diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6bbf220..a0b986e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -17,17 +17,24 @@ nix run                # installs vendors on first run, starts MariaDB, serves b
 - site: http://127.0.0.1:8000
 - CMS:  http://127.0.0.1:8001
 
-The site's article pages need the production schema, which only exists in the prod DB:
+### Database
+
+`dev/schema.sql` is the schema (10 tables, no `category` table — `category_id` 1/2 is hardcoded).
+It is derived from the production dump and applied automatically on every `db start`
+(idempotent), so a fresh checkout serves empty pages with no 500s. There are no Laravel
+migrations for these tables; edit `dev/schema.sql` when prod changes.
+
+To work with real content, load a production dump (drops and recreates the local DB):
 
 ```sh
-mysqldump greaterc_db2024 > dump.sql     # on the server
-nix run . -- db import dump.sql
+nix run . -- db import .dev/greaterc_db2024.sql   # phpMyAdmin export, kept out of git
+nix run . -- db reset                             # back to empty schema
 ```
 
 `nix run . -- <cmd>` forwards to the `dev` script; `nix develop` drops you into a shell with
 `dev`, `php`, `composer`, `mariadb`, `node` on PATH (direnv: `.envrc` → `use flake`).
 
-Other commands: `dev db start|stop|status|shell`, `dev serve frontend|backend`,
+Other commands: `dev db start|stop|status|shell|reset|import`, `dev serve frontend|backend`,
 `dev artisan <app> ...`, `dev down`. See `dev help`.
 
 The local DB listens on `127.0.0.1:3307` (override with `DEV_DB_PORT`); the `dev` script
diff --git a/dev/dev b/dev/dev
index 54a2cac..17b9985 100755
--- a/dev/dev
+++ b/dev/dev
@@ -29,9 +29,10 @@ usage() {
 Usage: dev <command>
 
   setup                 composer install both apps + init local MariaDB
-  db start|stop|status  manage local MariaDB (data in .dev/mysql, port $DB_PORT)
+  db start|stop|status  manage local MariaDB (data in .dev/mysql, port $DB_PORT); start applies dev/schema.sql
   db shell              mysql client on the local DB
-  db import <dump.sql>  load a production dump (schema lives only in the prod DB)
+  db import <dump.sql>  drop + recreate the DB from a production dump (schema + data)
+  db reset              drop + recreate the DB with dev/schema.sql only (empty tables)
   serve frontend        php artisan serve  -> http://127.0.0.1:$FRONTEND_PORT
   serve backend         php artisan serve  -> http://127.0.0.1:$BACKEND_PORT
   up                    db + both apps; Ctrl-C stops everything
@@ -81,9 +82,19 @@ CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS '$DB_USER'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY '$DB_PASS';
 GRANT ALL ON \`$DB_NAME\`.* TO '$DB_USER'@'127.0.0.1', '$DB_USER'@'localhost';
 FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 SQL
+    db_apply_schema
     echo "db: listening on 127.0.0.1:$DB_PORT (pid $(cat "$MYSQL_PID"))"
 }
 
+# Idempotent (CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS), so safe on every start; a no-op once tables exist.
+db_apply_schema() {
+    mariadb --socket="$MYSQL_SOCK" -uroot "$DB_NAME" <"$ROOT/dev/schema.sql"
+}
+
+db_recreate() {
+    mariadb --socket="$MYSQL_SOCK" -uroot -e "DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS \`$DB_NAME\`; CREATE DATABASE \`$DB_NAME\` CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;"
+}
+
 db_stop() {
     db_running || { echo "db: not running"; return; }
     mariadb-admin --socket="$MYSQL_SOCK" -uroot shutdown
@@ -99,14 +110,24 @@ db_status() {
     fi
 }
 
+# phpMyAdmin dumps carry bare CREATE TABLEs, so start from an empty database.
 db_import() {
     local dump="${1:?usage: dev db import <dump.sql>}"
+    [ -f "$dump" ] || { echo "db: no such file: $dump" >&2; exit 1; }
     db_running || db_start
+    db_recreate
     mariadb --socket="$MYSQL_SOCK" -uroot "$DB_NAME" <"$dump"
     echo "db: imported $dump"
     mariadb --socket="$MYSQL_SOCK" -uroot "$DB_NAME" -e "SHOW TABLES"
 }
 
+db_reset() {
+    db_running || db_start
+    db_recreate
+    db_apply_schema
+    echo "db: reset to dev/schema.sql"
+}
+
 composer_install() {
     for app in "$FRONTEND" "$BACKEND"; do
         [ -f "$app/.env" ] || { echo "missing $app/.env" >&2; exit 1; }
@@ -118,7 +139,7 @@ serve() {
     local dir port
     dir="$(app_dir "$1")"
     case "$1" in frontend) port="$FRONTEND_PORT" ;; backend) port="$BACKEND_PORT" ;; esac
-    cd "$dir" && exec php artisan serve --host=127.0.0.1 --port="$port"
+    cd "$dir" && exec php artisan serve --no-reload --host=127.0.0.1 --port="$port"
 }
 
 up() {
@@ -135,15 +156,16 @@ up() {
         db_stop
     }
     trap cleanup EXIT INT TERM
-    (cd "$FRONTEND" && php artisan serve --host=127.0.0.1 --port="$FRONTEND_PORT") & pids+=($!)
-    (cd "$BACKEND" && php artisan serve --host=127.0.0.1 --port="$BACKEND_PORT") & pids+=($!)
+    # --no-reload: without it `artisan serve` drops our DB_*/APP_* overrides from the php -S child env.
+    (cd "$FRONTEND" && php artisan serve --no-reload --host=127.0.0.1 --port="$FRONTEND_PORT") & pids+=($!)
+    (cd "$BACKEND" && php artisan serve --no-reload --host=127.0.0.1 --port="$BACKEND_PORT") & pids+=($!)
     echo "frontend: http://127.0.0.1:$FRONTEND_PORT"
     echo "backend:  http://127.0.0.1:$BACKEND_PORT"
     wait
 }
 
 down() {
-    pkill -f "artisan serve --host=127.0.0.1 --port=($FRONTEND_PORT|$BACKEND_PORT)" 2>/dev/null || true
+    pkill -f "artisan serve --no-reload --host=127.0.0.1 --port=($FRONTEND_PORT|$BACKEND_PORT)" 2>/dev/null || true
     db_stop
 }
 
@@ -157,6 +179,7 @@ case "$cmd" in
             stop) db_stop ;;
             status) db_status ;;
             shell) db_running || db_start; exec mariadb --socket="$MYSQL_SOCK" -uroot "$DB_NAME" ;;
+            reset) db_reset ;;
             import) db_import "$@" ;;
             *) usage; exit 2 ;;
         esac ;;
diff --git a/dev/schema.sql b/dev/schema.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1317dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/schema.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+-- Schema for greaterc_db2024, derived from the production phpMyAdmin dump (MariaDB 10.6, 2025-11-03).
+-- Shared by think.greaterchiangmai.com (site) and think-backend.greaterchiangmai.com (CMS).
+-- No Laravel migrations exist for these tables; this file is the source of truth for local dev.
+-- Applied automatically by `dev db start` on an empty database. Idempotent.
+
+SET NAMES utf8mb4;
+SET time_zone = "+00:00";
+
+-- category_id: 1 = Chiang Mai ("no-where-else"), 2 = Where Else. There is no `category` table in prod.
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `sub_category` (
+  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `category_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `due_date` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
+  `name` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `name_en` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `description_en` longblob DEFAULT NULL,
+  `description` longblob DEFAULT NULL,
+  `active` int(11) DEFAULT 1 COMMENT '0 = inactive, 1 = active',
+  `created_at` datetime NOT NULL,
+  `updated_at` datetime NOT NULL,
+  `image_url` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `image_name` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb3 COLLATE=utf8mb3_general_ci;
+
+-- sub_category_ids: comma-separated sub_category.id list, queried with FIND_IN_SET.
+-- description / description_en: Editor.js JSON stored as binary.
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `article` (
+  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `category_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `sub_category_ids` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `due_date` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
+  `name` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `name_en` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `description_en` longblob DEFAULT NULL,
+  `description` longblob DEFAULT NULL,
+  `active` int(11) DEFAULT 1 COMMENT '0 = inactive, 1 = active',
+  `created_at` datetime NOT NULL,
+  `updated_at` datetime NOT NULL,
+  `image_url` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `image_name` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `count_view` int(11) DEFAULT 0,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb3 COLLATE=utf8mb3_general_ci;
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `folder` (
+  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
+  `folder_type` int(11) NOT NULL,
+  `created_at` datetime NOT NULL,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
+) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb3 COLLATE=utf8mb3_unicode_ci;
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `file_document` (
+  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `name` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `user_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `folder_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `created_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb3 COLLATE=utf8mb3_general_ci;
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `file_image` (
+  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `name` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `user_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `folder_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `created_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb3 COLLATE=utf8mb3_general_ci;
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `file_sound` (
+  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `name` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `user_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `folder_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `created_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb3 COLLATE=utf8mb3_general_ci;
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `file_video` (
+  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `name` text DEFAULT NULL,
+  `user_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `folder_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `created_at` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb3 COLLATE=utf8mb3_general_ci;
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `users` (
+  `id` bigint(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `first_name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `last_name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `phone` varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `email` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
+  `password` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
+  `remember_token` varchar(100) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `role` int(11) DEFAULT NULL COMMENT '0 = Admin, 1 = Editor, 2 = Contributor',
+  `active` int(11) DEFAULT 1 COMMENT '0 = inactive, 1 = active',
+  `image_url` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `image_name` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `forgot_password_token` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
+  `forgot_password_date` datetime DEFAULT NULL,
+  `created_at` timestamp NULL DEFAULT NULL,
+  `updated_at` timestamp NULL DEFAULT NULL,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
+  UNIQUE KEY `users_email_unique` (`email`),
+  KEY `id` (`id`)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb3 COLLATE=utf8mb3_general_ci;
+
+-- Laravel database cache driver (CACHE_DRIVER=database); the only table with a migration record.
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `cache` (
+  `id` bigint(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `key` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
+  `value` text NOT NULL,
+  `expiration` int(10) UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
+  `created_at` timestamp NULL DEFAULT NULL,
+  `updated_at` timestamp NULL DEFAULT NULL,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
+  UNIQUE KEY `cache_key_unique` (`key`)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `migrations` (
+  `id` int(10) UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
+  `migration` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
+  `batch` int(11) NOT NULL,
+  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
+) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
+
+INSERT IGNORE INTO `migrations` (`id`, `migration`, `batch`) VALUES
+(1, '2024_08_25_154254_create_cache_table', 1);