diff --git a/migrations/20260801000004_faces.sql b/migrations/20260801000004_faces.sql
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2d2dfd43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/migrations/20260801000004_faces.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+-- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+-- People / Faces: per-user face detections and identity clusters.
+--
+-- Embeddings are stored as BYTEA (512 × float32, L2-normalized = 2048 bytes)
+-- rather than a pgvector column, so the feature adds NO new PostgreSQL
+-- extension dependency. Similarity is computed in-app (brute-force cosine
+-- scales comfortably to ~100k faces); pgvector / VectorChord with an HNSW
+-- index is the documented upgrade path for larger libraries.
+--
+-- Biometric data — the feature is OFF by default (OXICLOUD_ENABLE_FACES) and
+-- opt-in per user. All rows cascade-delete with their owning user, and face
+-- rows cascade-delete with their source file, satisfying the right to erasure.
+-- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
+CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS faces;
+
+-- An identity cluster ("person"). display_name is NULL until the user names it.
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS faces.persons (
+    id            UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
+    user_id       UUID NOT NULL REFERENCES auth.users(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+    display_name  TEXT,
+    cover_face_id UUID,                       -- representative face (set by the app)
+    is_hidden     BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT FALSE,
+    created_at    TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE NOT NULL DEFAULT now(),
+    updated_at    TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE NOT NULL DEFAULT now()
+);
+
+CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_persons_user ON faces.persons (user_id);
+
+-- A single detected face with its embedding and (optional) person assignment.
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS faces.faces (
+    id         UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
+    file_id    UUID NOT NULL REFERENCES storage.files(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
+    user_id    UUID NOT NULL REFERENCES auth.users(id)   ON DELETE CASCADE,
+    person_id  UUID REFERENCES faces.persons(id) ON DELETE SET NULL,
+    bbox       REAL[] NOT NULL,               -- [x, y, w, h], normalized 0..1
+    det_score  REAL NOT NULL,                 -- detector confidence
+    quality    REAL,                          -- blur/size gate score (nullable)
+    embedding  BYTEA NOT NULL,                -- 512 × float32, L2-normalized
+    blob_hash  VARCHAR(64),                   -- dedup-aware reuse across identical files
+    created_at TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE NOT NULL DEFAULT now()
+);
+
+CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_faces_user   ON faces.faces (user_id);
+CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_faces_person ON faces.faces (person_id);
+CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_faces_file   ON faces.faces (file_id);
+CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_faces_blob   ON faces.faces (blob_hash);
diff --git a/src/common/config.rs b/src/common/config.rs
index 57414c63..3c28d46f 100644
--- a/src/common/config.rs
+++ b/src/common/config.rs
@@ -881,6 +881,9 @@ pub struct FeaturesConfig {
     pub enable_music: bool,
     /// Lists the user's geotagged photos on a map (GET /api/photos/geo).
     pub enable_places: bool,
+    /// Face detection + identity clustering for the photo library ("People").
+    /// Biometric data — OFF by default; opt-in per deployment/user.
+    pub enable_faces: bool,
     /// Expose other OxiCloud users as a read-only "system" address book
     /// at GET /api/address-books. Set to false to hide the user directory.
     pub expose_system_users: bool,
@@ -896,6 +899,7 @@ impl Default for FeaturesConfig {
             enable_search: true,       // Enable search feature
             enable_music: true,        // Enable music feature
             enable_places: true,       // Photo map (GET /api/photos/geo + Places tab)
+            enable_faces: false,       // People/faces (biometric) — opt-in, off by default
             expose_system_users: true, // Expose OxiCloud users as address book by default
         }
     }
@@ -1387,6 +1391,12 @@ impl AppConfig {
             config.features.enable_places = val;
         }
 
+        if let Ok(enable_faces) = env::var("OXICLOUD_ENABLE_FACES").map(|v| v.parse::<bool>())
+            && let Ok(val) = enable_faces
+        {
+            config.features.enable_faces = val;
+        }
+
         // Content search (embedded Tantivy index)
         if let Ok(v) = env::var("OXICLOUD_ENABLE_CONTENT_SEARCH").map(|v| v.parse::<bool>())
             && let Ok(val) = v