diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 9a9a89a5b..d893b9b29 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1750,6 +1750,10 @@
         }
       }
     },
+    "node_modules/@gsd-build/daemon": {
+      "resolved": "packages/daemon",
+      "link": true
+    },
     "node_modules/@gsd-build/engine-darwin-arm64": {
       "version": "2.10.5",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/@gsd-build/engine-darwin-arm64/-/engine-darwin-arm64-2.10.5.tgz",
@@ -9149,6 +9153,24 @@
         }
       }
     },
+    "packages/daemon": {
+      "name": "@gsd-build/daemon",
+      "version": "0.1.0",
+      "license": "MIT",
+      "dependencies": {
+        "yaml": "^2.8.0"
+      },
+      "bin": {
+        "gsd-daemon": "dist/cli.js"
+      },
+      "devDependencies": {
+        "@types/node": "^24.12.0",
+        "typescript": "^5.4.0"
+      },
+      "engines": {
+        "node": ">=22.0.0"
+      }
+    },
     "packages/mcp-server": {
       "name": "@gsd-build/mcp-server",
       "version": "2.52.0",
diff --git a/packages/daemon/package.json b/packages/daemon/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..15800d6d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/daemon/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+{
+  "name": "@gsd-build/daemon",
+  "version": "0.1.0",
+  "description": "GSD daemon — background process for project monitoring and Discord integration",
+  "license": "MIT",
+  "repository": {
+    "type": "git",
+    "url": "https://github.com/gsd-build/gsd-2.git",
+    "directory": "packages/daemon"
+  },
+  "publishConfig": {
+    "access": "public"
+  },
+  "type": "module",
+  "main": "./dist/index.js",
+  "types": "./dist/index.d.ts",
+  "exports": {
+    ".": {
+      "types": "./dist/index.d.ts",
+      "import": "./dist/index.js"
+    }
+  },
+  "bin": {
+    "gsd-daemon": "./dist/cli.js"
+  },
+  "scripts": {
+    "build": "tsc",
+    "test": "node --test dist/daemon.test.js"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "yaml": "^2.8.0"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "@types/node": "^24.12.0",
+    "typescript": "^5.4.0"
+  },
+  "engines": {
+    "node": ">=22.0.0"
+  },
+  "files": [
+    "dist",
+    "!dist/**/*.test.*"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/packages/daemon/src/index.ts b/packages/daemon/src/index.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..91dd2cc2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/daemon/src/index.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export type { DaemonConfig, LogLevel, LogEntry } from './types.js';
diff --git a/packages/daemon/src/types.ts b/packages/daemon/src/types.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c6a2d12cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/daemon/src/types.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/**
+ * Log severity levels, ordered from most to least verbose.
+ */
+export type LogLevel = 'debug' | 'info' | 'warn' | 'error';
+
+/**
+ * A single structured log entry written as JSON-lines.
+ */
+export interface LogEntry {
+  /** ISO-8601 timestamp */
+  ts: string;
+  level: LogLevel;
+  msg: string;
+  data?: Record<string, unknown>;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Top-level daemon configuration, loaded from YAML.
+ */
+export interface DaemonConfig {
+  discord?: {
+    token: string;
+    guild_id: string;
+    owner_id: string;
+  };
+  projects: {
+    scan_roots: string[];
+  };
+  log: {
+    file: string;
+    level: LogLevel;
+    max_size_mb: number;
+  };
+}
diff --git a/packages/daemon/tsconfig.json b/packages/daemon/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..779b48aca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/daemon/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+{
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "target": "ES2024",
+    "module": "Node16",
+    "lib": ["ES2024"],
+    "strict": true,
+    "esModuleInterop": true,
+    "skipLibCheck": true,
+    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
+    "declaration": true,
+    "declarationMap": true,
+    "sourceMap": true,
+    "inlineSources": true,
+    "inlineSourceMap": false,
+    "moduleResolution": "Node16",
+    "resolveJsonModule": true,
+    "allowImportingTsExtensions": false,
+    "types": ["node"],
+    "outDir": "./dist",
+    "rootDir": "./src"
+  },
+  "include": ["src/**/*.ts"],
+  "exclude": ["node_modules", "dist", "**/*.d.ts", "src/**/*.d.ts"]
+}