diff --git a/.github/workflows/devops.yml b/.github/workflows/devops.yml
index 23514cb..1839428 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/devops.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/devops.yml
@@ -223,11 +223,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run migrations
         run: docker exec rythmify_backend sh -c "npm run migrate:up"
 
-      - name: Run seeds
-        run: |
-          docker cp $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/backend/seeds/seed.sql rythmify_db:/seed.sql
-          docker exec rythmify_db psql -U dev -d rythmify_dev -f /seed.sql
-
       - name: Run backend smoke check
         run: |
           echo "Running backend smoke check..."
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 07d43cc..6675b61 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 *.env
 *.env.*
 !.env.example
+!monitoring/.env.monitoring.example
 environments/dev.env
 environments/staging.env
 environments/production.env
@@ -80,4 +81,4 @@ coverage/
 .terraform/
 *.tfstate
 *.tfstate.*
-crash.log
\ No newline at end of file
+crash.log
diff --git a/docker-compose.monitoring.yml b/docker-compose.monitoring.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2aca50e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.monitoring.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+services:
+  prometheus:
+    image: prom/prometheus:v2.55.1
+    container_name: rythmify_prometheus
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    command:
+      - --config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
+      - --storage.tsdb.path=/prometheus
+      - --web.enable-lifecycle
+    extra_hosts:
+      - host.docker.internal:host-gateway
+    ports:
+      - "9090:9090"
+    volumes:
+      - ./monitoring/prometheus/prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml:ro
+      - prometheus_data:/prometheus
+    depends_on:
+      - node_exporter
+      - nginx_exporter
+      - blackbox_exporter
+
+  grafana:
+    image: grafana/grafana:11.4.0
+    container_name: rythmify_grafana
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    ports:
+      - "3000:3000"
+    environment:
+      GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER: ${GRAFANA_ADMIN_USER}
+      GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD: ${GRAFANA_ADMIN_PASSWORD}
+      GF_SMTP_ENABLED: ${GF_SMTP_ENABLED}
+      GF_SMTP_HOST: ${SMTP_HOST}
+      GF_SMTP_USER: ${SMTP_USER}
+      GF_SMTP_PASSWORD: ${SMTP_PASSWORD}
+      GF_SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS: ${GF_SMTP_FROM_ADDRESS}
+      GF_SMTP_FROM_NAME: ${GF_SMTP_FROM_NAME}
+      ALERT_EMAIL_TO: ${ALERT_EMAIL_TO}
+    volumes:
+      - grafana_data:/var/lib/grafana
+      - ./monitoring/grafana/provisioning:/etc/grafana/provisioning:ro
+    depends_on:
+      - prometheus
+
+  node_exporter:
+    image: prom/node-exporter:v1.8.2
+    container_name: rythmify_node_exporter
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    command:
+      - --path.rootfs=/host
+    pid: host
+    ports:
+      - "9100:9100"
+    volumes:
+      - /:/host:ro,rslave
+
+  nginx_exporter:
+    image: nginx/nginx-prometheus-exporter:1.3.0
+    container_name: rythmify_nginx_exporter
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    command:
+      - --nginx.scrape-uri=http://host.docker.internal/nginx_status
+    extra_hosts:
+      - host.docker.internal:host-gateway
+    ports:
+      - "9113:9113"
+
+  blackbox_exporter:
+    image: prom/blackbox-exporter:v0.25.0
+    container_name: rythmify_blackbox_exporter
+    restart: unless-stopped
+    command:
+      - --config.file=/etc/blackbox_exporter/blackbox.yml
+    ports:
+      - "9115:9115"
+    volumes:
+      - ./monitoring/blackbox/blackbox.yml:/etc/blackbox_exporter/blackbox.yml:ro
+
+volumes:
+  prometheus_data:
+  grafana_data:
diff --git a/monitoring/README.md b/monitoring/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6d263e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/monitoring/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+# Rythmify Monitoring
+
+This stack runs Prometheus, Grafana, node_exporter, nginx_exporter, and blackbox_exporter on the Dir 2 VM.
+
+## Architecture
+
+- Prometheus scrapes every 15 seconds.
+- Backend app metrics are scraped from `host.docker.internal:8080/metrics`.
+- VM CPU, memory, and disk metrics come from `node_exporter`.
+- Nginx metrics come from `nginx_exporter`, which reads `http://host.docker.internal/nginx_status`.
+- Public uptime checks are run through `blackbox_exporter` for:
+  - `http://rythmify.duckdns.org/`
+  - `http://rythmify-back.duckdns.org/`
+  - `http://rythmify-back.duckdns.org/metrics`
+- Grafana provisions Prometheus as the default data source and email alerts for core health signals.
+
+## VM Access
+
+```powershell
+ssh -i "C:\Users\alaba\OneDrive\Desktop\rythmify-app-vm_key.pem" rythmify@20.196.3.253
+```
+
+## Nginx stub_status
+
+Add this location to the Nginx server block that listens on localhost:
+
+```nginx
+location /nginx_status {
+    stub_status;
+    allow 127.0.0.1;
+    allow 172.16.0.0/12;
+    allow 172.17.0.0/16;
+    deny all;
+}
+```
+
+Validate and reload Nginx:
+
+```bash
+sudo nginx -t
+sudo systemctl reload nginx
+curl http://localhost/nginx_status
+```
+
+## Environment
+
+Create a runtime environment file from the example:
+
+```bash
+cp monitoring/.env.monitoring.example .env.monitoring
+```
+
+Edit `.env.monitoring` and replace `SMTP_PASSWORD` with a Gmail app password. Do not commit `.env.monitoring`.
+
+## Docker Commands
+
+Start the stack:
+
+```bash
+docker compose --env-file .env.monitoring -f docker-compose.monitoring.yml up -d
+```
+
+Check containers:
+
+```bash
+docker compose --env-file .env.monitoring -f docker-compose.monitoring.yml ps
+```
+
+View logs:
+
+```bash
+docker compose --env-file .env.monitoring -f docker-compose.monitoring.yml logs -f prometheus grafana
+```
+
+Restart after config changes:
+
+```bash
+docker compose --env-file .env.monitoring -f docker-compose.monitoring.yml restart prometheus grafana
+```
+
+Stop the stack:
+
+```bash
+docker compose --env-file .env.monitoring -f docker-compose.monitoring.yml down
+```
+
+## Verification
+
+```bash
+curl http://localhost:9090/-/ready
+curl http://localhost:9115/-/healthy
+curl http://localhost/nginx_status
+curl http://localhost:9090/api/v1/targets
+```
+
+Open Grafana:
+
+```text
+http://20.196.3.253:3000
+```
+
+Default credentials are configured through `.env.monitoring`.
+
+## Alerts
+
+Grafana provisions alerts for:
+
+- backend down
+- high CPU
+- high memory
+- disk full
+- high backend error rate
+- high backend latency
+- public endpoint down
+
+## Troubleshooting
+
+- If `backend_metrics` is down, verify the backend is listening on VM port `8080` and `curl http://localhost:8080/metrics` works on the VM.
+- If `nginx_exporter` is down, verify `curl http://localhost/nginx_status` works on the VM and that the Nginx allow list includes Docker bridge ranges.
+- If blackbox targets are down, run `curl -I` against each public URL from the VM.
+- If Grafana email alerts do not send, verify `GF_SMTP_ENABLED=true`, `SMTP_HOST`, `SMTP_USER`, and the app password in `.env.monitoring`.
+- If Prometheus cannot resolve `host.docker.internal`, confirm the compose services include `extra_hosts: host.docker.internal:host-gateway` and the host has a recent Docker Engine.
diff --git a/monitoring/blackbox/blackbox.yml b/monitoring/blackbox/blackbox.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..383a16f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/monitoring/blackbox/blackbox.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+modules:
+  http_2xx:
+    prober: http
+    timeout: 5s
+    http:
+      method: GET
+      preferred_ip_protocol: ip4
+      valid_http_versions:
+        - HTTP/1.1
+        - HTTP/2.0
+      valid_status_codes: []
diff --git a/monitoring/grafana/provisioning/alerting/alerts.yml b/monitoring/grafana/provisioning/alerting/alerts.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7135484
--- /dev/null
+++ b/monitoring/grafana/provisioning/alerting/alerts.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,297 @@
+apiVersion: 1
+
+contactPoints:
+  - orgId: 1
+    name: Rythmify Email
+    receivers:
+      - uid: rythmify-email
+        type: email
+        settings:
+          addresses: ${ALERT_EMAIL_TO}
+          singleEmail: true
+
+policies:
+  - orgId: 1
+    receiver: Rythmify Email
+    group_by:
+      - grafana_folder
+      - alertname
+
+groups:
+  - orgId: 1
+    name: Rythmify Monitoring Alerts
+    folder: Rythmify Monitoring
+    interval: 1m
+    rules:
+      - uid: backend-down
+        title: Backend Down
+        condition: C
+        data:
+          - refId: A
+            datasourceUid: prometheus
+            relativeTimeRange:
+              from: 300
+              to: 0
+            model:
+              expr: up{job="backend_metrics"} == 0
+              instant: true
+              refId: A
+          - refId: C
+            datasourceUid: __expr__
+            model:
+              conditions:
+                - evaluator:
+                    params:
+                      - 0
+                    type: gt
+                  operator:
+                    type: and
+                  query:
+                    params:
+                      - A
+                  reducer:
+                    type: last
+                  type: query
+              refId: C
+              type: classic_conditions
+        noDataState: Alerting
+        execErrState: Alerting
+        for: 2m
+        annotations:
+          summary: Backend metrics endpoint is down
+        labels:
+          severity: critical
+
+      - uid: high-cpu
+        title: High CPU
+        condition: C
+        data:
+          - refId: A
+            datasourceUid: prometheus
+            relativeTimeRange:
+              from: 300
+              to: 0
+            model:
+              expr: 100 - (avg by (instance) (rate(node_cpu_seconds_total{mode="idle"}[5m])) * 100) > 85
+              instant: true
+              refId: A
+          - refId: C
+            datasourceUid: __expr__
+            model:
+              conditions:
+                - evaluator:
+                    params:
+                      - 0
+                    type: gt
+                  operator:
+                    type: and
+                  query:
+                    params:
+                      - A
+                  reducer:
+                    type: last
+                  type: query
+              refId: C
+              type: classic_conditions
+        noDataState: NoData
+        execErrState: Error
+        for: 5m
+        annotations:
+          summary: VM CPU usage is above 85%
+        labels:
+          severity: warning
+
+      - uid: high-memory
+        title: High Memory
+        condition: C
+        data:
+          - refId: A
+            datasourceUid: prometheus
+            relativeTimeRange:
+              from: 300
+              to: 0
+            model:
+              expr: (1 - (node_memory_MemAvailable_bytes / node_memory_MemTotal_bytes)) * 100 > 85
+              instant: true
+              refId: A
+          - refId: C
+            datasourceUid: __expr__
+            model:
+              conditions:
+                - evaluator:
+                    params:
+                      - 0
+                    type: gt
+                  operator:
+                    type: and
+                  query:
+                    params:
+                      - A
+                  reducer:
+                    type: last
+                  type: query
+              refId: C
+              type: classic_conditions
+        noDataState: NoData
+        execErrState: Error
+        for: 5m
+        annotations:
+          summary: VM memory usage is above 85%
+        labels:
+          severity: warning
+
+      - uid: disk-full
+        title: Disk Full
+        condition: C
+        data:
+          - refId: A
+            datasourceUid: prometheus
+            relativeTimeRange:
+              from: 300
+              to: 0
+            model:
+              expr: (1 - (node_filesystem_avail_bytes{fstype!~"tmpfs|overlay|squashfs"} / node_filesystem_size_bytes{fstype!~"tmpfs|overlay|squashfs"})) * 100 > 85
+              instant: true
+              refId: A
+          - refId: C
+            datasourceUid: __expr__
+            model:
+              conditions:
+                - evaluator:
+                    params:
+                      - 0
+                    type: gt
+                  operator:
+                    type: and
+                  query:
+                    params:
+                      - A
+                  reducer:
+                    type: last
+                  type: query
+              refId: C
+              type: classic_conditions
+        noDataState: NoData
+        execErrState: Error
+        for: 5m
+        annotations:
+          summary: VM disk usage is above 85%
+        labels:
+          severity: warning
+
+      - uid: high-error-rate
+        title: High Error Rate
+        condition: C
+        data:
+          - refId: A
+            datasourceUid: prometheus
+            relativeTimeRange:
+              from: 300
+              to: 0
+            model:
+              expr: sum(rate(http_errors_total[5m])) / clamp_min(sum(rate(http_requests_total[5m])), 1) > 0.05
+              instant: true
+              refId: A
+          - refId: C
+            datasourceUid: __expr__
+            model:
+              conditions:
+                - evaluator:
+                    params:
+                      - 0
+                    type: gt
+                  operator:
+                    type: and
+                  query:
+                    params:
+                      - A
+                  reducer:
+                    type: last
+                  type: query
+              refId: C
+              type: classic_conditions
+        noDataState: NoData
+        execErrState: Error
+        for: 5m
+        annotations:
+          summary: Backend HTTP error rate is above 5%
+        labels:
+          severity: warning
+
+      - uid: high-latency
+        title: High Latency
+        condition: C
+        data:
+          - refId: A
+            datasourceUid: prometheus
+            relativeTimeRange:
+              from: 300
+              to: 0
+            model:
+              expr: histogram_quantile(0.95, sum by (le) (rate(http_request_duration_seconds_bucket[5m]))) > 1
+              instant: true
+              refId: A
+          - refId: C
+            datasourceUid: __expr__
+            model:
+              conditions:
+                - evaluator:
+                    params:
+                      - 0
+                    type: gt
+                  operator:
+                    type: and
+                  query:
+                    params:
+                      - A
+                  reducer:
+                    type: last
+                  type: query
+              refId: C
+              type: classic_conditions
+        noDataState: NoData
+        execErrState: Error
+        for: 5m
+        annotations:
+          summary: Backend p95 latency is above 1 second
+        labels:
+          severity: warning
+
+      - uid: public-endpoint-down
+        title: Public Endpoint Down
+        condition: C
+        data:
+          - refId: A
+            datasourceUid: prometheus
+            relativeTimeRange:
+              from: 300
+              to: 0
+            model:
+              expr: probe_success{job="blackbox"} == 0
+              instant: true
+              refId: A
+          - refId: C
+            datasourceUid: __expr__
+            model:
+              conditions:
+                - evaluator:
+                    params:
+                      - 0
+                    type: gt
+                  operator:
+                    type: and
+                  query:
+                    params:
+                      - A
+                  reducer:
+                    type: last
+                  type: query
+              refId: C
+              type: classic_conditions
+        noDataState: Alerting
+        execErrState: Alerting
+        for: 2m
+        annotations:
+          summary: One or more public Rythmify endpoints are down
+        labels:
+          severity: critical
diff --git a/monitoring/grafana/provisioning/datasources/prometheus.yml b/monitoring/grafana/provisioning/datasources/prometheus.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..00f9915
--- /dev/null
+++ b/monitoring/grafana/provisioning/datasources/prometheus.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+apiVersion: 1
+
+datasources:
+  - name: Prometheus
+    uid: prometheus
+    type: prometheus
+    access: proxy
+    url: http://prometheus:9090
+    isDefault: true
+    editable: false
diff --git a/monitoring/prometheus/prometheus.yml b/monitoring/prometheus/prometheus.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7858acc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/monitoring/prometheus/prometheus.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+global:
+  scrape_interval: 15s
+
+scrape_configs:
+  - job_name: prometheus
+    static_configs:
+      - targets:
+          - prometheus:9090
+
+  - job_name: node_exporter
+    static_configs:
+      - targets:
+          - node_exporter:9100
+
+  - job_name: nginx_exporter
+    static_configs:
+      - targets:
+          - nginx_exporter:9113
+
+  - job_name: backend_metrics
+    metrics_path: /metrics
+    static_configs:
+      - targets:
+          - host.docker.internal:8080
+
+  - job_name: blackbox
+    metrics_path: /probe
+    params:
+      module:
+        - http_2xx
+    static_configs:
+      - targets:
+          - http://rythmify.duckdns.org/
+          - http://rythmify-back.duckdns.org/
+          - http://rythmify-back.duckdns.org/metrics
+    relabel_configs:
+      - source_labels: [__address__]
+        target_label: __param_target
+      - source_labels: [__param_target]
+        target_label: instance
+      - target_label: __address__
+        replacement: blackbox_exporter:9115