diff --git a/apps/api/pyproject.toml b/apps/api/pyproject.toml
index 50df949..841004e 100644
--- a/apps/api/pyproject.toml
+++ b/apps/api/pyproject.toml
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ dependencies = [
     "uuid6>=2024.7.10",
 ]
 
+[project.scripts]
+# Installs into the venv's bin/ next to `alembic` and `uvicorn`, which deploy/entrypoint.sh
+# already invokes by their installed script names — so `docker exec velodrome velodrome ...` works
+# against the deployed image with no extra wiring (the Dockerfile puts /app/.venv/bin on PATH).
+velodrome = "velodrome.cli:main"
+
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 dev = [
     "ruff>=0.7",
diff --git a/apps/api/tests/test_cli.py b/apps/api/tests/test_cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..51b8287
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,308 @@
+"""Tests for the operator CLI (`velodrome create-admin`).
+
+These drive `cli.run()` directly against the same real SQLite database and real Argon2id hashing
+every other test uses — no mocks, per CLAUDE.md's test policy. That matters more than usual here:
+this command is the only way to create the first account on a fresh deployment, it is run exactly
+once by a human who has no way to debug it, and the failure mode of "it printed success but the
+password doesn't actually work" is indistinguishable from a broken deployment. So the central test
+below doesn't assert on a return code — it creates an admin through the CLI and then logs in as
+that admin over HTTP, proving the hash the CLI wrote is one the login path accepts.
+
+The other thing under test is what the CLI *refuses* to do: overwrite an existing account, and
+echo a rejected password back to the terminal (CLAUDE.md invariant #5).
+"""
+
+import io
+import sys
+import tomllib
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import httpx
+import pytest
+from sqlalchemy import text
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
+
+from velodrome import cli
+from velodrome.models import ROLE_ADMIN, ROLE_MEMBER
+
+_PASSWORD = "correct horse battery staple"
+_OTHER_PASSWORD = "an entirely different passphrase"
+
+
+class _FakeTty:
+    """Stands in for `sys.stdin` attached to a terminal, so `_read_password` takes the prompt
+    branch rather than the pipe branch. `readline` raises rather than returning a value: if the
+    prompt path ever silently starts reading stdin instead of calling getpass, that's a behaviour
+    change this should fail on, not absorb."""
+
+    def isatty(self) -> bool:
+        return True
+
+    def readline(self) -> str:
+        raise AssertionError("the prompt path must not read stdin directly")
+
+
+def _pipe(password: str, *, newline: str = "\n") -> io.StringIO:
+    """stdin as a pipe (isatty() is False on StringIO), carrying one line."""
+    return io.StringIO(f"{password}{newline}")
+
+
+async def test_create_admin_creates_an_account_that_can_actually_log_in(
+    client: httpx.AsyncClient, db_auth: AsyncSession, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    """The load-bearing test: bootstrap an admin through the CLI, then log in as them over HTTP.
+
+    This is deliberately an end-to-end assertion rather than "did a row appear with a hash in it".
+    The whole point of the command is to produce working credentials on a deployment where nobody
+    can yet log in to check, so the only assertion worth making is that the credentials work
+    through the same endpoint a real operator would use next.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _pipe(_PASSWORD))
+    code = await cli.run(
+        ["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com", "--name", "Boss", "--password-stdin"]
+    )
+    assert code == 0
+
+    resp = await client.post(
+        "/api/v1/auth/login", json={"email": "boss@example.com", "password": _PASSWORD}
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 200, resp.text
+    assert "vd_session" in resp.cookies
+
+    me = await client.get("/api/v1/auth/me")
+    assert me.status_code == 200
+    assert me.json()["email"] == "boss@example.com"
+    assert me.json()["display_name"] == "Boss"
+
+
+async def test_create_admin_records_the_admin_role(
+    db_auth: AsyncSession, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    """The role is the one thing that distinguishes this from registration, and nothing enforces
+    it yet (docs/DECISIONS.md D17) — so nothing else in the suite would notice if it silently
+    wrote `member`. Asserted against the stored column directly, and against ROLE_MEMBER too, so
+    this fails loudly rather than passing vacuously if the default ever changes."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _pipe(_PASSWORD))
+    assert await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com", "--password-stdin"]) == 0
+
+    role = (
+        await db_auth.execute(
+            text("SELECT role FROM users WHERE email = :email"), {"email": "boss@example.com"}
+        )
+    ).scalar_one()
+    await db_auth.commit()
+    assert role == ROLE_ADMIN
+    assert role != ROLE_MEMBER
+
+
+async def test_create_admin_defaults_display_name_to_the_email_local_part(
+    db_auth: AsyncSession, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _pipe(_PASSWORD))
+    assert await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "benny@example.com", "--password-stdin"]) == 0
+
+    name = (
+        await db_auth.execute(
+            text("SELECT display_name FROM users WHERE email = :email"),
+            {"email": "benny@example.com"},
+        )
+    ).scalar_one()
+    await db_auth.commit()
+    assert name == "benny"
+
+
+async def test_create_admin_refuses_an_existing_email_without_touching_the_account(
+    client: httpx.AsyncClient, db_auth: AsyncSession, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    """Re-running the bootstrap command must not become an undocumented password reset.
+
+    "Refused" is asserted three ways, because exit code 1 alone would also be satisfied by a
+    command that failed *after* corrupting the row: the original password must still work, the new
+    one must not, and the display name must be unchanged.
+    """
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _pipe(_PASSWORD))
+    assert (
+        await cli.run(
+            ["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com", "--name", "Boss", "--password-stdin"]
+        )
+        == 0
+    )
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _pipe(_OTHER_PASSWORD))
+    second = await cli.run(
+        ["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com", "--name", "Impostor", "--password-stdin"]
+    )
+    assert second == 1
+
+    still_works = await client.post(
+        "/api/v1/auth/login", json={"email": "boss@example.com", "password": _PASSWORD}
+    )
+    assert still_works.status_code == 200, "the original password must survive a refused re-run"
+
+    rejected = await client.post(
+        "/api/v1/auth/login", json={"email": "boss@example.com", "password": _OTHER_PASSWORD}
+    )
+    assert rejected.status_code == 401, "the refused run's password must never become valid"
+
+    name = (
+        await db_auth.execute(
+            text("SELECT display_name FROM users WHERE email = :email"),
+            {"email": "boss@example.com"},
+        )
+    ).scalar_one()
+    await db_auth.commit()
+    assert name == "Boss"
+
+
+async def test_create_admin_error_message_never_echoes_the_password(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str]
+) -> None:
+    """CLAUDE.md invariant #5, in the one place it's easy to breach by accident.
+
+    Pydantic's default rendering of a ValidationError embeds the offending value — for a
+    too-short password that means printing the password itself to the operator's terminal, and
+    into whatever captured that output (a CI log, a `script` session, a scrollback buffer shared
+    in a bug report). `_validate` strips it deliberately; this proves it stays stripped.
+    """
+    secret = "short"
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _pipe(secret))
+    code = await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com", "--password-stdin"])
+    assert code == 1
+
+    captured = capsys.readouterr()
+    assert secret not in captured.out
+    assert secret not in captured.err
+    # ...while still being a useful message: it must name the offending field and the rule.
+    assert "password" in captured.err
+    assert "at least 8" in captured.err
+
+
+async def test_create_admin_rejects_a_malformed_email(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str]
+) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _pipe(_PASSWORD))
+    code = await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "not-an-email", "--password-stdin"])
+    assert code == 1
+    assert "email" in capsys.readouterr().err
+
+
+async def test_password_stdin_rejects_an_empty_line(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str]
+) -> None:
+    """An empty pipe is nearly always `$PASSWORD` being unset in the operator's shell. Failing
+    loudly beats creating an account whose password is the empty string."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", io.StringIO(""))
+    code = await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com", "--password-stdin"])
+    assert code == 1
+    assert "empty" in capsys.readouterr().err
+
+
+async def test_password_stdin_preserves_a_trailing_space(
+    client: httpx.AsyncClient, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    """Only the line ending is stripped, not surrounding whitespace — a password with a trailing
+    space is legitimate, and trimming it would create an account whose password can never be typed
+    back in. Proven through a real login rather than by inspecting the hash."""
+    padded = f"{_PASSWORD} "
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _pipe(padded, newline="\r\n"))
+    assert await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com", "--password-stdin"]) == 0
+
+    resp = await client.post(
+        "/api/v1/auth/login", json={"email": "boss@example.com", "password": padded}
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 200, "the trailing space must be part of the stored password"
+
+    trimmed = await client.post(
+        "/api/v1/auth/login", json={"email": "boss@example.com", "password": _PASSWORD}
+    )
+    assert trimmed.status_code == 401
+
+
+async def test_without_a_tty_or_password_stdin_it_explains_how_to_run_it(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str]
+) -> None:
+    """The most likely first-run mistake is `docker exec` without `-t`. getpass would otherwise
+    fail with a bare OSError, so the command catches it first and prints both working forms."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", io.StringIO(""))
+    code = await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com"])
+    assert code == 1
+
+    err = capsys.readouterr().err
+    assert "docker exec -it" in err
+    assert "--password-stdin" in err
+
+
+async def test_prompt_path_requires_the_confirmation_to_match(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str]
+) -> None:
+    """A typo in a password nobody can see, on the one account that can't be recovered by another
+    admin, is worth a second prompt."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _FakeTty())
+    answers = iter([_PASSWORD, _OTHER_PASSWORD])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli.getpass, "getpass", lambda prompt="": next(answers))
+
+    code = await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com"])
+    assert code == 1
+    assert "did not match" in capsys.readouterr().err
+
+
+async def test_prompt_path_creates_the_account_when_both_entries_match(
+    client: httpx.AsyncClient, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    """The interactive path is the one the docs tell operators to use, so it gets the same
+    end-to-end login proof as the piped path."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _FakeTty())
+    answers = iter([_PASSWORD, _PASSWORD])
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli.getpass, "getpass", lambda prompt="": next(answers))
+
+    assert await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com"]) == 0
+
+    resp = await client.post(
+        "/api/v1/auth/login", json={"email": "boss@example.com", "password": _PASSWORD}
+    )
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+
+
+async def test_success_output_never_contains_the_password(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str]
+) -> None:
+    """The failure path is covered above; the success path prints more, so it gets its own check.
+    The realistic leak here is a well-meaning "created with password: ..." confirmation line."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "stdin", _pipe(_PASSWORD))
+    assert await cli.run(["create-admin", "--email", "boss@example.com", "--password-stdin"]) == 0
+
+    captured = capsys.readouterr()
+    assert _PASSWORD not in captured.out
+    assert _PASSWORD not in captured.err
+    assert "boss@example.com" in captured.out
+    assert ROLE_ADMIN in captured.out
+
+
+async def test_a_missing_required_option_exits_two_not_one(
+    capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],
+) -> None:
+    """argparse's usage errors exit 2; a refusal from the command itself exits 1. A script driving
+    this should be able to tell "you called it wrong" from "it ran and declined"."""
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exc:
+        await cli.run(["create-admin"])
+    assert exc.value.code == 2
+    capsys.readouterr()
+
+
+async def test_no_subcommand_is_a_usage_error(capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str]) -> None:
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exc:
+        await cli.run([])
+    assert exc.value.code == 2
+    capsys.readouterr()
+
+
+def test_the_console_script_is_registered_under_the_name_the_docs_use() -> None:
+    """deploy/README.md and the CLI's own error messages tell operators to run
+    `docker exec -it velodrome velodrome create-admin`. That only works because pyproject declares
+    the console script, which nothing else in the test suite would exercise — an editable install
+    imports `velodrome.cli` fine whether or not the entry point exists. Asserted against the
+    manifest so renaming the module or the function fails here rather than on a deployment.
+    """
+    pyproject = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / "pyproject.toml"
+    manifest = tomllib.loads(pyproject.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    assert manifest["project"]["scripts"]["velodrome"] == "velodrome.cli:main"
diff --git a/apps/api/velodrome/auth/service.py b/apps/api/velodrome/auth/service.py
index 29ab49a..fa04a87 100644
--- a/apps/api/velodrome/auth/service.py
+++ b/apps/api/velodrome/auth/service.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from velodrome.auth.security import (
 )
 from velodrome.config import get_settings
 from velodrome.db import auth_session
-from velodrome.models import Invite, Session, User
+from velodrome.models import ROLE_ADMIN, Invite, Session, User
 
 
 class AuthError(Exception):
@@ -51,6 +51,14 @@ class AuthenticatedSession:
     user_id: UUID
     email: str
     display_name: str
+    # Carried here so the role a user actually has is available wherever identity is — an
+    # authorization check on the first admin-only endpoint (realistically invite management) is
+    # then a comparison against a value already in hand, not another query bolted on later. This
+    # is data plumbing, not an authorization mechanism: nothing reads it yet, deliberately, since
+    # there is no admin-only endpoint to protect (docs/DECISIONS.md D18). It is not a secret and
+    # is not in any response model — `schemas.auth.UserOut` deliberately doesn't declare it, so
+    # adding it here changes no HTTP response and no OpenAPI contract.
+    role: str
 
 
 async def register(
@@ -103,7 +111,58 @@ async def register(
             invite.used_count += 1
 
         return AuthenticatedSession(
-            user_id=user.id, email=user.email, display_name=user.display_name
+            user_id=user.id,
+            email=user.email,
+            display_name=user.display_name,
+            role=user.role,
+        )
+
+
+async def create_admin(*, email: str, password: str, display_name: str) -> AuthenticatedSession:
+    """Create a user with the admin role, with no invite. Operator path only — see velodrome.cli.
+
+    This is the one deliberate hole in "open signup does not exist": a fresh deployment has no
+    users and therefore nobody who can issue the first invite, so the first account has to come
+    from outside the HTTP API. It lives here rather than in cli.py because this is where
+    `auth_session` belongs (see db.py's docstring — nothing outside this module imports it), and
+    because the lookup below is exactly the pattern that module documents as safe: an exact match
+    on a unique key, never a scan.
+
+    It is not reachable over HTTP and never will be — nothing in `api/` calls it. Reaching it
+    requires the ability to run a process inside the container, which is already the ability to
+    read and rewrite the SQLite file directly, so it grants an operator-turned-attacker nothing
+    they did not already have.
+
+    Refuses outright if the email is taken, rather than updating the row — see docs/DECISIONS.md
+    D18. Creating an account and resetting an existing account's password are different operations
+    with different blast radii, and an operator re-running a bootstrap command they last ran
+    months ago means the first, never the second. The check-then-insert is safe against a
+    concurrent `register()` for the same email the same way invite redemption is: db.py issues
+    `BEGIN IMMEDIATE`, so the two transactions serialize instead of interleaving, with the unique
+    index on `users.email` as the backstop underneath that.
+    """
+    async with auth_session() as db:
+        async with db.begin():
+            existing = (
+                await db.execute(select(User).where(User.email == email))
+            ).scalar_one_or_none()
+            if existing is not None:
+                raise EmailAlreadyRegistered("an account with this email already exists")
+
+            user = User(
+                email=email,
+                display_name=display_name,
+                password_hash=hash_password(password),
+                role=ROLE_ADMIN,
+            )
+            db.add(user)
+            await db.flush()  # populate user.id before we reference it below
+
+        return AuthenticatedSession(
+            user_id=user.id,
+            email=user.email,
+            display_name=user.display_name,
+            role=user.role,
         )
 
 
@@ -140,7 +199,10 @@ async def login(
             db.add(session_row)
 
         return raw_token, AuthenticatedSession(
-            user_id=user.id, email=user.email, display_name=user.display_name
+            user_id=user.id,
+            email=user.email,
+            display_name=user.display_name,
+            role=user.role,
         )
 
 
@@ -184,7 +246,10 @@ async def validate_session(raw_token: str) -> AuthenticatedSession:
                 )
 
         return AuthenticatedSession(
-            user_id=user.id, email=user.email, display_name=user.display_name
+            user_id=user.id,
+            email=user.email,
+            display_name=user.display_name,
+            role=user.role,
         )
 
 
diff --git a/apps/api/velodrome/cli.py b/apps/api/velodrome/cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cd7b3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/api/velodrome/cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,181 @@
+"""Operator CLI — `velodrome <command>`.
+
+Installed as a console script (`[project.scripts]` in pyproject.toml) into the same venv as
+`alembic` and `uvicorn`, which `deploy/entrypoint.sh` already invokes by their installed names, so
+the deployed container has this on PATH with no extra wiring:
+
+    docker exec -it velodrome velodrome create-admin --email you@example.com
+
+It exists because there is otherwise **no way to create the first user**. Registration requires a
+valid invite (docs/PLAN.md "Auth": open signup does not exist as a setting), invites are created by
+an existing admin, and a fresh database has neither — so a new deployment is unusable without a
+path in from outside the HTTP API. docs/PLAN.md always called for this command; it was simply
+never built during Phase 0. See docs/DECISIONS.md D18 for the three decisions recorded here: why
+it refuses to touch an existing account, why it is *not* restricted to the very first user, and
+why `role="admin"` is recorded but not yet enforced anywhere.
+
+argparse rather than Typer/Click: one command with three options does not justify a runtime
+dependency the deployed image would have to carry, and the stdlib covers this case completely.
+
+There is deliberately **no `--password` flag** — see `_read_password`.
+"""
+
+import argparse
+import asyncio
+import getpass
+import sys
+from collections.abc import Sequence
+
+from pydantic import BaseModel, EmailStr, ValidationError
+
+from velodrome.auth import service
+from velodrome.config import get_settings
+from velodrome.schemas.auth import DisplayName, Password
+
+
+class CliError(Exception):
+    """An operator-facing failure: printed as `error: <message>`, exit code 1.
+
+    Distinct from argparse's own usage errors, which exit 2 — so a script driving this can tell
+    "you called it wrong" apart from "it ran and refused".
+    """
+
+
+class _CreateAdminInput(BaseModel):
+    """The same constraints the HTTP register endpoint applies, reused rather than restated — a
+    CLI-created account must not be able to hold a password the API would have rejected.
+    """
+
+    email: EmailStr
+    password: Password
+    display_name: DisplayName
+
+
+def _validate(*, email: str, password: str, display_name: str) -> _CreateAdminInput:
+    try:
+        return _CreateAdminInput(email=email, password=password, display_name=display_name)
+    except ValidationError as exc:
+        # Deliberately not `str(exc)`: pydantic's rendered message embeds the offending value
+        # ("... [type=string_too_short, input_value='hunter2', input_type=str]"), which for the
+        # password field prints the password to the operator's terminal and into whatever
+        # captures that output. CLAUDE.md invariant #5 — only `loc` and `msg` are safe to show.
+        details = "; ".join(
+            f"{'.'.join(str(part) for part in err['loc'])}: {err['msg']}"
+            for err in exc.errors(include_url=False, include_input=False)
+        )
+        raise CliError(f"invalid input — {details}") from exc
+
+
+def _read_password(*, from_stdin: bool) -> str:
+    """Prompt for a password, or read one line from stdin.
+
+    No `--password` flag exists on purpose: an argument lands in the operator's shell history, in
+    `ps` output for as long as the process runs, and — because the realistic invocation here is
+    `docker exec` — in the Docker daemon's own record of the exec'd command. A TTY prompt and a
+    pipe are the two forms that avoid all three, and they're the same two forms `docker login`
+    offers for exactly this reason.
+    """
+    if from_stdin:
+        line = sys.stdin.readline()
+        # Strip only the line ending, not surrounding whitespace — a trailing space in a password
+        # is legitimate, and silently trimming it would create a password that can never be typed
+        # back in correctly.
+        password = line.rstrip("\r\n")
+        if not password:
+            raise CliError("--password-stdin was given but the first line of stdin was empty")
+        return password
+
+    if not sys.stdin.isatty():
+        raise CliError(
+            "no terminal available to prompt on. Either allocate one (note the -t):\n"
+            "  docker exec -it velodrome velodrome create-admin --email you@example.com\n"
+            "or pipe the password in:\n"
+            "  printf '%s' \"$PASSWORD\" | docker exec -i velodrome \\\n"
+            "    velodrome create-admin --email you@example.com --password-stdin"
+        )
+
+    password = getpass.getpass("Password: ")
+    if password != getpass.getpass("Confirm password: "):
+        raise CliError("passwords did not match")
+    return password
+
+
+async def _create_admin(args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
+    email: str = args.email
+    # The local part is a reasonable default for a name nobody but the operator will see until
+    # they change it in the UI; it keeps the common invocation to a single flag.
+    display_name: str = args.name if args.name is not None else email.partition("@")[0]
+
+    password = _read_password(from_stdin=args.password_stdin)
+    validated = _validate(email=email, password=password, display_name=display_name)
+
+    try:
+        created = await service.create_admin(
+            email=str(validated.email),
+            password=validated.password,
+            display_name=validated.display_name,
+        )
+    except service.EmailAlreadyRegistered as exc:
+        raise CliError(
+            f"an account already exists for {email} — refusing to modify it. This command only "
+            "ever creates a new account; it will not reset an existing one's password (see "
+            "docs/DECISIONS.md D18). To add a different admin, re-run with another --email."
+        ) from exc
+
+    print("Created admin user:")
+    print(f"  id            {created.user_id}")
+    print(f"  email         {created.email}")
+    print(f"  display name  {created.display_name}")
+    print(f"  role          {created.role}")
+    print()
+    print(f"Log in at {get_settings().public_url}")
+    print(
+        "Note: the admin role is recorded on the account but nothing enforces it yet — no "
+        "admin-only endpoint exists (docs/DECISIONS.md D18)."
+    )
+    return 0
+
+
+def _build_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        prog="velodrome",
+        description="Velodrome operator commands. Run inside the container, e.g. "
+        "`docker exec -it velodrome velodrome create-admin --email you@example.com`.",
+    )
+    subcommands = parser.add_subparsers(dest="command", required=True)
+
+    create_admin = subcommands.add_parser(
+        "create-admin",
+        help="create a user with the admin role, bypassing the invite requirement",
+        description="Create a user with the admin role, bypassing the invite requirement. This is "
+        "how the first account on a fresh deployment is made — registration needs an invite, and "
+        "a fresh database has none. Refuses to modify an account that already exists.",
+    )
+    create_admin.add_argument("--email", required=True, help="the account's email address")
+    create_admin.add_argument(
+        "--name",
+        default=None,
+        help="display name (default: the part of the email address before the @)",
+    )
+    create_admin.add_argument(
+        "--password-stdin",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="read the password from the first line of stdin instead of prompting for it",
+    )
+    return parser
+
+
+async def run(argv: Sequence[str] | None = None) -> int:
+    """The async entrypoint. `main` wraps this in `asyncio.run`; tests call it directly."""
+    args = _build_parser().parse_args(argv)
+    try:
+        if args.command == "create-admin":
+            return await _create_admin(args)
+    except CliError as exc:
+        print(f"error: {exc}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+    raise AssertionError(f"unhandled command {args.command!r}")  # pragma: no cover
+
+
+def main(argv: Sequence[str] | None = None) -> int:
+    return asyncio.run(run(argv))
diff --git a/apps/api/velodrome/models/__init__.py b/apps/api/velodrome/models/__init__.py
index 7f01319..06bf375 100644
--- a/apps/api/velodrome/models/__init__.py
+++ b/apps/api/velodrome/models/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 from velodrome.models.base import Base
-from velodrome.models.identity import ApiToken, Invite, Session, User
+from velodrome.models.identity import ROLE_ADMIN, ROLE_MEMBER, ApiToken, Invite, Session, User
 
-__all__ = ["ApiToken", "Base", "Invite", "Session", "User"]
+__all__ = ["ROLE_ADMIN", "ROLE_MEMBER", "ApiToken", "Base", "Invite", "Session", "User"]
diff --git a/apps/api/velodrome/models/identity.py b/apps/api/velodrome/models/identity.py
index ba99fa0..088ba4e 100644
--- a/apps/api/velodrome/models/identity.py
+++ b/apps/api/velodrome/models/identity.py
@@ -24,6 +24,16 @@ def _now_utc() -> datetime:
     return datetime.now(UTC)
 
 
+# The only two values `users.role` and `invites.role` are ever set to. Named constants so the set
+# is discoverable from one place: `velodrome.cli`'s create-admin writes ROLE_ADMIN, and
+# registration copies whatever role the redeemed invite carries. Nothing *enforces* a role yet —
+# no admin-only endpoint exists (docs/DECISIONS.md D18) — and the column stays a plain string
+# rather than a DB-level enum or CHECK constraint so adding a third role later is an application
+# change, not a migration.
+ROLE_MEMBER = "member"
+ROLE_ADMIN = "admin"
+
+
 class User(Base):
     __tablename__ = "users"
 
@@ -31,7 +41,7 @@ class User(Base):
     email: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(320), unique=True, nullable=False)
     display_name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(200), nullable=False)
     password_hash: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, nullable=False)
-    role: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(20), nullable=False, default="member")
+    role: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(20), nullable=False, default=ROLE_MEMBER)
     timezone: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(64), nullable=False, default="UTC")
     # Display-only, per CLAUDE.md invariant #3 — storage is always SI, this never touches a query.
     unit_system: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(10), nullable=False, default="imperial")
@@ -53,7 +63,7 @@ class Invite(Base):
         Uuid(as_uuid=True), ForeignKey("users.id"), nullable=False
     )
     email: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(320), nullable=True)
-    role: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(20), nullable=False, default="member")
+    role: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(20), nullable=False, default=ROLE_MEMBER)
     expires_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(nullable=False)
     max_uses: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(nullable=False, default=1)
     used_count: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(nullable=False, default=0)
diff --git a/apps/api/velodrome/schemas/auth.py b/apps/api/velodrome/schemas/auth.py
index e60bb03..d2679b2 100644
--- a/apps/api/velodrome/schemas/auth.py
+++ b/apps/api/velodrome/schemas/auth.py
@@ -6,15 +6,23 @@ simply not being listed here is what keeps password_hash/token_hash out of every
 adding a new field, ask whether it belongs in a response before adding it, not after.
 """
 
+from typing import Annotated
 from uuid import UUID
 
 from pydantic import BaseModel, EmailStr, Field
 
+# Named aliases rather than inline constraints, because these two rules are also applied outside
+# the HTTP layer: `velodrome.cli` validates `create-admin`'s input against exactly the same ones,
+# so an account created from the CLI can't hold a password the register endpoint would have
+# rejected. Defined once here so the two can't drift apart.
+Password = Annotated[str, Field(min_length=8, max_length=200)]
+DisplayName = Annotated[str, Field(min_length=1, max_length=200)]
+
 
 class RegisterRequest(BaseModel):
     email: EmailStr
-    password: str = Field(min_length=8, max_length=200)
-    display_name: str = Field(min_length=1, max_length=200)
+    password: Password
+    display_name: DisplayName
     invite_code: str = Field(min_length=1, max_length=200)