diff --git a/content/contracts/prototype_contract_templates.json b/content/contracts/prototype_contract_templates.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..521dc5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/contracts/prototype_contract_templates.json
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+{
+  "schemaVersion": 1,
+  "contractTemplates": [
+    {
+      "id": "prototype_contract_clear_combat_pocket",
+      "displayName": "Clear Combat Pocket (Repeat)",
+      "zoneDifficultyBand": 1,
+      "objectiveKind": "encounter_clear",
+      "encounterTemplateId": "prototype_combat_pocket",
+      "minFactionStanding": {
+        "factionId": "prototype_faction_grid_operators",
+        "minStanding": 0
+      },
+      "completionRewardBundle": {
+        "itemGrants": [{ "itemId": "scrap_metal_bulk", "quantity": 5 }],
+        "skillXpGrants": [{ "skillId": "salvage", "amount": 15 }]
+      }
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/content/schemas/contract-seed.schema.json b/content/schemas/contract-seed.schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c98ba9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/schemas/contract-seed.schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
+  "$id": "https://neon-sprawl.local/schemas/contract-seed.json",
+  "title": "ContractSeed",
+  "description": "Inputs for contract issuance (POST …/contracts/issue body or audit record). Validated when HTTP wiring lands (NEO-147+). See docs/decomposition/modules/E7_M4_ContractMissionGenerator.md.",
+  "type": "object",
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "required": ["playerId", "templateId", "seedBucket"],
+  "properties": {
+    "playerId": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "minLength": 1,
+      "description": "Target player id for deterministic contractInstanceId suffix."
+    },
+    "templateId": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "pattern": "^[a-z][a-z0-9_]*$",
+      "description": "Contract template id from content/contracts; omit selection logic uses band + standing filters."
+    },
+    "seedBucket": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "minLength": 1,
+      "description": "Deterministic rotation bucket (date string or client counter) for audit and instance id hashing."
+    },
+    "zoneDifficultyBand": {
+      "type": "integer",
+      "minimum": 1,
+      "description": "Optional issue-time band override; prototype defaults to 1 when omitted."
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/content/schemas/contract-template.schema.json b/content/schemas/contract-template.schema.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea26782
--- /dev/null
+++ b/content/schemas/contract-template.schema.json
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
+  "$id": "https://neon-sprawl.local/schemas/contract-template.json",
+  "title": "ContractTemplate",
+  "description": "Single contract template row for catalogs (e.g. content/contracts/*_contract_templates.json). Repeatable mission skeleton keyed by zone difficulty band. See docs/decomposition/modules/E7_M4_ContractMissionGenerator.md.",
+  "type": "object",
+  "additionalProperties": false,
+  "required": [
+    "id",
+    "displayName",
+    "zoneDifficultyBand",
+    "objectiveKind",
+    "encounterTemplateId",
+    "minFactionStanding",
+    "completionRewardBundle"
+  ],
+  "properties": {
+    "id": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "pattern": "^[a-z][a-z0-9_]*$",
+      "description": "Immutable template key for issuance APIs and telemetry."
+    },
+    "displayName": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "minLength": 1,
+      "description": "Player-facing label; safe to change without migrating instance data."
+    },
+    "zoneDifficultyBand": {
+      "type": "integer",
+      "minimum": 1,
+      "description": "Difficulty band used to filter eligible templates at issue time (E4.M1 live zone deferred in Slice 4 v1)."
+    },
+    "objectiveKind": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "enum": ["encounter_clear"],
+      "description": "Objective discriminator; Slice 4 v1 binds encounterTemplateId only."
+    },
+    "encounterTemplateId": {
+      "type": "string",
+      "pattern": "^[a-z][a-z0-9_]*$",
+      "description": "Encounter template id from content/encounters (E5.M3)."
+    },
+    "minFactionStanding": {
+      "$ref": "https://neon-sprawl.local/schemas/faction-gate-rule.json",
+      "description": "Minimum faction standing required to issue this template."
+    },
+    "completionRewardBundle": {
+      "$ref": "https://neon-sprawl.local/schemas/quest-reward-bundle.json",
+      "description": "Repeat completion payout delivered via RewardRouterOperations (E7.M2); separate idempotency from quest and first-time encounter loot."
+    }
+  }
+}