diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 5b84b183c..da8b9502a 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -28,3 +28,12 @@ repos:
     rev: 7.0.0
     hooks:
       - id: flake8
+
+  - repo: local
+    hooks:
+      - id: lint-django-migrations
+        name: Lint Django migrations
+        entry: python manage.py lint_migrations
+        language: system
+        pass_filenames: false
+        files: migrations/.*\.py$
diff --git a/api/management/commands/lint_migrations.py b/api/management/commands/lint_migrations.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fda95735c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/management/commands/lint_migrations.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand, CommandError
+
+from api.migration_lint import lint_migrations
+
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    help = "Lint Django migration files for naming, duplicate numbers, and dependency issues."
+
+    def add_arguments(self, parser):
+        parser.add_argument(
+            "--warnings-as-errors",
+            action="store_true",
+            help="Treat warnings as errors (useful in CI).",
+        )
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        base_dir = Path(settings.BASE_DIR)
+        result = lint_migrations(base_dir)
+
+        for issue in result.issues:
+            line = f"[{issue.level.upper()}] {issue.app}/{issue.path}: {issue.message}"
+            if issue.level == "error":
+                self.stderr.write(line)
+            else:
+                self.stdout.write(line)
+
+        if not result.issues:
+            self.stdout.write(self.style.SUCCESS("No migration lint issues found."))
+            return
+
+        has_errors = not result.ok
+        has_warnings = any(issue.level == "warning" for issue in result.issues)
+        if has_errors or (options["warnings_as_errors"] and has_warnings):
+            raise CommandError("Migration lint failed.")
+
+        self.stdout.write(self.style.WARNING("Migration lint completed with warnings only."))
diff --git a/api/migration_lint.py b/api/migration_lint.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..549883472
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/migration_lint.py
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
+"""Utilities for validating Django migration files."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import ast
+import re
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from pathlib import Path
+
+MIGRATION_FILENAME_RE = re.compile(r"^(?P<number>\d{4})_(?P<slug>.+)\.py$")
+MERGE_SLUG_RE = re.compile(r"^merge_")
+
+
+@dataclass
+class MigrationLintIssue:
+    level: str  # error | warning
+    app: str
+    path: str
+    message: str
+
+
+@dataclass
+class MigrationLintResult:
+    issues: list[MigrationLintIssue] = field(default_factory=list)
+
+    @property
+    def ok(self) -> bool:
+        return not any(issue.level == "error" for issue in self.issues)
+
+
+def _ast_value(node: ast.AST):
+    if isinstance(node, ast.Constant):
+        return node.value
+    if isinstance(node, ast.Tuple):
+        return tuple(_ast_value(elt) for elt in node.elts)
+    if isinstance(node, ast.List):
+        return [_ast_value(elt) for elt in node.elts]
+    if isinstance(node, ast.Call):
+        # migrations.swappable_dependency(...) — resolved by Django at runtime.
+        return None
+    raise ValueError(f"Unsupported AST node in migration file: {type(node).__name__}")
+
+
+def _parse_dependencies(path: Path) -> list[tuple[str, str]]:
+    tree = ast.parse(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    for node in tree.body:
+        if isinstance(node, ast.ClassDef) and node.name == "Migration":
+            for item in node.body:
+                if isinstance(item, ast.Assign):
+                    for target in item.targets:
+                        if isinstance(target, ast.Name) and target.id == "dependencies":
+                            return _ast_value(item.value)
+    return []
+
+
+def _discover_migration_apps(base_dir: Path) -> list[tuple[str, Path]]:
+    apps: list[tuple[str, Path]] = []
+    for migrations_dir in sorted(base_dir.glob("*/migrations")):
+        if not migrations_dir.is_dir():
+            continue
+        app_label = migrations_dir.parent.name
+        if app_label.startswith("."):
+            continue
+        apps.append((app_label, migrations_dir))
+    return apps
+
+
+def lint_migrations(base_dir: Path) -> MigrationLintResult:
+    result = MigrationLintResult()
+    known: dict[tuple[str, str], Path] = {}
+    by_app_number: dict[tuple[str, str], list[str]] = {}
+    parsed: dict[tuple[str, str], list[tuple[str, str]]] = {}
+
+    for app_label, migrations_dir in _discover_migration_apps(base_dir):
+        for path in sorted(migrations_dir.glob("*.py")):
+            if path.name == "__init__.py":
+                continue
+
+            match = MIGRATION_FILENAME_RE.match(path.name)
+            if not match:
+                result.issues.append(
+                    MigrationLintIssue(
+                        level="error",
+                        app=app_label,
+                        path=str(path.relative_to(base_dir)),
+                        message=(
+                            "Invalid migration filename; expected NNNN_description.py "
+                            f"(got {path.name})"
+                        ),
+                    )
+                )
+                continue
+
+            number = match.group("number")
+            slug = match.group("slug")
+            migration_name = path.stem
+            known[(app_label, migration_name)] = path
+            by_app_number.setdefault((app_label, number), []).append(migration_name)
+
+            try:
+                raw_deps = _parse_dependencies(path)
+                parsed[(app_label, migration_name)] = [
+                    dep for dep in raw_deps if isinstance(dep, tuple) and len(dep) == 2
+                ]
+            except (SyntaxError, ValueError) as exc:
+                result.issues.append(
+                    MigrationLintIssue(
+                        level="error",
+                        app=app_label,
+                        path=str(path.relative_to(base_dir)),
+                        message=f"Could not parse dependencies: {exc}",
+                    )
+                )
+
+            if slug.startswith("_"):
+                result.issues.append(
+                    MigrationLintIssue(
+                        level="warning",
+                        app=app_label,
+                        path=str(path.relative_to(base_dir)),
+                        message="Migration slug should not start with an underscore",
+                    )
+                )
+
+    for (app_label, number), names in by_app_number.items():
+        if len(names) <= 1:
+            continue
+
+        branch_names = [
+            name
+            for name in names
+            if not MERGE_SLUG_RE.match(name.split("_", 1)[1] if "_" in name else "")
+        ]
+        if len(branch_names) <= 1:
+            continue
+
+        merged = False
+        for (merge_app, merge_name), deps in parsed.items():
+            if merge_app != app_label:
+                continue
+            slug = merge_name.split("_", 1)[1] if "_" in merge_name else merge_name
+            if not MERGE_SLUG_RE.match(slug):
+                continue
+            dep_names = {dep_name for dep_app, dep_name in deps if dep_app == app_label}
+            if set(branch_names).issubset(dep_names):
+                merged = True
+                break
+
+        if not merged:
+            result.issues.append(
+                MigrationLintIssue(
+                    level="warning",
+                    app=app_label,
+                    path=app_label,
+                    message=(
+                        f"Duplicate migration number {number} in app '{app_label}': "
+                        f"{', '.join(sorted(branch_names))}. Add a merge migration if this is intentional."
+                    ),
+                )
+            )
+
+    app_labels = {app for app, _ in known}
+
+    for (app_label, migration_name), dependencies in parsed.items():
+        rel_path = known[(app_label, migration_name)].relative_to(base_dir)
+        for dep_app, dep_name in dependencies:
+            if dep_app not in app_labels:
+                continue
+            if (dep_app, dep_name) not in known:
+                result.issues.append(
+                    MigrationLintIssue(
+                        level="error",
+                        app=app_label,
+                        path=str(rel_path),
+                        message=f"Missing dependency target: ({dep_app!r}, {dep_name!r})",
+                    )
+                )
+
+    return result
diff --git a/api/tests/__init__.py b/api/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/api/tests/test_migration_lint.py b/api/tests/test_migration_lint.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6b3f08c79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/tests/test_migration_lint.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from api.migration_lint import lint_migrations
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2]
+
+
+class MigrationLintTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_existing_repo_migrations_have_valid_dependencies(self):
+        result = lint_migrations(REPO_ROOT)
+        errors = [issue for issue in result.issues if issue.level == "error"]
+        self.assertEqual(errors, [])
+
+    def test_flags_invalid_filename(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tempdir:
+            base = Path(tempdir)
+            migrations_dir = base / "sampleapp" / "migrations"
+            migrations_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
+            (migrations_dir / "__init__.py").write_text("")
+            (migrations_dir / "bad-name.py").write_text(
+                "from django.db import migrations\n\n"
+                "class Migration(migrations.Migration):\n"
+                "    dependencies = []\n"
+                "    operations = []\n"
+            )
+
+            result = lint_migrations(base)
+            self.assertFalse(result.ok)
+            self.assertTrue(any("Invalid migration filename" in issue.message for issue in result.issues))
+
+    def test_flags_missing_dependency(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tempdir:
+            base = Path(tempdir)
+            migrations_dir = base / "sampleapp" / "migrations"
+            migrations_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
+            (migrations_dir / "__init__.py").write_text("")
+            (migrations_dir / "0001_initial.py").write_text(
+                "from django.db import migrations\n\n"
+                "class Migration(migrations.Migration):\n"
+                "    dependencies = [('sampleapp', '9999_missing')]\n"
+                "    operations = []\n"
+            )
+
+            result = lint_migrations(base)
+            self.assertFalse(result.ok)
+            self.assertTrue(any("Missing dependency target" in issue.message for issue in result.issues))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()