diff --git a/scripts/sft_import.py b/scripts/sft_import.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e2ee3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/sft_import.py
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+"""Avocet — SFT candidate run discovery and JSONL import.
+
+No FastAPI dependency — pure Python file operations.
+Used by app/sft.py endpoints and can be run standalone.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+
+_CANDIDATES_FILENAME = "sft_candidates.jsonl"
+
+
+def discover_runs(bench_results_dir: Path) -> list[dict]:
+    """Return one entry per run subdirectory that contains sft_candidates.jsonl.
+
+    Sorted newest-first by directory name (directories are named YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS
+    by the cf-orch benchmark harness, so lexicographic order is chronological).
+
+    Each entry: {run_id, timestamp, candidate_count, sft_path}
+    """
+    if not bench_results_dir.exists() or not bench_results_dir.is_dir():
+        return []
+    runs = []
+    for subdir in bench_results_dir.iterdir():
+        if not subdir.is_dir():
+            continue
+        sft_path = subdir / _CANDIDATES_FILENAME
+        if not sft_path.exists():
+            continue
+        records = _read_jsonl(sft_path)
+        runs.append({
+            "run_id": subdir.name,
+            "timestamp": subdir.name,
+            "candidate_count": len(records),
+            "sft_path": sft_path,
+        })
+    runs.sort(key=lambda r: r["run_id"], reverse=True)
+    return runs
+
+
+def import_run(sft_path: Path, data_dir: Path) -> dict[str, int]:
+    """Append records from sft_path into data_dir/sft_candidates.jsonl.
+
+    Deduplicates on the `id` field — records whose id already exists in the
+    destination file are skipped silently. Records missing an `id` field are
+    also skipped (malformed input from a partial benchmark write).
+
+    Returns {imported: N, skipped: M}.
+    """
+    dest = data_dir / _CANDIDATES_FILENAME
+    existing = _read_jsonl(dest)
+    existing_ids = {r["id"] for r in existing if "id" in r}
+
+    new_records: list[dict] = []
+    skipped = 0
+    for record in _read_jsonl(sft_path):
+        if "id" not in record:
+            continue  # malformed — skip without crashing
+        if record["id"] in existing_ids:
+            skipped += 1
+            continue
+        new_records.append(record)
+        existing_ids.add(record["id"])
+
+    if new_records:
+        dest.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        with open(dest, "a", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
+            for r in new_records:
+                fh.write(json.dumps(r) + "\n")
+
+    return {"imported": len(new_records), "skipped": skipped}
+
+
+def _read_jsonl(path: Path) -> list[dict]:
+    """Read a JSONL file, returning valid records. Skips blank lines and malformed JSON."""
+    if not path.exists():
+        return []
+    records: list[dict] = []
+    for line in path.read_text(encoding="utf-8").splitlines():
+        line = line.strip()
+        if not line:
+            continue
+        try:
+            records.append(json.loads(line))
+        except json.JSONDecodeError:
+            pass
+    return records
diff --git a/tests/test_sft_import.py b/tests/test_sft_import.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc1bb33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_sft_import.py
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+"""Unit tests for scripts/sft_import.py — run discovery and JSONL deduplication."""
+import json
+import pytest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+def _write_candidates(path: Path, records: list[dict]) -> None:
+    path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    path.write_text("\n".join(json.dumps(r) for r in records) + "\n", encoding="utf-8")
+
+
+def _make_record(id: str, run_id: str = "run1") -> dict:
+    return {
+        "id": id, "source": "cf-orch-benchmark",
+        "benchmark_run_id": run_id, "timestamp": "2026-04-07T10:00:00Z",
+        "status": "needs_review", "prompt_messages": [],
+        "model_response": "bad", "corrected_response": None,
+        "quality_score": 0.3, "failure_reason": "missing patterns",
+        "task_id": "code-fn", "task_type": "code", "task_name": "Code: fn",
+        "model_id": "Qwen/Qwen2.5-3B", "model_name": "Qwen2.5-3B",
+        "node_id": "heimdall", "gpu_id": 0, "tokens_per_sec": 38.4,
+    }
+
+
+def test_discover_runs_empty_when_dir_missing(tmp_path):
+    from scripts.sft_import import discover_runs
+    result = discover_runs(tmp_path / "nonexistent")
+    assert result == []
+
+
+def test_discover_runs_returns_runs(tmp_path):
+    from scripts.sft_import import discover_runs
+    run_dir = tmp_path / "2026-04-07-143022"
+    _write_candidates(run_dir / "sft_candidates.jsonl", [_make_record("a"), _make_record("b")])
+    result = discover_runs(tmp_path)
+    assert len(result) == 1
+    assert result[0]["run_id"] == "2026-04-07-143022"
+    assert result[0]["candidate_count"] == 2
+    assert "sft_path" in result[0]
+
+
+def test_discover_runs_skips_dirs_without_sft_file(tmp_path):
+    from scripts.sft_import import discover_runs
+    (tmp_path / "2026-04-07-no-sft").mkdir()
+    result = discover_runs(tmp_path)
+    assert result == []
+
+
+def test_discover_runs_sorted_newest_first(tmp_path):
+    from scripts.sft_import import discover_runs
+    for name in ["2026-04-05-120000", "2026-04-07-143022", "2026-04-06-090000"]:
+        run_dir = tmp_path / name
+        _write_candidates(run_dir / "sft_candidates.jsonl", [_make_record("x")])
+    result = discover_runs(tmp_path)
+    assert [r["run_id"] for r in result] == [
+        "2026-04-07-143022", "2026-04-06-090000", "2026-04-05-120000"
+    ]
+
+
+def test_import_run_imports_new_records(tmp_path):
+    from scripts.sft_import import import_run
+    sft_path = tmp_path / "run1" / "sft_candidates.jsonl"
+    _write_candidates(sft_path, [_make_record("a"), _make_record("b")])
+    result = import_run(sft_path, tmp_path)
+    assert result == {"imported": 2, "skipped": 0}
+    dest = tmp_path / "sft_candidates.jsonl"
+    lines = [json.loads(l) for l in dest.read_text().splitlines() if l.strip()]
+    assert len(lines) == 2
+
+
+def test_import_run_deduplicates_on_id(tmp_path):
+    from scripts.sft_import import import_run
+    sft_path = tmp_path / "run1" / "sft_candidates.jsonl"
+    _write_candidates(sft_path, [_make_record("a"), _make_record("b")])
+    import_run(sft_path, tmp_path)
+    result = import_run(sft_path, tmp_path)  # second import
+    assert result == {"imported": 0, "skipped": 2}
+    dest = tmp_path / "sft_candidates.jsonl"
+    lines = [l for l in dest.read_text().splitlines() if l.strip()]
+    assert len(lines) == 2  # no duplicates
+
+
+def test_import_run_skips_records_missing_id(tmp_path):
+    from scripts.sft_import import import_run
+    sft_path = tmp_path / "run1" / "sft_candidates.jsonl"
+    bad = {"source": "cf-orch-benchmark", "status": "needs_review"}  # no id
+    _write_candidates(sft_path, [bad, _make_record("a")])
+    result = import_run(sft_path, tmp_path)
+    assert result == {"imported": 1, "skipped": 0}