diff --git a/backend/app/api/__init__.py b/backend/app/api/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/backend/app/api/public.py b/backend/app/api/public.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9657ba8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/api/public.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, Query, Request
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
+
+from app.db import get_db
+from app.schemas import ItemCreate, ItemOut, WallResponse
+from app.services import items as items_service
+
+router = APIRouter(prefix="/api/items", tags=["items"])
+
+
+def _client_ip(request: Request) -> str:
+    forwarded = request.headers.get("x-forwarded-for")
+    if forwarded:
+        return forwarded.split(",")[0].strip()
+    if request.client and request.client.host:
+        return request.client.host
+    return ""
+
+
+@router.post("", response_model=ItemOut)
+def create_item(
+    payload: ItemCreate,
+    request: Request,
+    db: Session = Depends(get_db),
+):
+    item = items_service.create_text_item(db, payload, _client_ip(request))
+    return items_service.item_to_dict(item)
+
+
+@router.get("/wall", response_model=WallResponse)
+def wall(
+    page: int = Query(1, ge=1),
+    page_size: int = Query(20, ge=1, le=100),
+    db: Session = Depends(get_db),
+):
+    rows, total = items_service.list_wall(db, page=page, page_size=page_size)
+    return WallResponse(
+        items=[ItemOut.model_validate(items_service.item_to_dict(i)) for i in rows],
+        page=page,
+        page_size=page_size,
+        total=total,
+    )
+
+
+@router.get("/{slug}", response_model=ItemOut)
+def get_item(slug: str, db: Session = Depends(get_db)):
+    item = items_service.get_item(db, slug)
+    if item is None:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Not found")
+    return items_service.item_to_dict(item)
diff --git a/backend/app/main.py b/backend/app/main.py
index ab21d0d..e38dede 100644
--- a/backend/app/main.py
+++ b/backend/app/main.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
 
 from fastapi import FastAPI
 
+from app.api.public import router as public_router
 from app.config import settings
 from app.db import Base, engine
 from app import models  # noqa: F401 — register models with Base.metadata
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ async def lifespan(_app: FastAPI):
 
 
 app = FastAPI(title="MincedPad", lifespan=lifespan)
+app.include_router(public_router)
 
 
 @app.get("/api/health")
diff --git a/backend/app/schemas.py b/backend/app/schemas.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b47def3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/schemas.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+from datetime import datetime
+from typing import Literal
+
+from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
+
+
+TTLOption = Literal["1h", "24h", "7d", "never"]
+
+
+class ItemCreate(BaseModel):
+    body: str = Field(min_length=1)
+    title: str | None = None
+    is_public: bool = True
+    burn_after_read: bool = False
+    ttl: TTLOption = "24h"
+
+
+class ItemOut(BaseModel):
+    slug: str
+    kind: str
+    title: str
+    body: str | None = None
+    file_name: str | None = None
+    mime: str | None = None
+    size_bytes: int | None = None
+    is_public: bool
+    burn_after_read: bool
+    expires_at: datetime | None
+    created_at: datetime
+    view_count: int
+
+    model_config = {"from_attributes": True}
+
+
+class WallResponse(BaseModel):
+    items: list[ItemOut]
+    page: int
+    page_size: int
+    total: int
diff --git a/backend/app/services/__init__.py b/backend/app/services/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/backend/app/services/items.py b/backend/app/services/items.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..084d879
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/services/items.py
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import secrets
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from sqlalchemy import func, select
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Session
+
+from app.config import settings
+from app.models import Item
+from app.schemas import ItemCreate, TTLOption
+
+TTL_DELTAS: dict[TTLOption, timedelta | None] = {
+    "1h": timedelta(hours=1),
+    "24h": timedelta(days=1),
+    "7d": timedelta(days=7),
+    "never": None,
+}
+
+
+def _slug() -> str:
+    return secrets.token_urlsafe(8)
+
+
+def _expires_at(ttl: TTLOption, now: datetime | None = None) -> datetime | None:
+    delta = TTL_DELTAS[ttl]
+    if delta is None:
+        return None
+    return (now or datetime.utcnow()) + delta
+
+
+def _title_from_body(body: str) -> str:
+    first = body.split("\n", 1)[0].strip()
+    return first[:255]
+
+
+def _is_unavailable(item: Item, now: datetime | None = None) -> bool:
+    if item.burned:
+        return True
+    now = now or datetime.utcnow()
+    if item.expires_at is not None and item.expires_at <= now:
+        return True
+    return False
+
+
+def item_to_dict(item: Item, *, include_body: bool = True) -> dict:
+    data = {
+        "slug": item.slug,
+        "kind": item.kind,
+        "title": item.title,
+        "file_name": item.file_name,
+        "mime": item.mime,
+        "size_bytes": item.size_bytes,
+        "is_public": item.is_public,
+        "burn_after_read": item.burn_after_read,
+        "expires_at": item.expires_at,
+        "created_at": item.created_at,
+        "view_count": item.view_count,
+    }
+    if include_body:
+        data["body"] = item.body
+    return data
+
+
+def create_text_item(db: Session, payload: ItemCreate, created_ip: str) -> Item:
+    now = datetime.utcnow()
+    title = payload.title if payload.title is not None else _title_from_body(payload.body)
+    item = Item(
+        slug=_slug(),
+        kind="text",
+        title=title[:255],
+        body=payload.body,
+        is_public=payload.is_public,
+        burn_after_read=payload.burn_after_read,
+        expires_at=_expires_at(payload.ttl, now),
+        created_ip=created_ip,
+        created_at=now,
+    )
+    db.add(item)
+    db.commit()
+    db.refresh(item)
+    return item
+
+
+def get_item(db: Session, slug: str) -> Item | None:
+    item = db.scalar(select(Item).where(Item.slug == slug))
+    if item is None or _is_unavailable(item):
+        return None
+
+    item.view_count += 1
+    if item.burn_after_read:
+        item.burned = True
+        if item.file_path:
+            path = Path(item.file_path)
+            if not path.is_absolute():
+                path = settings.data_dir / path
+            try:
+                path.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+            except OSError:
+                pass
+    db.commit()
+    db.refresh(item)
+    return item
+
+
+def list_wall(
+    db: Session,
+    *,
+    page: int = 1,
+    page_size: int = 20,
+) -> tuple[list[Item], int]:
+    page = max(page, 1)
+    page_size = min(max(page_size, 1), 100)
+    now = datetime.utcnow()
+
+    filters = [
+        Item.is_public.is_(True),
+        Item.burned.is_(False),
+        (Item.expires_at.is_(None) | (Item.expires_at > now)),
+    ]
+    total = db.scalar(select(func.count()).select_from(Item).where(*filters)) or 0
+    items = list(
+        db.scalars(
+            select(Item)
+            .where(*filters)
+            .order_by(Item.created_at.desc())
+            .offset((page - 1) * page_size)
+            .limit(page_size)
+        ).all()
+    )
+    return items, total
diff --git a/backend/tests/conftest.py b/backend/tests/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13b4b35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+from sqlalchemy import create_engine
+from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
+
+
+@pytest.fixture()
+def client(tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("DATA_DIR", str(tmp_path))
+
+    from app.config import Settings
+    import app.config as config_module
+    import app.db as db_module
+    import app.main as main_module
+
+    settings = Settings(_env_file=None, DATA_DIR=tmp_path)
+    config_module.settings = settings
+
+    engine = create_engine(
+        settings.db_url,
+        connect_args={"check_same_thread": False},
+    )
+    SessionLocal = sessionmaker(autocommit=False, autoflush=False, bind=engine)
+    db_module.engine = engine
+    db_module.SessionLocal = SessionLocal
+    main_module.engine = engine
+
+    with TestClient(main_module.app) as test_client:
+        yield test_client
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_items.py b/backend/tests/test_items.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb606c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/test_items.py
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta
+
+
+def test_create_text_default_public_and_24h(client):
+    r = client.post("/api/items", json={"body": "hello **md**"})
+    assert r.status_code == 200
+    data = r.json()
+    assert data["slug"]
+    assert data["is_public"] is True
+    assert data["expires_at"] is not None
+    assert data["kind"] == "text"
+    assert data["title"] == "hello **md**"
+    assert data["body"] == "hello **md**"
+    assert data["burn_after_read"] is False
+    assert data["view_count"] == 0
+    assert data["created_at"]
+
+
+def test_link_only_not_on_wall(client):
+    r = client.post("/api/items", json={"body": "secret", "is_public": False})
+    slug = r.json()["slug"]
+    wall = client.get("/api/items/wall").json()["items"]
+    assert all(i["slug"] != slug for i in wall)
+    assert client.get(f"/api/items/{slug}").status_code == 200
+
+
+def test_ttl_options(client):
+    never = client.post("/api/items", json={"body": "n", "ttl": "never"}).json()
+    assert never["expires_at"] is None
+
+    one_h = client.post("/api/items", json={"body": "h", "ttl": "1h"}).json()
+    expires = datetime.fromisoformat(one_h["expires_at"])
+    delta = expires - datetime.fromisoformat(one_h["created_at"])
+    assert timedelta(minutes=50) < delta < timedelta(hours=2)
+
+    week = client.post("/api/items", json={"body": "w", "ttl": "7d"}).json()
+    expires_w = datetime.fromisoformat(week["expires_at"])
+    delta_w = expires_w - datetime.fromisoformat(week["created_at"])
+    assert timedelta(days=6) < delta_w < timedelta(days=8)
+
+
+def test_wall_pagination_shape(client):
+    for i in range(3):
+        client.post("/api/items", json={"body": f"item {i}", "is_public": True})
+
+    r = client.get("/api/items/wall", params={"page": 1, "page_size": 2})
+    assert r.status_code == 200
+    data = r.json()
+    assert "items" in data
+    assert data["page"] == 1
+    assert data["page_size"] == 2
+    assert data["total"] >= 3
+    assert len(data["items"]) == 2
+    # newest first
+    titles = [i["title"] for i in data["items"]]
+    assert titles[0] == "item 2"
+
+
+def test_get_missing_404(client):
+    assert client.get("/api/items/does-not-exist").status_code == 404
+
+
+def test_title_from_first_line(client):
+    r = client.post("/api/items", json={"body": "First line\nSecond line"})
+    assert r.json()["title"] == "First line"
+
+
+def test_explicit_title(client):
+    r = client.post("/api/items", json={"body": "body text", "title": "Custom"})
+    assert r.json()["title"] == "Custom"