diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
index d9de5145..7335ff93 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
@@ -50,12 +50,31 @@ jobs:
           export PNPM_CONFIG_ONLY_BUILT_DEPENDENCIES="@parcel/watcher,@swc/core,sharp"
           pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
 
-          # 5. [SAFETY] Database Backup & Migration
-          # TIP: Adjust this to your database (e.g., pg_dump for Postgres or cp for SQLite)
+          # 5. [SAFETY] Database Backup with Rotation (Keeps only last 5 backups)
           echo "Creating database backup..."
-          # Example for SQLite:
-          # cp prisma/dev.db prisma/backup_prior_to_deploy.db
+          BACKUP_DIR="/var/www/atom-nexst/backups"
+          mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
           
+          TIMESTAMP=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
+          BACKUP_FILE="$BACKUP_DIR/db_backup_$TIMESTAMP.sql"
+
+          # ----------------- DATABASE CONFIGURATION -----------------
+          # Read credentials directly from your .env file or environment if available,
+          # or customize these variables to match your system.
+          DB_USER="root"
+          DB_NAME="epicnext"
+          # ----------------------------------------------------------
+
+          # Create a secure, compressed backup using mysqldump
+          # Note: If your MySQL requires a password, add '-pYourPassword' (no space after -p) 
+          # or configure a secure /home/user/.my.cnf file to read credentials automatically.
+          mysqldump -u "$DB_USER" "$DB_NAME" > "$BACKUP_FILE"
+
+          echo "Rotating older backups (keeping only the 5 newest files)..."
+          # Lists backup files newest first, skips the first 5, and deletes any remaining older files
+          ls -dt "$BACKUP_DIR"/db_backup_*.sql | tail -n +6 | xargs -r rm
+
+          # Apply versioned CMS migrations and generate the Prisma client safely
           pnpm db:migrate
           pnpm prisma:generate