diff --git a/backend/main.py b/backend/main.py
index 84c22b3..53abc33 100644
--- a/backend/main.py
+++ b/backend/main.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from fastapi import FastAPI
 from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware
 
 from config import get_settings
-from routers import creators, health, videos
+from routers import creators, health, ingest, videos
 
 
 def _setup_logging() -> None:
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ app.include_router(health.router)
 
 # Versioned API
 app.include_router(creators.router, prefix="/api/v1")
+app.include_router(ingest.router, prefix="/api/v1")
 app.include_router(videos.router, prefix="/api/v1")
 
 
diff --git a/backend/requirements.txt b/backend/requirements.txt
index 95a393b..5f1315a 100644
--- a/backend/requirements.txt
+++ b/backend/requirements.txt
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@ pydantic-settings>=2.0,<3.0
 celery[redis]>=5.4.0,<6.0
 redis>=5.0,<6.0
 python-dotenv>=1.0,<2.0
+python-multipart>=0.0.9,<1.0
 httpx>=0.27.0,<1.0
diff --git a/backend/routers/ingest.py b/backend/routers/ingest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a08ce7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/routers/ingest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,193 @@
+"""Transcript ingestion endpoint for the Chrysopedia API.
+
+Accepts a Whisper-format transcript JSON via multipart file upload, finds or
+creates a Creator, upserts a SourceVideo, bulk-inserts TranscriptSegments,
+persists the raw JSON to disk, and returns a structured response.
+"""
+
+import json
+import logging
+import os
+import re
+import uuid
+
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, UploadFile
+from sqlalchemy import delete, select
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
+
+from config import get_settings
+from database import get_session
+from models import ContentType, Creator, ProcessingStatus, SourceVideo, TranscriptSegment
+from schemas import TranscriptIngestResponse
+
+logger = logging.getLogger("chrysopedia.ingest")
+
+router = APIRouter(prefix="/ingest", tags=["ingest"])
+
+REQUIRED_KEYS = {"source_file", "creator_folder", "duration_seconds", "segments"}
+
+
+def slugify(value: str) -> str:
+    """Lowercase, replace non-alphanumeric chars with hyphens, collapse/strip."""
+    value = value.lower()
+    value = re.sub(r"[^a-z0-9]+", "-", value)
+    value = value.strip("-")
+    value = re.sub(r"-{2,}", "-", value)
+    return value
+
+
+@router.post("", response_model=TranscriptIngestResponse)
+async def ingest_transcript(
+    file: UploadFile,
+    db: AsyncSession = Depends(get_session),
+) -> TranscriptIngestResponse:
+    """Ingest a Whisper transcript JSON file.
+
+    Workflow:
+      1. Parse and validate the uploaded JSON.
+      2. Find-or-create a Creator by folder_name.
+      3. Upsert a SourceVideo by (creator_id, filename).
+      4. Bulk-insert TranscriptSegment rows.
+      5. Save raw JSON to transcript_storage_path.
+      6. Return structured response.
+    """
+    settings = get_settings()
+
+    # ── 1. Read & parse JSON ─────────────────────────────────────────────
+    try:
+        raw_bytes = await file.read()
+        raw_text = raw_bytes.decode("utf-8")
+    except Exception as exc:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail=f"Invalid file: {exc}") from exc
+
+    try:
+        data = json.loads(raw_text)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError as exc:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=422, detail=f"JSON parse error: {exc}"
+        ) from exc
+
+    if not isinstance(data, dict):
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=422, detail="Expected a JSON object at the top level")
+
+    missing = REQUIRED_KEYS - data.keys()
+    if missing:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=422,
+            detail=f"Missing required keys: {', '.join(sorted(missing))}",
+        )
+
+    source_file: str = data["source_file"]
+    creator_folder: str = data["creator_folder"]
+    duration_seconds: int | None = data.get("duration_seconds")
+    segments_data: list = data["segments"]
+
+    if not isinstance(segments_data, list):
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=422, detail="'segments' must be an array")
+
+    # ── 2. Find-or-create Creator ────────────────────────────────────────
+    stmt = select(Creator).where(Creator.folder_name == creator_folder)
+    result = await db.execute(stmt)
+    creator = result.scalar_one_or_none()
+
+    if creator is None:
+        creator = Creator(
+            name=creator_folder,
+            slug=slugify(creator_folder),
+            folder_name=creator_folder,
+        )
+        db.add(creator)
+        await db.flush()  # assign id
+
+    # ── 3. Upsert SourceVideo ────────────────────────────────────────────
+    stmt = select(SourceVideo).where(
+        SourceVideo.creator_id == creator.id,
+        SourceVideo.filename == source_file,
+    )
+    result = await db.execute(stmt)
+    existing_video = result.scalar_one_or_none()
+
+    is_reupload = existing_video is not None
+
+    if is_reupload:
+        video = existing_video
+        # Delete old segments for idempotent re-upload
+        await db.execute(
+            delete(TranscriptSegment).where(
+                TranscriptSegment.source_video_id == video.id
+            )
+        )
+        video.duration_seconds = duration_seconds
+        video.processing_status = ProcessingStatus.transcribed
+    else:
+        video = SourceVideo(
+            creator_id=creator.id,
+            filename=source_file,
+            file_path=f"{creator_folder}/{source_file}",
+            duration_seconds=duration_seconds,
+            content_type=ContentType.tutorial,
+            processing_status=ProcessingStatus.transcribed,
+        )
+        db.add(video)
+        await db.flush()  # assign id
+
+    # ── 4. Bulk-insert TranscriptSegments ────────────────────────────────
+    segment_objs = [
+        TranscriptSegment(
+            source_video_id=video.id,
+            start_time=float(seg["start"]),
+            end_time=float(seg["end"]),
+            text=str(seg["text"]),
+            segment_index=idx,
+        )
+        for idx, seg in enumerate(segments_data)
+    ]
+    db.add_all(segment_objs)
+
+    # ── 5. Save raw JSON to disk ─────────────────────────────────────────
+    transcript_dir = os.path.join(
+        settings.transcript_storage_path, creator_folder
+    )
+    transcript_path = os.path.join(transcript_dir, f"{source_file}.json")
+
+    try:
+        os.makedirs(transcript_dir, exist_ok=True)
+        with open(transcript_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+            f.write(raw_text)
+    except OSError as exc:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=500, detail=f"Failed to save transcript: {exc}"
+        ) from exc
+
+    video.transcript_path = transcript_path
+
+    # ── 6. Commit & respond ──────────────────────────────────────────────
+    try:
+        await db.commit()
+    except Exception as exc:
+        await db.rollback()
+        logger.error("Database commit failed during ingest: %s", exc)
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=500, detail="Database error during ingest"
+        ) from exc
+
+    await db.refresh(video)
+    await db.refresh(creator)
+
+    logger.info(
+        "Ingested transcript: creator=%s, file=%s, segments=%d, reupload=%s",
+        creator.name,
+        source_file,
+        len(segment_objs),
+        is_reupload,
+    )
+
+    return TranscriptIngestResponse(
+        video_id=video.id,
+        creator_id=creator.id,
+        creator_name=creator.name,
+        filename=source_file,
+        segments_stored=len(segment_objs),
+        processing_status=video.processing_status.value,
+        is_reupload=is_reupload,
+    )
diff --git a/backend/schemas.py b/backend/schemas.py
index 2422d70..ad8092f 100644
--- a/backend/schemas.py
+++ b/backend/schemas.py
@@ -173,6 +173,19 @@ class TagRead(TagBase):
     id: uuid.UUID
 
 
+# ── Transcript Ingestion ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+class TranscriptIngestResponse(BaseModel):
+    """Response returned after successfully ingesting a transcript."""
+    video_id: uuid.UUID
+    creator_id: uuid.UUID
+    creator_name: str
+    filename: str
+    segments_stored: int
+    processing_status: str
+    is_reupload: bool
+
+
 # ── Pagination wrapper ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 class PaginatedResponse(BaseModel):