diff --git a/devops/production/bin/backup-postgres.sh b/devops/production/bin/backup-postgres.sh
index a15fbac..7d70c3a 100755
--- a/devops/production/bin/backup-postgres.sh
+++ b/devops/production/bin/backup-postgres.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ ROOT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
 SERVER_SERVICES_ROOT="/opt/syr/services/staging"
 DOCKER_WRAPPER="${SERVER_SERVICES_ROOT}/bin/docker"
 BACKUP_DIR="/opt/syr/backups/production/opensyria/postgres"
-POSTGRES_CONTAINER="infra-postgres"
 DATABASE_NAME="opensyria_datasets_production"
 LOCK_FILE="${ROOT_DIR}/.backup.lock"
 TEMP_DUMP=""
@@ -68,12 +67,10 @@ main() {
     && ! -e "${final_recovery}" && ! -L "${final_recovery}" ]] \
     || fail "Backup timestamp collision: ${timestamp}"
 
-  docker_cmd exec "${POSTGRES_CONTAINER}" sh -ceu \
-    'exec pg_dump --format=custom --no-owner --no-acl --exclude-extension=postgis --username="$POSTGRES_USER" --dbname="$1"' \
-    sh "${DATABASE_NAME}" > "${TEMP_DUMP}"
+  docker_cmd dump-opensyria-database > "${TEMP_DUMP}"
   [[ -s "${TEMP_DUMP}" ]] || fail "PostgreSQL produced an empty backup"
 
-  docker_cmd exec -i "${POSTGRES_CONTAINER}" pg_restore --list < "${TEMP_DUMP}" >/dev/null
+  docker_cmd validate-postgres-dump < "${TEMP_DUMP}" >/dev/null
   digest="$(sha256sum "${TEMP_DUMP}" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)"
   [[ "${digest}" =~ ^[0-9a-f]{64}$ ]] || fail "Could not calculate backup checksum"
   printf '%s  %s\n' "${digest}" "$(basename "${final_dump}")" > "${TEMP_CHECKSUM}"
diff --git a/devops/production/bin/deploy.sh b/devops/production/bin/deploy.sh
index fd19596..715847b 100755
--- a/devops/production/bin/deploy.sh
+++ b/devops/production/bin/deploy.sh
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ INFISICAL_LOGIN_HELPER="${SERVER_SERVICES_ROOT}/bin/infisical-login"
 COMPOSE_FILE="${ROOT_DIR}/docker-compose.app.yml"
 COMPOSE_ENV_FILE="${ROOT_DIR}/.deploy.env"
 RUNTIME_ENV_FILE="${ROOT_DIR}/env/api.env"
+API_RELEASE_PROBE="fetch('http://127.0.0.1:3000/health/ready').then(async (response)=>{const payload=await response.json();const data=payload.data??{};if(!response.ok||payload.success!==true)throw new Error('readiness failed');if(data.database?.status!=='up'||!data.database?.release)throw new Error('pinned read model is unavailable');if(!(data.database?.recordCount>0))throw new Error('pinned read model is empty');if(typeof data.app?.release!=='string'||!data.app.release)throw new Error('application release is unavailable');process.stdout.write(data.app.release)}).catch((error)=>{console.error(error.message);process.exit(1)})"
 INFISICAL_CONFIG_FILE="${ROOT_DIR}/.infisical.env"
 STATE_DIR="${ROOT_DIR}/state"
 ACTIVE_SLOT_FILE="${STATE_DIR}/active-slot"
@@ -217,29 +218,15 @@ wait_for_service_health() {
 verify_direct_release() {
   local slot="$1"
   local expected_release="$2"
-  local service
+  local service actual_release
 
   service="$(service_for_slot "${slot}")"
-  compose exec -T -e EXPECTED_RELEASE="${expected_release}" "${service}" node - <<'NODE'
-fetch('http://127.0.0.1:3000/health/ready')
-  .then(async (response) => {
-    const payload = await response.json()
-    const data = payload.data ?? {}
-    if (!response.ok || payload.success !== true) throw new Error('readiness failed')
-    if (data.app?.release !== process.env.EXPECTED_RELEASE) {
-      throw new Error('application release mismatch')
-    }
-    if (data.database?.status !== 'up' || !data.database?.release) {
-      throw new Error('pinned read model is unavailable')
-    }
-    if (!(data.database?.recordCount > 0)) throw new Error('pinned read model is empty')
-  })
-  .then(() => process.exit(0))
-  .catch((error) => {
-    console.error(error.message)
-    process.exit(1)
-  })
-NODE
+  actual_release="$(compose exec -T "${service}" node -e "${API_RELEASE_PROBE}")" \
+    || return 1
+  if [[ "${actual_release}" != "${expected_release}" ]]; then
+    echo "Expected ${service} release ${expected_release}, got ${actual_release:-missing}." >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
 }
 
 verify_private_route() {
diff --git a/devops/production/bin/test_production_deploy_contract.py b/devops/production/bin/test_production_deploy_contract.py
index a59a60b..bf50a1f 100644
--- a/devops/production/bin/test_production_deploy_contract.py
+++ b/devops/production/bin/test_production_deploy_contract.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 
 DEPLOY_SCRIPT = Path(__file__).with_name("deploy.sh")
+BACKUP_SCRIPT = Path(__file__).with_name("backup-postgres.sh")
 
 
 class ProductionDeployContractTest(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -21,6 +22,22 @@ def test_uses_approved_container_diagnostics(self) -> None:
         self.assertNotIn("docker_cmd inspect", script)
         self.assertNotIn("compose ps -q", script)
 
+    def test_uses_fixed_api_release_probe(self) -> None:
+        script = DEPLOY_SCRIPT.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+
+        self.assertIn(
+            'compose exec -T "${service}" node -e "${API_RELEASE_PROBE}"',
+            script,
+        )
+        self.assertNotIn("compose exec -T -e EXPECTED_RELEASE", script)
+
+    def test_uses_typed_postgres_backup_operations(self) -> None:
+        script = BACKUP_SCRIPT.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+
+        self.assertIn("docker_cmd dump-opensyria-database", script)
+        self.assertIn("docker_cmd validate-postgres-dump", script)
+        self.assertNotIn("docker_cmd exec", script)
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()