diff --git a/backend/app/scripts/__init__.py b/backend/app/scripts/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d3c54b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/scripts/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"""Operational scripts run from the container entrypoint or CLI."""
diff --git a/backend/app/scripts/download_models.py b/backend/app/scripts/download_models.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39131a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/scripts/download_models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+"""Self-heal model weights into /models. Idempotent — only missing files
+are fetched. Called by the ml-worker entrypoint before Celery starts.
+"""
+
+import os
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+MODEL_ROOT = Path(os.environ.get("ML_MODEL_DIR", "/models"))
+CAMIE_REPO = os.environ.get("CAMIE_HF_REPO", "Camais03/camie-tagger-v2")
+SIGLIP_REPO = os.environ.get(
+    "SIGLIP_HF_REPO", "google/siglip-so400m-patch14-384"
+)
+
+
+def _snapshot(repo_id: str, dest: Path, allow_patterns: list[str] | None) -> None:
+    from huggingface_hub import snapshot_download
+
+    dest.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    snapshot_download(
+        repo_id=repo_id,
+        local_dir=str(dest),
+        allow_patterns=allow_patterns,
+    )
+
+
+def ensure_camie() -> None:
+    dest = MODEL_ROOT / "camie"
+    if (dest / "model.onnx").is_file() and (dest / "selected_tags.csv").is_file():
+        print(f"[download_models] Camie present at {dest}")
+        return
+    print(f"[download_models] Fetching {CAMIE_REPO} -> {dest}")
+    _snapshot(CAMIE_REPO, dest, ["model.onnx", "selected_tags.csv", "*.json"])
+
+
+def ensure_siglip() -> None:
+    dest = MODEL_ROOT / "siglip"
+    if (dest / "config.json").is_file() and any(dest.glob("*.safetensors")):
+        print(f"[download_models] SigLIP present at {dest}")
+        return
+    print(f"[download_models] Fetching {SIGLIP_REPO} -> {dest}")
+    _snapshot(SIGLIP_REPO, dest, None)
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    ensure_camie()
+    ensure_siglip()
+    print("[download_models] Done.")
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main())
diff --git a/backend/app/tasks/import_file.py b/backend/app/tasks/import_file.py
index e350909..bcc83db 100644
--- a/backend/app/tasks/import_file.py
+++ b/backend/app/tasks/import_file.py
@@ -95,11 +95,13 @@ def import_media_file(self, import_task_id: int) -> dict:
         session.add(task)
         session.commit()
 
-        # Enqueue the thumbnail task for newly imported images.
+        # Enqueue the thumbnail + ML tasks for newly imported images.
         if result.status == "imported" and result.image_id is not None:
+            from .ml import tag_and_embed
             from .thumbnail import generate_thumbnail
 
             generate_thumbnail.delay(result.image_id)
+            tag_and_embed.delay(result.image_id)
 
         # If this was the last task in the batch, mark the batch complete.
         remaining = session.execute(
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index 53a6f6a..3d9cdf5 100755
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ case "$ROLE" in
     ;;
 
   ml-worker)
+    echo "[entrypoint] Ensuring ML models present in /models..."
+    python -m backend.app.scripts.download_models
     echo "[entrypoint] Starting ML Celery worker (ml queue)"
     exec celery -A backend.app.celery_app:celery worker \
       --loglevel=info \
diff --git a/tests/test_download_models.py b/tests/test_download_models.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..edd13be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_download_models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+"""download_models tests. No network in CI; we test the 'already present →
+skip' short-circuit by faking the expected files, and that main() wires
+both ensure_* calls.
+"""
+
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from backend.app.scripts import download_models as dm
+
+
+def test_ensure_camie_skips_when_present(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dm, "MODEL_ROOT", tmp_path)
+    camie = tmp_path / "camie"
+    camie.mkdir(parents=True)
+    (camie / "model.onnx").write_bytes(b"x")
+    (camie / "selected_tags.csv").write_text("tag_id,name,category,count\n")
+    with patch.object(dm, "_snapshot") as snap:
+        dm.ensure_camie()
+        snap.assert_not_called()
+
+
+def test_ensure_camie_downloads_when_missing(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dm, "MODEL_ROOT", tmp_path)
+    with patch.object(dm, "_snapshot") as snap:
+        dm.ensure_camie()
+        snap.assert_called_once()
+
+
+def test_ensure_siglip_skips_when_present(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dm, "MODEL_ROOT", tmp_path)
+    sig = tmp_path / "siglip"
+    sig.mkdir(parents=True)
+    (sig / "config.json").write_text("{}")
+    (sig / "model.safetensors").write_bytes(b"x")
+    with patch.object(dm, "_snapshot") as snap:
+        dm.ensure_siglip()
+        snap.assert_not_called()
+
+
+def test_main_calls_both(monkeypatch):
+    calls = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dm, "ensure_camie", lambda: calls.append("camie"))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dm, "ensure_siglip", lambda: calls.append("siglip"))
+    assert dm.main() == 0
+    assert calls == ["camie", "siglip"]