diff --git a/k8s/apps/paperless/backup-cronjob.yaml b/k8s/apps/paperless/backup-cronjob.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eabda8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/apps/paperless/backup-cronjob.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+# Nightly: pg_dump the paperless DB + mirror the media PVC into the scoped
+# `paperless` MinIO bucket (see minio-provision-paperless-job.yaml). This is a
+# BACKUP target, not live storage - paperless-ngx has no native S3 backend, it
+# only ever reads/writes the local media PVC directly.
+#
+# Pinned to talos-cp-3, same as deployment.yaml: media is a ReadWriteOnce
+# Longhorn volume with a single replica physically on that node's disk -
+# mounting it read-only here from a different node would conflict with the
+# live webserver's attachment.
+apiVersion: batch/v1
+kind: CronJob
+metadata:
+  name: paperless-backup
+spec:
+  schedule: "0 3 * * *"  # 03:00 daily, low-traffic window
+  jobTemplate:
+    spec:
+      backoffLimit: 2
+      template:
+        spec:
+          restartPolicy: Never
+          nodeSelector:
+            kubernetes.io/hostname: talos-cp-3
+          initContainers:
+            - name: pg-dump
+              image: postgres:16-alpine
+              env:
+                - name: PGHOST
+                  value: paperless-db-rw
+                - name: PGDATABASE
+                  value: paperless
+                - name: PGUSER
+                  valueFrom:
+                    secretKeyRef:
+                      name: paperless-db-app
+                      key: username
+                - name: PGPASSWORD
+                  valueFrom:
+                    secretKeyRef:
+                      name: paperless-db-app
+                      key: password
+              command:
+                - sh
+                - -c
+                - pg_dump --format=custom --file=/backup/paperless-db.dump
+              volumeMounts:
+                - name: backup
+                  mountPath: /backup
+          containers:
+            - name: mc-mirror
+              image: minio/mc:latest
+              env:
+                - name: ACCESS_KEY
+                  valueFrom:
+                    secretKeyRef:
+                      name: paperless-minio-creds
+                      key: ACCESS_KEY
+                - name: SECRET_KEY
+                  valueFrom:
+                    secretKeyRef:
+                      name: paperless-minio-creds
+                      key: SECRET_KEY
+                - name: BUCKET
+                  valueFrom:
+                    secretKeyRef:
+                      name: paperless-minio-creds
+                      key: BUCKET
+                - name: ENDPOINT
+                  valueFrom:
+                    secretKeyRef:
+                      name: paperless-minio-creds
+                      key: ENDPOINT
+              command:
+                - /bin/sh
+                - -c
+                - |
+                  set -e
+                  mc alias set b "$ENDPOINT" "$ACCESS_KEY" "$SECRET_KEY"
+                  mc cp /backup/paperless-db.dump "b/$BUCKET/db/paperless-db-$(date +%Y%m%d).dump"
+                  mc mirror --overwrite /media "b/$BUCKET/media"
+                  echo "Backup done."
+              volumeMounts:
+                - name: backup
+                  mountPath: /backup
+                - name: media
+                  mountPath: /media
+                  readOnly: true
+          volumes:
+            - name: backup
+              emptyDir: {}
+            - name: media
+              persistentVolumeClaim:
+                claimName: paperless-media
+                readOnly: true
diff --git a/k8s/apps/paperless/configmap.yaml b/k8s/apps/paperless/configmap.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5dbaa87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/apps/paperless/configmap.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: paperless-config
+data:
+  PAPERLESS_URL: "https://paperless.riotpiao.com"
+  PAPERLESS_TIME_ZONE: "America/Los_Angeles"
+  PAPERLESS_OCR_LANGUAGE: "eng"
+  PAPERLESS_DBHOST: "paperless-db-rw"
+  PAPERLESS_DBNAME: "paperless"
+  PAPERLESS_REDIS: "redis://paperless-redis:6379"
+  # django-allauth generic OIDC provider. The client_id/secret/server_url
+  # bundle itself lives in the paperless-oidc Secret
+  # (SOCIALACCOUNT_PROVIDERS_JSON key, composed by authentik-provision.py) -
+  # env vars can't be split across a ConfigMap + Secret for the same key, so
+  # this whole value is sourced from the Secret in deployment.yaml instead.
+  PAPERLESS_APPS: "allauth.socialaccount.providers.openid_connect"
diff --git a/k8s/apps/paperless/deployment.yaml b/k8s/apps/paperless/deployment.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41b34bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/apps/paperless/deployment.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+# Single container runs webserver + consumer + scheduler (paperless-ngx's
+# stock entrypoint does this internally) - no need to split into separate
+# Deployments. replicas: 1 only: paperless-media is ReadWriteOnce, and the
+# consumer polling the media dir doesn't benefit from horizontal scaling here.
+#
+# Pinned to talos-cp-3: paperless-media's disk physically lives there. Longhorn
+# RWO volumes can only be attached from one node at a time, and the nightly
+# backup-cronjob.yaml also mounts this same PVC (read-only) to mirror it into
+# MinIO - pinning both to the same node avoids a cross-node attach conflict,
+# and keeps the 3.5Ti read/write path off the network entirely.
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: paperless
+spec:
+  replicas: 1
+  strategy:
+    type: Recreate  # ReadWriteOnce media PVC - avoid two pods fighting over it
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      app: paperless
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        app: paperless
+    spec:
+      nodeSelector:
+        kubernetes.io/hostname: talos-cp-3
+      containers:
+        - name: paperless
+          image: ghcr.io/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx:2.13
+          ports:
+            - containerPort: 8000
+          envFrom:
+            - configMapRef:
+                name: paperless-config
+          env:
+            - name: PAPERLESS_DBUSER
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: paperless-db-app
+                  key: username
+            - name: PAPERLESS_DBPASS
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: paperless-db-app
+                  key: password
+            - name: PAPERLESS_SECRET_KEY
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: paperless-secrets
+                  key: PAPERLESS_SECRET_KEY
+            - name: PAPERLESS_ADMIN_USER
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: paperless-secrets
+                  key: PAPERLESS_ADMIN_USER
+            - name: PAPERLESS_ADMIN_PASSWORD
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: paperless-secrets
+                  key: PAPERLESS_ADMIN_PASSWORD
+            - name: PAPERLESS_SOCIALACCOUNT_PROVIDERS
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: paperless-oidc
+                  key: SOCIALACCOUNT_PROVIDERS_JSON
+          resources:
+            requests: { cpu: "500m", memory: "1Gi" }
+            limits: { cpu: "2", memory: "4Gi" }
+          volumeMounts:
+            - name: media
+              mountPath: /usr/src/paperless/media
+            - name: data
+              mountPath: /usr/src/paperless/data
+            - name: consume
+              mountPath: /usr/src/paperless/consume
+      volumes:
+        - name: media
+          persistentVolumeClaim:
+            claimName: paperless-media
+        - name: data
+          persistentVolumeClaim:
+            claimName: paperless-data
+        - name: consume
+          emptyDir: {}
diff --git a/k8s/apps/paperless/ingress.yaml b/k8s/apps/paperless/ingress.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..beee31e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/apps/paperless/ingress.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Direct nginx ingress to the paperless Service - not routed via the Go
+# api-gateway (api.riotpiao.com), which has no WebSocket upgrade support and
+# paperless-ngx keeps a long-lived /ws/ connection open for live task status.
+apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
+kind: Ingress
+metadata:
+  name: paperless
+  annotations:
+    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: "0"  # large scanned PDF uploads
+    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-read-timeout: "600"
+    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-send-timeout: "600"
+spec:
+  ingressClassName: nginx
+  rules:
+    - host: paperless.riotpiao.com
+      http:
+        paths:
+          - path: /
+            pathType: Prefix
+            backend:
+              service:
+                name: paperless
+                port:
+                  number: 8000
diff --git a/k8s/apps/paperless/kustomization.yaml b/k8s/apps/paperless/kustomization.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7712bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/apps/paperless/kustomization.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: Kustomization
+namespace: paperless
+resources:
+  - pvc.yaml
+  - configmap.yaml
+  - redis.yaml
+  - deployment.yaml
+  - service.yaml
+  - ingress.yaml
+  - backup-cronjob.yaml
+# postgres: paperless-db CNPG Cluster, deployed by k8s/infra/databases (wave 2,
+# before this app at wave 8) - not duplicated here. Same for the paperless-oidc
+# and paperless-minio-creds Secrets, written by PostSync provisioning Jobs in
+# k8s/infra/iam and k8s/infra/minio respectively.
diff --git a/k8s/apps/paperless/pvc.yaml b/k8s/apps/paperless/pvc.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4fcfb87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/apps/paperless/pvc.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Two volumes, deliberately separate storage classes:
+#
+# - media: the actual documents (originals + OCR'd archive PDFs + thumbnails).
+#   Grows to multi-TB, lives on the cp-3 USB HDD, single replica (see
+#   k8s/infra/longhorn/longhorn-paperless-storageclass.yaml). Sized 3500Gi to
+#   leave headroom on the 4TB disk rather than claiming it to 100%.
+# - data: the SQLite classification model + search index. Small (low GB),
+#   frequently rewritten, and disposable (rebuilds from the DB + media on
+#   next consume) - stays on the default 3-replica pool instead of the
+#   single-disk HDD.
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
+metadata:
+  name: paperless-media
+spec:
+  accessModes:
+    - ReadWriteOnce
+  storageClassName: longhorn-paperless-media
+  resources:
+    requests:
+      storage: 3500Gi
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
+metadata:
+  name: paperless-data
+spec:
+  accessModes:
+    - ReadWriteOnce
+  storageClassName: longhorn
+  resources:
+    requests:
+      storage: 5Gi
diff --git a/k8s/apps/paperless/redis.yaml b/k8s/apps/paperless/redis.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b95c83e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/apps/paperless/redis.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Task queue broker + websocket channel layer for paperless-ngx. No PVC:
+# queued/scheduled task state is disposable - a lost queue on restart just
+# means re-triggering consumption, not data loss (documents themselves live
+# on paperless-media).
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: paperless-redis
+spec:
+  replicas: 1
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      app: paperless-redis
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        app: paperless-redis
+    spec:
+      containers:
+        - name: redis
+          image: redis:7-alpine
+          ports:
+            - containerPort: 6379
+          resources:
+            requests: { cpu: "50m", memory: "64Mi" }
+            limits: { cpu: "250m", memory: "256Mi" }
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: paperless-redis
+spec:
+  selector:
+    app: paperless-redis
+  ports:
+    - port: 6379
+      targetPort: 6379
diff --git a/k8s/apps/paperless/service.yaml b/k8s/apps/paperless/service.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fca138b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/apps/paperless/service.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: paperless
+spec:
+  selector:
+    app: paperless
+  ports:
+    - port: 8000
+      targetPort: 8000
diff --git a/k8s/argocd/apps/60-applications.yaml b/k8s/argocd/apps/60-applications.yaml
index b4fcc84..940e845 100644
--- a/k8s/argocd/apps/60-applications.yaml
+++ b/k8s/argocd/apps/60-applications.yaml
@@ -141,6 +141,35 @@ spec:
       prune: true
       selfHeal: true
 ---
+# Document management. Raw manifests (no Helm): postgres is the dedicated
+# paperless-db CNPG cluster in k8s/infra/databases (wave 2), redis is
+# in-cluster only (no PVC), media lives on the cp-3 USB HDD (see
+# k8s/infra/longhorn/longhorn-paperless-storageclass.yaml). OIDC via
+# Authentik provisioned by k8s/infra/iam's PostSync job; MinIO backup bucket
+# creds provisioned by k8s/infra/minio's PostSync job.
+apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
+kind: Application
+metadata:
+  name: paperless
+  namespace: argocd
+  annotations:
+    argocd.argoproj.io/sync-wave: "8"
+spec:
+  project: homelab
+  source:
+    repoURL: https://github.com/Riotpiaole/riotpiao.homelab.com.git
+    targetRevision: main
+    path: k8s/apps/paperless
+  destination:
+    server: https://kubernetes.default.svc
+    namespace: paperless
+  syncPolicy:
+    automated:
+      prune: true
+      selfHeal: true
+    syncOptions:
+      - CreateNamespace=true
+---
 # Consolidated: homarr + homarr-patches → homarr
 # Helm chart + values + PostSync hook patch (fix-probes-job.yaml)
 apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
diff --git a/k8s/argocd/secrets/paperless-secrets.enc.yaml b/k8s/argocd/secrets/paperless-secrets.enc.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..76bc950
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/argocd/secrets/paperless-secrets.enc.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+apiVersion: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:wGA=,iv:Z2Gfzq3aJ9j4fYaeLQolgLb/XELTHrKX9at3vUsMLIw=,tag:yZLZFnltJln5jFoVsyyZ2A==,type:str]
+kind: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:bJkV4pNj,iv:0ZT7l0kw9qSoiEMZioRw1aBzzlxBkoXR+hOxoPI7zPU=,tag:EQczPq508Qw1vi/oLCeQpw==,type:str]
+metadata:
+    name: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:sZwTVM41PPaidMwFNRo5RvU=,iv:BHfuwIHng7rkeLK3a69t8cI9QeSfD/3FEXqxby+gBxM=,tag:3zQx8APnE2ZpBKf/ZYCxOA==,type:str]
+    namespace: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:i7lpoEaZ1oXS,iv:jUYyDPYhf1TV51he/S5MlKPD19Vmz6wfE98y8qFEg3U=,tag:zgHDVlplmW/XPUAKdncfYQ==,type:str]
+type: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:2khs1uIg,iv:ET6HcBGyv33fGFlFAl3dkJQB83naHGeaYuWvW1IFhvw=,tag:qIfMeaSwv//7cNWvy8O5dg==,type:str]
+stringData:
+    PAPERLESS_SECRET_KEY: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:kj9DrQYL3cQGJz87FHYlFKy6Muu84Oy/6wnsWAh0w/3MmcTAsCzQvUtKLKKf1U61JTQ=,iv:UffVv78vMHDEWHRFdSKZ/6qyrVD02Nlk0CNxwWd1jTo=,tag:LNMKnFWw7QCjfcKzI1s8ig==,type:str]
+    PAPERLESS_ADMIN_USER: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:a3bx7z0=,iv:nrU6VXZE74PNXM+Lgg4K/3mhusaQhA2GAgl0GzqAQt8=,tag:x8nswTfkFHR6Ou+JSI9P3Q==,type:str]
+    PAPERLESS_ADMIN_PASSWORD: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:+SWyAq7D1mNt1TlFOlo2Z0biK8kEn097,iv:an2ZZuXNSig+7mJP7ogHFc5+QvUb+z9pzqcV4xvFLbA=,tag:OaRiVZsnajEjAlc9mDWo9w==,type:str]
+sops:
+    age:
+        - enc: |
+            -----BEGIN AGE ENCRYPTED FILE-----
+            YWdlLWVuY3J5cHRpb24ub3JnL3YxCi0+IFgyNTUxOSA1Q2V6bVBUYmVRR1N5SCtF
+            eXdTV2dmWjhtMS9lRFEzS0wzbkd6Y3JLMVRVCncydFBjdmJkRCtVUXphR2w0SDlJ
+            cng2bi9MWlJzTEN2amJrYjRJN2VFcEEKLS0tIEY5cmw2RGhnbzUxZW9FaFJjQmVN
+            WWcvNlNiYWdwbnNSR1Q4alpDZmFqTFkKh9TOw8ERP9fpx2pKi/Q0b7+OkEv0UC7o
+            aAIK4Tzvi5dp6y9IWcu9l6PjDLeYWOJ5wr7QABaFNOz82hngxUleDA==
+            -----END AGE ENCRYPTED FILE-----
+          recipient: age1e5fq3hwxy78psus2nfvmtmua36g0u3suk78ephw6246l974d2utsvn0hla
+    lastmodified: "2026-08-25T16:04:48Z"
+    mac: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:OXPQXUyn/SDftKH5nRzhqEtnaOb4Gp7etmGojqV4Z01kHnABZ42PPIyiBb8z997eLNZsK6/1bi7nUNyVp4fIuXG4F52aEdMewofOocCHokRnNmz7jzhooK1gScJb2u0eHG3FL5iLONMaGgVpk7BLYO3e0xiDytWGe8BxcuDukPg=,iv:kh0jUwFvO6AUICy2Us1E7YOTEcp3L+ptrGdDWBSpWyc=,tag:qUPFmZ/rpljln37f/NRjjw==,type:str]
+    unencrypted_suffix: _unencrypted
+    version: 3.13.2
diff --git a/k8s/argocd/secrets/secret-generator.yaml b/k8s/argocd/secrets/secret-generator.yaml
index d4741ca..095af74 100644
--- a/k8s/argocd/secrets/secret-generator.yaml
+++ b/k8s/argocd/secrets/secret-generator.yaml
@@ -23,5 +23,6 @@ files:
   - homelab-ca-secrets.enc.yaml
   - loki-secrets.enc.yaml
   - minio-secrets.enc.yaml
+  - paperless-secrets.enc.yaml
   - vault-secrets.enc.yaml
   - vault-unseal-keys.enc.yaml
diff --git a/k8s/infra/databases/kustomization.yaml b/k8s/infra/databases/kustomization.yaml
index ebb3151..c32c72e 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/databases/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/k8s/infra/databases/kustomization.yaml
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
 kind: Kustomization
 # Dedicated per-app CNPG clusters. NO top-level `namespace:` — each Cluster
-# carries its own ns (iam / temporal / poimen); a transformer would wrongly collapse them.
-# poimen ns created by poimen-root app, memory-db deployed into it.
+# carries its own ns (iam / temporal / poimen / paperless); a transformer would
+# wrongly collapse them. poimen ns created by poimen-root app, memory-db
+# deployed into it. paperless ns declared in namespaces.yaml above.
 resources:
   - namespaces.yaml
   - authentik-db.yaml
   - temporal-db.yaml
   - memory-db.yaml
+  - paperless-db.yaml
diff --git a/k8s/infra/databases/namespaces.yaml b/k8s/infra/databases/namespaces.yaml
index e9b0e7a..97a661b 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/databases/namespaces.yaml
+++ b/k8s/infra/databases/namespaces.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # DB clusters are wave 2 — their namespaces must exist first (their apps that
 # would CreateNamespace run later, w3/w8). Declared here so the databases App
-# creates them. authentik/vault/temporal CreateNamespace=true then no-ops.
-# poimen namespace created by poimen-root app (wave 7).
+# creates them. authentik/vault/temporal/paperless CreateNamespace=true then
+# no-ops. poimen namespace created by poimen-root app (wave 7).
 apiVersion: v1
 kind: Namespace
 metadata:
@@ -11,3 +11,8 @@ apiVersion: v1
 kind: Namespace
 metadata:
   name: temporal
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Namespace
+metadata:
+  name: paperless
diff --git a/k8s/infra/databases/paperless-db.yaml b/k8s/infra/databases/paperless-db.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..961ecdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/infra/databases/paperless-db.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# Dedicated CNPG Postgres for paperless-ngx (GitOps, wave 2 — before the
+# paperless app at w8). Same recipe as memory-db: default longhorn storage
+# class (3 replicas), 2 instances, 20Gi.
+# CNPG generates secret `paperless-db-app` + service `paperless-db-rw` in ns
+# paperless; the paperless Deployment reads them locally.
+apiVersion: postgresql.cnpg.io/v1
+kind: Cluster
+metadata:
+  name: paperless-db
+  namespace: paperless
+  annotations:
+    argocd.argoproj.io/sync-options: SkipDryRunOnMissingResource=true
+spec:
+  instances: 2
+  imageName: ghcr.io/cloudnative-pg/postgresql:16.2
+  bootstrap:
+    initdb:
+      database: paperless
+      owner: app
+      encoding: UTF8
+      localeCollate: C
+      localeCType: C
+  enableSuperuserAccess: false
+  resources:
+    requests: { memory: "512Mi", cpu: "250m" }
+    limits: { memory: "2Gi", cpu: "1" }
+  storage:
+    size: 20Gi
+    storageClass: longhorn
+  affinity:
+    podAntiAffinityType: preferred
+    topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
+    tolerations:
+      - key: node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane
+        operator: Exists
+        effect: NoSchedule
diff --git a/k8s/infra/iam/authentik-provision-job.yaml b/k8s/infra/iam/authentik-provision-job.yaml
index ca65c8e..5e19754 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/iam/authentik-provision-job.yaml
+++ b/k8s/infra/iam/authentik-provision-job.yaml
@@ -101,6 +101,20 @@ roleRef:
   name: authentik-provisioner
   apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
 ---
+apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
+kind: RoleBinding
+metadata:
+  name: authentik-provisioner
+  namespace: paperless
+subjects:
+  - kind: ServiceAccount
+    name: authentik-provisioner
+    namespace: iam
+roleRef:
+  kind: ClusterRole
+  name: authentik-provisioner
+  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
+---
 apiVersion: batch/v1
 kind: Job
 metadata:
diff --git a/k8s/infra/iam/scripts/authentik-provision.py b/k8s/infra/iam/scripts/authentik-provision.py
index b1aba19..3e540c7 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/iam/scripts/authentik-provision.py
+++ b/k8s/infra/iam/scripts/authentik-provision.py
@@ -290,6 +290,17 @@ SERVICES = {
         "launch_url": "https://homarr.riotpiao.com",
         "display_name": "Homarr",
     },
+    "paperless": {
+        # No secret exists yet for paperless - generate + store on first run.
+        # django-allauth's generic openid_connect provider callback path is
+        # /accounts/oidc/<provider_id>/login/callback/ - provider_id "authentik"
+        # is set in PAPERLESS_SOCIALACCOUNT_PROVIDERS (see configmap.yaml).
+        "client_secret_source": ("paperless", "paperless-oidc", "CLIENT_SECRET"),
+        "generate_if_missing": True,
+        "redirect_uris": ["https://paperless.riotpiao.com/accounts/oidc/authentik/login/callback/"],
+        "launch_url": "https://paperless.riotpiao.com",
+        "display_name": "Paperless-ngx",
+    },
 }
 
 app_pks_for_binding = []
@@ -314,6 +325,32 @@ for name, cfg in SERVICES.items():
     else:
         print(f"  {name}: using existing client secret from {ns}/{secret_name}")
 
+    if name == "paperless":
+        # paperless-ngx's django-allauth OIDC config takes client_id/secret
+        # bundled inside one JSON blob (PAPERLESS_SOCIALACCOUNT_PROVIDERS), not
+        # discrete env vars - compose it here and store it alongside
+        # CLIENT_SECRET so the Deployment can source it directly via
+        # secretKeyRef, no shell wrapper needed. Runs every time (not just on
+        # generate), so it stays in sync if the client_secret is ever rotated
+        # by hand.
+        providers_json = json.dumps({
+            "openid_connect": {
+                "APPS": [{
+                    "provider_id": "authentik",
+                    "name": "Authentik",
+                    "client_id": "paperless",
+                    "secret": client_secret,
+                    "settings": {
+                        "server_url": "https://authentik.riotpiao.com/application/o/paperless/.well-known/openid-configuration",
+                    },
+                }],
+            },
+        })
+        kubectl_create_secret("paperless", "paperless-oidc", {
+            "CLIENT_SECRET": client_secret,
+            "SOCIALACCOUNT_PROVIDERS_JSON": providers_json,
+        })
+
     provider = get_or_create(
         "/api/v3/providers/oauth2/", "/api/v3/providers/oauth2/",
         f"name={name}",
diff --git a/k8s/infra/longhorn/kustomization.yaml b/k8s/infra/longhorn/kustomization.yaml
index 44be139..bba17bf 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/longhorn/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/k8s/infra/longhorn/kustomization.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ namespace: longhorn-system
 resources:
   - longhorn-storageclass.yaml
   - longhorn-cnpg-storageclass.yaml  # CNPG-specific with postgres UID/GID
+  - longhorn-paperless-storageclass.yaml  # single-replica, cp-3 USB HDD only
   - longhorn-servicemonitor.yaml
   - longhorn-taint-toleration.yaml
   - longhorn-nodes.yaml
diff --git a/k8s/infra/longhorn/longhorn-add-disks-job.yaml b/k8s/infra/longhorn/longhorn-add-disks-job.yaml
index 2abd800..c94a769 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/longhorn/longhorn-add-disks-job.yaml
+++ b/k8s/infra/longhorn/longhorn-add-disks-job.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,15 @@
 # PostSync hook Job that adds extra disks to Longhorn nodes.
 # talos-cp-2 has 4 extra disks mounted at /var/lib/longhorn-disk{1,2,3,4}
 # that are NOT auto-discovered by Longhorn.
+#
+# talos-cp-3 additionally gets a tagged disk for paperless-ngx media, backed by
+# the 4TB USB HDD (/dev/sdg) — tagged "paperless-media" so only the dedicated
+# longhorn-paperless-media StorageClass (diskSelector match) can place replicas
+# there, keeping it out of the default 3-replica pool. This patch is inert
+# until the Terraform machine-config change mounts the disk at
+# /var/lib/longhorn-paperless-media (pending — see terraform.tfvars.local,
+# not present in this checkout); Longhorn just reports the disk not-ready
+# until the path exists, no harm in applying it early.
 apiVersion: batch/v1
 kind: Job
 metadata:
@@ -83,6 +92,31 @@ spec:
             echo "  ✓ talos-cp-2 already has $CURRENT_DISKS disks configured"
           fi
           
+          echo "Checking talos-cp-3..."
+          CP3_DISKS=$(kubectl -n longhorn-system get nodes.longhorn.io talos-cp-3 -o json | jq -r '.spec.disks | keys | length')
+          echo "  Current disk count: $CP3_DISKS"
+
+          if [ "$CP3_DISKS" -lt 2 ]; then
+            echo "  Adding paperless-media disk to talos-cp-3..."
+            kubectl -n longhorn-system patch nodes.longhorn.io talos-cp-3 --type merge -p '{
+              "spec": {
+                "disks": {
+                  "paperless-media": {
+                    "allowScheduling": true,
+                    "diskType": "filesystem",
+                    "evictionRequested": false,
+                    "path": "/var/lib/longhorn-paperless-media",
+                    "storageReserved": 0,
+                    "tags": ["paperless-media"]
+                  }
+                }
+              }
+            }'
+            echo "  ✓ paperless-media disk added to talos-cp-3"
+          else
+            echo "  ✓ talos-cp-3 already has $CP3_DISKS disks configured"
+          fi
+
           echo
           echo "Waiting for disks to be ready..."
           sleep 10
diff --git a/k8s/infra/longhorn/longhorn-paperless-storageclass.yaml b/k8s/infra/longhorn/longhorn-paperless-storageclass.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df37642
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/infra/longhorn/longhorn-paperless-storageclass.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# Dedicated StorageClass for paperless-ngx document media, backed by the 4TB
+# USB HDD on talos-cp-3 (see longhorn-add-disks-job.yaml). Single disk, single
+# node — no Longhorn replica is possible, so numberOfReplicas is 1 by
+# necessity, not choice. diskSelector pins placement to the tagged disk only,
+# so a volume from this class never lands on cp-3's regular (already
+# DiskPressure) default pool. reclaimPolicy is Retain, not Delete: a PVC
+# accident here has no replica to fall back on, so an accidental delete must
+# not also take the underlying volume with it.
+apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
+kind: StorageClass
+metadata:
+  name: longhorn-paperless-media
+provisioner: driver.longhorn.io
+allowVolumeExpansion: true
+reclaimPolicy: Retain
+volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
+parameters:
+  numberOfReplicas: "1"
+  diskSelector: "paperless-media"
+  nodeSelector: "talos-cp-3"
+  staleReplicaTimeout: "30"
+  fsType: "ext4"
diff --git a/k8s/infra/minio/kustomization.yaml b/k8s/infra/minio/kustomization.yaml
index 1622999..c7f7989 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/minio/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/k8s/infra/minio/kustomization.yaml
@@ -1,8 +1,14 @@
 apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
 kind: Kustomization
-namespace: storage
+# NOTE: no top-level `namespace:` transformer (see iam/kustomization.yaml for
+# the same fix) - minio-provision-paperless-job.yaml's RoleBinding
+# deliberately targets namespace paperless (least-privilege access for the
+# provisioner ServiceAccount to write Secrets there); a namespace transformer
+# would silently rewrite it back to storage, breaking the RBAC. Every resource
+# here already sets its own explicit metadata.namespace.
 resources:
   - minio-tenant.yaml
+  - minio-provision-paperless-job.yaml
 # The operator creates the minio S3/console/headless Services and the
 # declarative bucket + user from the Tenant spec — no hand-rolled Service or
 # Bucket/User CRs (those kinds don't exist in the operator CRD set).
diff --git a/k8s/infra/minio/minio-provision-paperless-job.yaml b/k8s/infra/minio/minio-provision-paperless-job.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aacd57b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s/infra/minio/minio-provision-paperless-job.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+# PostSync hook Job: creates a MinIO IAM user + policy scoped to only the
+# `paperless` bucket (least-privilege — reuses root creds nowhere else in the
+# cluster), then writes the generated access/secret key into a Secret in the
+# `paperless` namespace for the nightly backup CronJob to consume.
+#
+# Idempotent: re-running never rotates existing credentials — if
+# paperless-minio-creds already exists in ns paperless, the script reuses the
+# access key it already wrote and just re-asserts the policy/user exist.
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ServiceAccount
+metadata:
+  name: minio-paperless-provisioner
+  namespace: storage
+---
+apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
+kind: ClusterRole
+metadata:
+  name: minio-paperless-provisioner
+rules:
+  - apiGroups: [""]
+    resources: ["secrets"]
+    verbs: ["get", "list", "create", "update", "patch"]
+---
+apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
+kind: RoleBinding
+metadata:
+  name: minio-paperless-provisioner
+  namespace: paperless
+subjects:
+  - kind: ServiceAccount
+    name: minio-paperless-provisioner
+    namespace: storage
+roleRef:
+  kind: ClusterRole
+  name: minio-paperless-provisioner
+  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
+---
+apiVersion: batch/v1
+kind: Job
+metadata:
+  name: minio-provision-paperless
+  namespace: storage
+  annotations:
+    argocd.argoproj.io/hook: PostSync
+    argocd.argoproj.io/hook-delete-policy: BeforeHookCreation
+spec:
+  ttlSecondsAfterFinished: 600
+  backoffLimit: 3
+  template:
+    spec:
+      serviceAccountName: minio-paperless-provisioner
+      restartPolicy: Never
+      initContainers:
+        - name: kubectl-copy
+          image: bitnami/kubectl:latest
+          command: ["sh", "-c", "cp $(which kubectl) /shared/kubectl"]
+          volumeMounts:
+            - name: shared
+              mountPath: /shared
+      containers:
+        - name: provision
+          image: minio/mc:latest
+          volumeMounts:
+            - name: shared
+              mountPath: /shared
+            - name: minio-creds
+              mountPath: /minio-creds
+              readOnly: true
+          command:
+            - /bin/sh
+            - -c
+            - |
+              set -e
+              export PATH="/shared:$PATH"
+
+              # minio-creds ships as a shell-sourceable config.env blob
+              # (`export MINIO_ROOT_USER=... / MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD=...`), not
+              # discrete keys — source it directly rather than re-parsing.
+              . /minio-creds/config.env
+
+              mc alias set m http://minio-cluster-hl.storage.svc.cluster.local:9000 \
+                "$MINIO_ROOT_USER" "$MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD"
+
+              echo "Checking for existing paperless-minio-creds secret..."
+              if kubectl -n paperless get secret paperless-minio-creds >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+                ACCESS_KEY=$(kubectl -n paperless get secret paperless-minio-creds -o jsonpath='{.data.ACCESS_KEY}' | base64 -d)
+                SECRET_KEY=$(kubectl -n paperless get secret paperless-minio-creds -o jsonpath='{.data.SECRET_KEY}' | base64 -d)
+                echo "  reusing existing credentials"
+              else
+                ACCESS_KEY="paperless"
+                SECRET_KEY=$(head -c 32 /dev/urandom | base64 | tr -d '/+=' | head -c 40)
+                echo "  generated new credentials"
+              fi
+
+              echo "Ensuring MinIO user 'paperless' exists..."
+              if ! mc admin user info m "$ACCESS_KEY" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+                mc admin user add m "$ACCESS_KEY" "$SECRET_KEY"
+              fi
+
+              echo "Writing scoped policy (paperless bucket only)..."
+              printf '%s' '{"Version":"2012-10-17","Statement":[{"Effect":"Allow","Action":["s3:ListBucket"],"Resource":["arn:aws:s3:::paperless"]},{"Effect":"Allow","Action":["s3:GetObject","s3:PutObject","s3:DeleteObject"],"Resource":["arn:aws:s3:::paperless/*"]}]}' > /tmp/paperless-rw-policy.json
+              mc admin policy create m paperless-rw /tmp/paperless-rw-policy.json || \
+                mc admin policy update m paperless-rw /tmp/paperless-rw-policy.json
+              mc admin policy attach m paperless-rw --user "$ACCESS_KEY"
+
+              echo "Writing paperless-minio-creds secret (ns paperless)..."
+              kubectl -n paperless create secret generic paperless-minio-creds \
+                --from-literal=ACCESS_KEY="$ACCESS_KEY" \
+                --from-literal=SECRET_KEY="$SECRET_KEY" \
+                --from-literal=BUCKET=paperless \
+                --from-literal=ENDPOINT=http://minio-cluster-hl.storage.svc.cluster.local:9000 \
+                --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
+
+              echo "Done."
+      volumes:
+        - name: shared
+          emptyDir: {}
+        - name: minio-creds
+          secret:
+            secretName: minio-creds
diff --git a/k8s/infra/minio/minio-tenant.yaml b/k8s/infra/minio/minio-tenant.yaml
index 9a06d68..b4dcbbf 100644
--- a/k8s/infra/minio/minio-tenant.yaml
+++ b/k8s/infra/minio/minio-tenant.yaml
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ spec:
     - name: loki-ruler
     - name: loki-admin
     - name: vault
+    - name: paperless
 
   # Metrics are exposed at /minio/v2/metrics; scrape via a hand-rolled
   # ServiceMonitor in the monitoring stack rather than operator auto-wiring
diff --git a/terraform/files/coredns/Corefile b/terraform/files/coredns/Corefile
index 8d63987..c1300e8 100644
--- a/terraform/files/coredns/Corefile
+++ b/terraform/files/coredns/Corefile
@@ -33,11 +33,6 @@
     rewrite name homarr.riotpiao.com ingress-nginx-controller.ingress-nginx.svc.cluster.local
     rewrite name portainer.riotpiao.com ingress-nginx-controller.ingress-nginx.svc.cluster.local
     rewrite name longhorn.riotpiao.com ingress-nginx-controller.ingress-nginx.svc.cluster.local
-    # Kong API gateway. Points at nginx, not kong-proxy, for the same reason as
-    # the rest: a direct rewrite would skip TLS termination. Pods that don't
-    # need TLS should call kong-proxy.api.svc.cluster.local instead of using
-    # this name at all.
-    rewrite name api.riotpiao.com ingress-nginx-controller.ingress-nginx.svc.cluster.local
 
     kubernetes cluster.local in-addr.arpa ip6.arpa {
         pods insecure
diff --git a/terraform/templates/controlplane.tftpl b/terraform/templates/controlplane.tftpl
index 8669820..d8e49fa 100644
--- a/terraform/templates/controlplane.tftpl
+++ b/terraform/templates/controlplane.tftpl
@@ -47,7 +47,12 @@ machine:
   install:
     disk: ${install_disk}
     image: factory.talos.dev/installer/613e1592b2da41ae5e265e8789429f22e121aab91cb4deb6bc3c0b6262961245:${talos_version}
-    wipe: true
+    # false: these are already-installed, running control-plane nodes. wipe:
+    # true here would only be correct for a first-boot/bare-metal install
+    # flow; applying it to a live node via apply-config risks the install
+    # controller treating this as a reinstall request. Live config on all 3
+    # CPs already reports wipe: false - keep template and reality in sync.
+    wipe: false
     grubUseUKICmdline: true
 %{ if length(longhorn_disks) > 0 ~}
   disks: