diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0ae784
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+# Python
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
+*$py.class
+*.so
+.Python
+build/
+develop-eggs/
+dist/
+downloads/
+eggs/
+.eggs/
+lib/
+lib64/
+parts/
+sdist/
+var/
+wheels/
+*.egg-info/
+.installed.cfg
+*.egg
+
+# Virtual environments
+.venv/
+venv/
+ENV/
+
+# IDE
+.idea/
+.vscode/
+*.swp
+*.swo
+*~
+
+# Environment variables
+.env
+.env.local
+.env.*.local
+
+# Testing
+.coverage
+htmlcov/
+.pytest_cache/
+.mypy_cache/
+
+# Database backups (should not be in repo)
+*.dump
+*.dump.gz
+/backups/
+
+# Logs
+*.log
+
+# OS
+.DS_Store
+Thumbs.db
diff --git a/scripts/backup-postgres.sh b/scripts/backup-postgres.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b01c097
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/backup-postgres.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# PostgreSQL backup script for Debate platform
+# Runs daily, keeps 30 days of backups
+# Verifies backup integrity after creation
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Configuration
+BACKUP_DIR="${BACKUP_DIR:-/var/backups/debate/postgres}"
+RETENTION_DAYS="${RETENTION_DAYS:-30}"
+CONTAINER_NAME="${CONTAINER_NAME:-debate-postgres}"
+DB_NAME="${DB_NAME:-debate}"
+DB_USER="${DB_USER:-debate}"
+TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
+BACKUP_FILE="${BACKUP_DIR}/${DB_NAME}_${TIMESTAMP}.dump"
+
+# Logging
+log() {
+    echo "[$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] $1"
+}
+
+# Create backup directory
+mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
+
+log "Starting backup of database: $DB_NAME"
+
+# Create backup using pg_dump custom format (-Fc)
+# Custom format is compressed and allows selective restore
+docker exec "$CONTAINER_NAME" pg_dump \
+    -U "$DB_USER" \
+    -Fc \
+    -b \
+    -v \
+    "$DB_NAME" > "$BACKUP_FILE" 2>/dev/null
+
+log "Backup created: $BACKUP_FILE"
+
+# Verify backup integrity using pg_restore --list
+# This reads the archive table of contents without restoring
+# We pipe the backup into the container since pg_restore is only available there
+log "Verifying backup integrity..."
+cat "$BACKUP_FILE" | docker exec -i "$CONTAINER_NAME" pg_restore --list > /dev/null 2>&1 || {
+    log "ERROR: Backup verification failed!"
+    rm -f "$BACKUP_FILE"
+    exit 1
+}
+
+# Get backup size
+BACKUP_SIZE=$(du -h "$BACKUP_FILE" | cut -f1)
+log "Backup size: $BACKUP_SIZE"
+
+# Compress backup (pg_dump -Fc includes compression, but gzip adds more)
+gzip -f "$BACKUP_FILE"
+log "Compressed: ${BACKUP_FILE}.gz"
+
+# Clean up old backups
+log "Removing backups older than $RETENTION_DAYS days..."
+find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "${DB_NAME}_*.dump.gz" -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -delete
+REMAINING=$(find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "${DB_NAME}_*.dump.gz" | wc -l)
+log "Remaining backups: $REMAINING"
+
+# Weekly restore test (every Monday)
+if [ "$(date +%u)" -eq 1 ]; then
+    log "Running weekly restore test..."
+    TEST_DB="${DB_NAME}_backup_test"
+
+    # Create test database
+    docker exec "$CONTAINER_NAME" createdb -U "$DB_USER" "$TEST_DB" 2>/dev/null || true
+
+    # Restore to test database
+    gunzip -c "${BACKUP_FILE}.gz" | docker exec -i "$CONTAINER_NAME" pg_restore \
+        -U "$DB_USER" \
+        -d "$TEST_DB" \
+        --clean \
+        --if-exists 2>&1 || true
+
+    # Drop test database
+    docker exec "$CONTAINER_NAME" dropdb -U "$DB_USER" "$TEST_DB" 2>/dev/null || true
+
+    log "Weekly restore test completed"
+fi
+
+log "Backup completed successfully"
diff --git a/scripts/cron/postgres-backup b/scripts/cron/postgres-backup
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93d96b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/cron/postgres-backup
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# PostgreSQL daily backup at 2 AM
+# Install: sudo cp scripts/cron/postgres-backup /etc/cron.d/debate-postgres-backup
+# Requires: /var/log/debate directory to exist
+
+0 2 * * * root /home/mikkel/repos/debate/scripts/backup-postgres.sh >> /var/log/debate/postgres-backup.log 2>&1