s3://${BUCKET}/${PREFIX}/qdrant-${DATE_SIMPLE}.snapshot.enc"
+    
+    if wget -q -O - "${QDRANT_URL}/snapshots/${snapshot_name}" | \
+       openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -pbkdf2 -pass "pass:${PASSWORD}" | \
+       aws s3 cp - "${output_path}" --region "${REGION}"; then
+        log "Qdrant backup completed: ${output_path}"
+        
+        # Delete the snapshot from Qdrant
+        if wget -q -O - --method=DELETE \
+           "${QDRANT_URL}/snapshots/${snapshot_name}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            log "Deleted Qdrant snapshot: ${snapshot_name}"
+        else
+            error "Failed to delete Qdrant snapshot: ${snapshot_name}"
+        fi
+        
+        cleanup_old_backups "${PREFIX}" "qdrant-"
+        return 0
+    else
+        error "Qdrant backup failed"
+        
+        # Try to clean up snapshot
+        wget -q -O - --method=DELETE \
+            "${QDRANT_URL}/snapshots/${snapshot_name}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+        
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
+
+# Main execution
+main() {
+    log "Database backup started"
+    
+    local postgres_result=0
+    local qdrant_result=0
+    
+    # Backup Postgres
+    if ! backup_postgres; then
+        postgres_result=1
+    fi
+    
+    # Backup Qdrant
+    if ! backup_qdrant; then
+        qdrant_result=1
+    fi
+    
+    # Summary
+    if [ $postgres_result -eq 0 ] && [ $qdrant_result -eq 0 ]; then
+        log "All database backups completed successfully"
+        return 0
+    elif [ $postgres_result -ne 0 ] && [ $qdrant_result -ne 0 ]; then
+        error "All database backups failed"
+        return 1
+    else
+        error "Some database backups failed (Postgres: ${postgres_result}, Qdrant: ${qdrant_result})"
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
+
+# Run main function
+main
+