diff --git a/server/src/index.ts b/server/src/index.ts
index e1c4c3bc6..91a7764af 100644
--- a/server/src/index.ts
+++ b/server/src/index.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import fs from 'node:fs';
 import http from 'node:http';
 import type { INestApplication } from '@nestjs/common';
 import { buildApp } from './bootstrap';
+import { BackupService } from './nest/backup/backup.service';
 
 // Create upload and data directories on startup.
 // Every uploads subdir the app writes to must be listed here (#1762): a dir
@@ -87,6 +88,10 @@ const onListen = () => {
   if (env.demo.enabled && env.app.isProduction) {
     sLogWarn('SECURITY WARNING: DEMO_MODE is enabled in production!');
   }
+  // The scheduler runs outside the container but needs things inside it. It is
+  // handed them here, from the app buildApp() already initialised, rather than
+  // reaching for src/services at call time.
+  scheduler.setSchedulerDeps({ backups: nestApp.get(BackupService) });
   scheduler.start();
   scheduler.startTripReminders();
   scheduler.startTodoReminders();
diff --git a/server/src/nest/backup/backup.service.ts b/server/src/nest/backup/backup.service.ts
index ea9fddfa4..f2c66429c 100644
--- a/server/src/nest/backup/backup.service.ts
+++ b/server/src/nest/backup/backup.service.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import * as svc from '../../services/backupService';
 @Injectable()
 export class BackupService {
   listBackups() { return svc.listBackups(); }
-  createBackup() { return svc.createBackup(); }
+  createBackup(prefix?: 'backup' | 'auto-backup') { return svc.createBackup(prefix); }
   restoreFromZip(zipPath: string) { return svc.restoreFromZip(zipPath); }
   getAutoSettings() { return svc.getAutoSettings(); }
   updateAutoSettings(body: Record<string, unknown>) { return svc.updateAutoSettings(body); }
diff --git a/server/src/scheduler.ts b/server/src/scheduler.ts
index affdd225f..4b05cb5b2 100644
--- a/server/src/scheduler.ts
+++ b/server/src/scheduler.ts
@@ -57,6 +57,31 @@ function saveSettings(settings: BackupSettings): void {
   fs.writeFileSync(settingsFile, JSON.stringify(settings, null, 2));
 }
 
+/**
+ * What the scheduler needs from the Nest container.
+ *
+ * The shapes are structural on purpose: the scheduler names the capability it
+ * wants, never the provider class. Importing BackupService here would drag in
+ * src/nest/backup → src/services/backupService → src/scheduler and put the
+ * cycle straight back — the same cycle the lazy `await import()` in runBackup
+ * existed to dodge.
+ *
+ * index.ts fills this in from the container after buildApp(), the way
+ * bootstrap.ts hands the /mcp handler its registry. Nothing here is resolved at
+ * import time, so the scheduler stays loadable without a container (which is
+ * what its unit tests rely on).
+ */
+export interface SchedulerDeps {
+  backups: { createBackup(prefix?: 'backup' | 'auto-backup'): Promise<{ filename: string }> };
+}
+
+let deps: SchedulerDeps | undefined;
+
+/** Hand the scheduler its container-resolved dependencies. Call after app.init(). */
+export function setSchedulerDeps(next: SchedulerDeps): void {
+  deps = next;
+}
+
 async function runBackup(): Promise<void> {
   try {
     // Same archive the admin panel builds, only under the auto-backup name: it
@@ -64,10 +89,12 @@ async function runBackup(): Promise<void> {
     // (the archiver reads its entries during finalize, so a WAL auto-checkpoint
     // landing in between tears the copy), and it carries .encryption_key and the
     // plugin trees — without the key a scheduled backup cannot be decrypted on
-    // another install. Imported lazily because backupService imports this module
-    // for the schedule settings.
-    const { createBackup } = await import('./services/backupService');
-    const { filename } = await createBackup('auto-backup');
+    // another install.
+    if (!deps) {
+      logError('Auto-Backup: skipped, the scheduler was started without its container dependencies');
+      return;
+    }
+    const { filename } = await deps.backups.createBackup('auto-backup');
     logInfo(`Auto-Backup created: ${filename}`);
   } catch (err: unknown) {
     // createBackup removes its own half-written zip before rethrowing.
diff --git a/server/tests/unit/auto-backup.test.ts b/server/tests/unit/auto-backup.test.ts
index cdf2c03b2..6994d509b 100644
--- a/server/tests/unit/auto-backup.test.ts
+++ b/server/tests/unit/auto-backup.test.ts
@@ -62,7 +62,8 @@ vi.mock('../../src/config', () => ({
 }));
 
 import path from 'node:path';
-import { start } from '../../src/scheduler';
+import { start, setSchedulerDeps } from '../../src/scheduler';
+import { createBackup } from '../../src/services/backupService';
 
 const liveDb = path.join(__dirname, '../../data', 'travel.db');
 
@@ -82,6 +83,9 @@ function stubArchiver(): Record<string, (arg?: unknown) => void> {
 /** Starts the scheduler with auto-backup enabled and hands back the cron callback. */
 function scheduledRun(): () => Promise<void> {
   fsMock.readFileSync.mockReturnValue(JSON.stringify({ enabled: true, interval: 'daily', keep_days: 7 }));
+  // The same wiring index.ts does from the container, with the real service
+  // function behind it — the run below is still the production code path.
+  setSchedulerDeps({ backups: { createBackup } });
   start();
   return cronMock.schedule.mock.calls.at(-1)?.[1] as () => Promise<void>;
 }
@@ -154,3 +158,22 @@ describe('auto-backup run', () => {
     expect(fsMock.readdirSync).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 });
+
+describe('auto-backup without container dependencies', () => {
+  it('logs and skips instead of throwing when setSchedulerDeps was never called', async () => {
+    // A fresh module registry, so the deps this file's other cases install are
+    // not still sitting in the scheduler's module state.
+    vi.resetModules();
+    const { start: freshStart } = await import('../../src/scheduler');
+
+    vi.clearAllMocks();
+    fsMock.readFileSync.mockReturnValue(JSON.stringify({ enabled: true, interval: 'daily', keep_days: 7 }));
+    freshStart();
+    await (cronMock.schedule.mock.calls.at(-1)?.[1] as () => Promise<void>)();
+
+    expect(logMock.logError).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      'Auto-Backup: skipped, the scheduler was started without its container dependencies',
+    );
+    expect(archiverMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+});