diff --git a/config.php b/config.php
index 869259c..441d1a5 100644
--- a/config.php
+++ b/config.php
@@ -34,13 +34,42 @@ function load_env() {
 // Automatically load on include
 load_env();
 
-function get_firebase_config(): array {
-    return [
-        'apiKey'            => getenv('FIREBASE_API_KEY') ?: '',
-        'authDomain'        => getenv('FIREBASE_AUTH_DOMAIN') ?: '',
-        'projectId'         => getenv('FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID') ?: '',
-        'storageBucket'     => getenv('FIREBASE_STORAGE_BUCKET') ?: '',
-        'messagingSenderId' => getenv('FIREBASE_MESSAGING_SENDER_ID') ?: '',
-        'appId'             => getenv('FIREBASE_APP_ID') ?: '',
-    ];
+/**
+ * Get a PDO connection to the database.
+ */
+function get_db_connection(): ?PDO {
+    static $pdo = null;
+    
+    if ($pdo !== null) {
+        return $pdo;
+    }
+    
+    $url = getenv('DATABASE_URL');
+    if (!$url) {
+        return null;
+    }
+    
+    $parsedUrl = parse_url($url);
+    if ($parsedUrl === false || !isset($parsedUrl['host'], $parsedUrl['user'], $parsedUrl['pass'], $parsedUrl['path'])) {
+        return null;
+    }
+    
+    $host = $parsedUrl['host'];
+    $port = $parsedUrl['port'] ?? 5432;
+    $user = $parsedUrl['user'];
+    $pass = $parsedUrl['pass'];
+    $db = ltrim($parsedUrl['path'], '/');
+    
+    $dsn = "pgsql:host=$host;port=$port;dbname=$db";
+    
+    try {
+        $pdo = new PDO($dsn, $user, $pass, [
+            PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION,
+            PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_ASSOC,
+        ]);
+        return $pdo;
+    } catch (PDOException $e) {
+        error_log("Database connection failed: " . $e->getMessage());
+        return null;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/helpers.php b/helpers.php
index 5379f03..21f8045 100644
--- a/helpers.php
+++ b/helpers.php
@@ -7,54 +7,72 @@ if (session_status() === PHP_SESSION_NONE) {
 
 require_once __DIR__ . '/config.php';
 
-function decode_firestore_value($value) {
-    if (!is_array($value)) return $value;
-    if (isset($value['stringValue'])) return $value['stringValue'];
-    if (isset($value['integerValue'])) return (int)$value['integerValue'];
-    if (isset($value['doubleValue'])) return (float)$value['doubleValue'];
-    if (isset($value['booleanValue'])) return (bool)$value['booleanValue'];
-    if (isset($value['nullValue'])) return null;
-    if (isset($value['arrayValue']['values'])) {
-        return array_map('decode_firestore_value', $value['arrayValue']['values']);
+function init_db() {
+    $pdo = get_db_connection();
+    if (!$pdo) return;
+    
+    try {
+        $pdo->exec("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS recipes (
+            slug VARCHAR(255) PRIMARY KEY,
+            data JSONB NOT NULL,
+            created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+            updated_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
+        )");
+        
+        $stmt = $pdo->query("SELECT COUNT(*) FROM recipes");
+        if ($stmt && $stmt->fetchColumn() == 0) {
+            $path = __DIR__ . '/data/recipes.json';
+            if (file_exists($path)) {
+                $json = file_get_contents($path);
+                $data = json_decode($json, true);
+                if (is_array($data) && count($data) > 0) {
+                    $insert = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO recipes (slug, data) VALUES (:slug, :data)");
+                    foreach ($data as $recipe) {
+                        if (isset($recipe['slug'])) {
+                            $insert->execute([
+                                'slug' => $recipe['slug'],
+                                'data' => json_encode($recipe, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE)
+                            ]);
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    } catch (PDOException $e) {
+        error_log("DB Init Error: " . $e->getMessage());
     }
-    if (isset($value['mapValue']['fields'])) {
-        return array_map('decode_firestore_value', $value['mapValue']['fields']);
-    }
-    return $value;
-}
-
-function decode_firestore_document(array $doc): array {
-    if (!isset($doc['fields'])) return [];
-    return array_map('decode_firestore_value', $doc['fields']);
-}
-
-function firestore_get(string $url): ?array {
-    $ch = curl_init();
-    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);
-    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
-    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 10);
-    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
-    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, true);
-    $response = curl_exec($ch);
-    $httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
-    curl_close($ch);
-
-    if ($httpCode !== 200 || !$response) {
-        return null;
-    }
-
-    return json_decode($response, true);
 }
 
 function load_recipes_local(): array {
-    $path = __DIR__ . '/data/recipes.json';
-    if (!file_exists($path)) {
-        return [];
-    }
-    $json = file_get_contents($path);
-    $data = json_decode($json, true);
-    if (!is_array($data)) {
-        return [];
+    $pdo = get_db_connection();
+    $data = [];
+    
+    if (!$pdo) {
+        $path = __DIR__ . '/data/recipes.json';
+        if (file_exists($path)) {
+            $json = file_get_contents($path);
+            $data = json_decode($json, true) ?: [];
+        }
+    } else {
+        static $initialized = false;
+        if (!$initialized) {
+            init_db();
+            $initialized = true;
+        }
+        
+        try {
+            $stmt = $pdo->query("SELECT data FROM recipes");
+            if ($stmt) {
+                while ($row = $stmt->fetch()) {
+                    $recipe = json_decode($row['data'], true);
+                    if (is_array($recipe)) {
+                        $data[] = $recipe;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (PDOException $e) {
+            error_log("Failed to load recipes from DB: " . $e->getMessage());
+        }
     }
 
     foreach ($data as &$recipe) {
@@ -68,57 +86,59 @@ function load_recipes_local(): array {
 }
 
 function load_recipes(): array {
-    $config = get_firebase_config();
-    $projectId = $config['projectId'] ?? '';
-    if (empty($projectId)) {
-        return load_recipes_local();
-    }
-
-    $url = "https://firestore.googleapis.com/v1/projects/{$projectId}/databases/(default)/documents/recipes?pageSize=100";
-    $res = firestore_get($url);
-    if (!$res || !isset($res['documents'])) {
-        return load_recipes_local();
-    }
-
-    $recipes = [];
-    foreach ($res['documents'] as $doc) {
-        $decoded = decode_firestore_document($doc);
-        if (!empty($decoded)) {
-            if (!empty($decoded['hero']) && is_string($decoded['hero'])) {
-                $decoded['hero'] = normalize_asset_path($decoded['hero']);
-            }
-            $recipes[] = $decoded;
-        }
-    }
-
-    return $recipes;
+    return load_recipes_local();
 }
 
 function load_recipe_by_slug(string $slug): ?array {
-    $config = get_firebase_config();
-    $projectId = $config['projectId'] ?? '';
-    if (empty($projectId)) {
-        return find_recipe_by_slug(load_recipes_local(), $slug);
-    }
-
-    $url = "https://firestore.googleapis.com/v1/projects/{$projectId}/databases/(default)/documents/recipes/" . urlencode($slug);
-    $res = firestore_get($url);
-    if (!$res || isset($res['error'])) {
-        return find_recipe_by_slug(load_recipes_local(), $slug);
-    }
-
-    $decoded = decode_firestore_document($res);
-    if (!empty($decoded['hero']) && is_string($decoded['hero'])) {
-        $decoded['hero'] = normalize_asset_path($decoded['hero']);
-    }
-
-    return $decoded;
+    return find_recipe_by_slug(load_recipes_local(), $slug);
 }
 
 function save_recipes(array $recipes): bool {
+    $pdo = get_db_connection();
     $path = __DIR__ . '/data/recipes.json';
-    $json = json_encode($recipes, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
-    return (bool) file_put_contents($path, $json);
+    
+    if (!$pdo) {
+        $json = json_encode($recipes, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
+        return (bool) file_put_contents($path, $json);
+    }
+    
+    try {
+        $pdo->beginTransaction();
+        $slugs = [];
+        $insert = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO recipes (slug, data) VALUES (:slug, :data) ON CONFLICT (slug) DO UPDATE SET data = EXCLUDED.data, updated_at = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP");
+        
+        foreach ($recipes as $recipe) {
+            if (isset($recipe['slug'])) {
+                $slugs[] = $recipe['slug'];
+                $insert->execute([
+                    'slug' => $recipe['slug'],
+                    'data' => json_encode($recipe, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE)
+                ]);
+            }
+        }
+        
+        if (!empty($slugs)) {
+            $placeholders = implode(',', array_fill(0, count($slugs), '?'));
+            $delete = $pdo->prepare("DELETE FROM recipes WHERE slug NOT IN ($placeholders)");
+            $delete->execute($slugs);
+        } else {
+            $pdo->exec("DELETE FROM recipes");
+        }
+        
+        $pdo->commit();
+        
+        // Also update local JSON as backup
+        $json = json_encode($recipes, JSON_PRETTY_PRINT | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
+        file_put_contents($path, $json);
+        
+        return true;
+    } catch (Exception $e) {
+        if ($pdo->inTransaction()) {
+            $pdo->rollBack();
+        }
+        error_log("Failed to save recipes to DB: " . $e->getMessage());
+        return false;
+    }
 }
 
 /**