diff --git a/src/common/di.rs b/src/common/di.rs
index 37cf04fe..d75cbea7 100644
--- a/src/common/di.rs
+++ b/src/common/di.rs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ use crate::application::services::folder_service::FolderService;
 use crate::application::services::i18n_application_service::I18nApplicationService;
 use crate::application::services::nextcloud_file_id_service::NextcloudFileIdService;
 use crate::application::services::nextcloud_login_flow_service::NextcloudLoginFlowService;
+use crate::application::services::people_service::PeopleService;
 use crate::application::services::places_service::PlacesService;
 use crate::application::services::recent_service::RecentService;
 use crate::application::services::search_service::SearchService;
@@ -360,6 +361,9 @@ impl AppServiceFactory {
             fls = fls.with_hook(audio.clone());
         }
         fls = fls.with_hook(media_metadata_service.clone());
+        if self.config.features.enable_faces {
+            fls = fls.with_hook(self.create_face_indexing_service(db_pool));
+        }
         let file_lifecycle = Arc::new(fls);
 
         Ok(CoreServices {
@@ -810,6 +814,34 @@ impl AppServiceFactory {
         service
     }
 
+    /// Creates the face-indexing lifecycle hook (People feature). Uses the
+    /// default no-op analyzer until the operator wires a real ONNX model.
+    pub fn create_face_indexing_service(
+        &self,
+        db_pool: &Arc<PgPool>,
+    ) -> Arc<crate::infrastructure::services::face_indexing_service::FaceIndexingService> {
+        let blob_root = self.storage_path.join(".blobs");
+        let analyzer: Arc<dyn crate::application::ports::face_ports::FaceAnalyzerPort> =
+            Arc::new(crate::infrastructure::services::noop_face_analyzer::NoopFaceAnalyzer);
+        Arc::new(
+            crate::infrastructure::services::face_indexing_service::FaceIndexingService::new(
+                db_pool.clone(),
+                blob_root,
+                analyzer,
+            ),
+        )
+    }
+
+    /// Creates the People (faces) read/clustering service.
+    pub fn create_people_service(&self, db_pool: &Arc<PgPool>) -> Arc<PeopleService> {
+        let repo = Arc::new(
+            crate::infrastructure::repositories::pg::FacePgRepository::new(db_pool.clone()),
+        );
+        let service = Arc::new(PeopleService::new(repo));
+        tracing::info!("People service initialized");
+        service
+    }
+
     /// Preloads translations for every locale in the registry. Build
     /// the registry at startup via `LocaleRegistry::discover` and pass
     /// the resulting list here.
@@ -1018,6 +1050,7 @@ impl AppServiceFactory {
         let favorites_service: Option<Arc<FavoritesService>>;
         let recent_service: Option<Arc<RecentService>>;
         let places_service: Option<Arc<PlacesService>>;
+        let people_service: Option<Arc<PeopleService>>;
         let storage_usage_service: Option<Arc<StorageUsageService>>;
         let mut auth_services: Option<crate::common::di::AuthServices> = None;
         let mut nextcloud_services: Option<NextcloudServices> = None;
@@ -1046,6 +1079,12 @@ impl AppServiceFactory {
                 None
             };
 
+            people_service = if core.config.features.enable_faces {
+                Some(self.create_people_service(&pool))
+            } else {
+                None
+            };
+
             storage_usage_service = Some(storage_usage.clone());
 
             self.start_tree_etag_flush_job(&maintenance_pool);
@@ -1273,6 +1312,7 @@ impl AppServiceFactory {
             favorites_service,
             recent_service,
             places_service,
+            people_service,
             storage_usage_service,
             calendar_service: None,
             contact_service: None,
@@ -1720,6 +1760,7 @@ pub struct AppState {
     pub favorites_service: Option<Arc<FavoritesService>>,
     pub recent_service: Option<Arc<RecentService>>,
     pub places_service: Option<Arc<PlacesService>>,
+    pub people_service: Option<Arc<PeopleService>>,
     pub storage_usage_service: Option<Arc<StorageUsageService>>,
     pub calendar_service: Option<Arc<CalendarService>>,
     pub contact_service: Option<Arc<ContactStorageAdapter>>,
diff --git a/src/infrastructure/services/face_indexing_service.rs b/src/infrastructure/services/face_indexing_service.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1ec0705b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/infrastructure/services/face_indexing_service.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@
+//! Face indexing as a `FileLifecycleHook`.
+//!
+//! On image upload it detects + embeds faces (off the request path, in a
+//! background task) and stores them. It mirrors `MediaMetadataService`: reads
+//! the blob from the local `.blobs` tree, is dedup-aware (identical uploads
+//! clone an existing file's faces instead of re-running inference), and is
+//! completely inert when no model is configured (`FaceAnalyzerPort::is_ready()
+//! == false`) — so the feature compiles and runs with the default no-op
+//! analyzer until the operator wires a real ONNX model.
+
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+use chrono::Utc;
+use sqlx::PgPool;
+use uuid::Uuid;
+
+use crate::application::ports::face_ports::{FaceAnalyzerPort, FaceRepository};
+use crate::application::ports::file_lifecycle::FileLifecycleHook;
+use crate::common::errors::DomainError;
+use crate::domain::entities::face::Face;
+use crate::infrastructure::repositories::pg::FacePgRepository;
+
+/// Minimum detector confidence for a face to be stored.
+const MIN_DET_SCORE: f32 = 0.6;
+
+fn is_image(content_type: &str) -> bool {
+    content_type.starts_with("image/")
+}
+
+pub struct FaceIndexingService {
+    pool: Arc<PgPool>,
+    repo: Arc<FacePgRepository>,
+    analyzer: Arc<dyn FaceAnalyzerPort>,
+    blob_root: PathBuf,
+}
+
+impl FaceIndexingService {
+    pub fn new(pool: Arc<PgPool>, blob_root: PathBuf, analyzer: Arc<dyn FaceAnalyzerPort>) -> Self {
+        let repo = Arc::new(FacePgRepository::new(pool.clone()));
+        Self {
+            pool,
+            repo,
+            analyzer,
+            blob_root,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Local path of a blob: `.blobs/{prefix}/{hash}.blob`.
+    fn blob_path(&self, hash: &str) -> PathBuf {
+        let prefix = if hash.len() >= 2 { &hash[0..2] } else { hash };
+        self.blob_root.join(prefix).join(format!("{hash}.blob"))
+    }
+
+    /// Spawn a background indexing task. `reuse_dedup` clones faces from an
+    /// existing file with the same blob hash instead of re-running inference;
+    /// `delete_first` clears prior faces (used on overwrite).
+    fn spawn_index(&self, file_id: Uuid, blob_hash: String, reuse_dedup: bool, delete_first: bool) {
+        let pool = self.pool.clone();
+        let repo = self.repo.clone();
+        let analyzer = self.analyzer.clone();
+        let blob_path = self.blob_path(&blob_hash);
+        tokio::spawn(async move {
+            if delete_first {
+                let _ = repo.delete_faces_for_file(file_id).await;
+            }
+            if let Err(e) = index_file(
+                &pool,
+                &repo,
+                analyzer.as_ref(),
+                file_id,
+                &blob_path,
+                &blob_hash,
+                reuse_dedup,
+            )
+            .await
+            {
+                tracing::warn!(target: "oxicloud::faces", "face indexing failed for {file_id}: {e}");
+            }
+        });
+    }
+}
+
+impl FileLifecycleHook for FaceIndexingService {
+    fn on_file_created(
+        &self,
+        file_id: &str,
+        blob_hash: &str,
+        content_type: &str,
+        is_new_blob: bool,
+    ) {
+        if !is_image(content_type) || !self.analyzer.is_ready() {
+            return;
+        }
+        if let Ok(fid) = file_id.parse::<Uuid>() {
+            // Dedup hit (blob already existed) → clone an existing file's faces.
+            self.spawn_index(fid, blob_hash.to_string(), !is_new_blob, false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn on_file_copied(
+        &self,
+        file_id: &str,
+        blob_hash: &str,
+        content_type: &str,
+        _source_file_id: &str,
+    ) {
+        if !is_image(content_type) || !self.analyzer.is_ready() {
+            return;
+        }
+        if let Ok(fid) = file_id.parse::<Uuid>() {
+            self.spawn_index(fid, blob_hash.to_string(), true, false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn on_file_updated(&self, file_id: &str, blob_hash: &str, content_type: &str) {
+        if !is_image(content_type) || !self.analyzer.is_ready() {
+            return;
+        }
+        if let Ok(fid) = file_id.parse::<Uuid>() {
+            self.spawn_index(fid, blob_hash.to_string(), false, true);
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn on_file_deleted(&self, _file_id: &str) {
+        // faces.faces.file_id has ON DELETE CASCADE — the DB cleans up.
+    }
+}
+
+async fn lookup_user(pool: &PgPool, file_id: Uuid) -> Result<Uuid, DomainError> {
+    let row: (Uuid,) = sqlx::query_as("SELECT user_id FROM storage.files WHERE id = $1")
+        .bind(file_id)
+        .fetch_one(pool)
+        .await
+        .map_err(|e| DomainError::internal_error("Faces", format!("lookup user: {e}")))?;
+    Ok(row.0)
+}
+
+async fn index_file(
+    pool: &PgPool,
+    repo: &FacePgRepository,
+    analyzer: &dyn FaceAnalyzerPort,
+    file_id: Uuid,
+    blob_path: &Path,
+    blob_hash: &str,
+    reuse_dedup: bool,
+) -> Result<(), DomainError> {
+    let user_id = lookup_user(pool, file_id).await?;
+
+    // Dedup-aware fast path: reuse faces already computed for an identical blob.
+    if reuse_dedup {
+        let peers = repo.faces_for_blob(user_id, blob_hash).await?;
+        let cloned: Vec<Face> = peers
+            .into_iter()
+            .filter(|f| f.file_id != file_id)
+            .map(|f| Face {
+                id: Uuid::new_v4(),
+                file_id,
+                ..f
+            })
+            .collect();
+        if !cloned.is_empty() {
+            repo.save_faces(&cloned).await?;
+            return Ok(());
+        }
+        // No peer found — fall through and analyze.
+    }
+
+    let bytes = tokio::fs::read(blob_path)
+        .await
+        .map_err(|e| DomainError::internal_error("Faces", format!("read blob: {e}")))?;
+    let detected = analyzer.analyze(&bytes).await?;
+
+    let faces: Vec<Face> = detected
+        .into_iter()
+        .filter(|d| d.det_score >= MIN_DET_SCORE)
+        .map(|d| Face {
+            id: Uuid::new_v4(),
+            file_id,
+            user_id,
+            person_id: None,
+            bbox: d.bbox,
+            det_score: d.det_score,
+            quality: d.quality,
+            embedding: d.embedding,
+            blob_hash: Some(blob_hash.to_string()),
+            created_at: Utc::now(),
+        })
+        .collect();
+    repo.save_faces(&faces).await
+}
diff --git a/src/infrastructure/services/mod.rs b/src/infrastructure/services/mod.rs
index 8c4decce..b41b6edc 100644
--- a/src/infrastructure/services/mod.rs
+++ b/src/infrastructure/services/mod.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ pub mod compression_service;
 pub mod dedup_service;
 pub mod encrypted_blob_backend;
 pub mod exif_service;
+pub mod face_indexing_service;
 pub mod file_content_cache;
 pub mod file_system_i18n_service;
 pub mod image_transcode_service;