diff --git a/backend/app/composition.py b/backend/app/composition.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4a0fbefe3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/composition.py
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+"""Composition root -- the one place adapters are instantiated and wired.
+
+Every application service is assembled here and nowhere else. Ports are
+declared by the domain, implemented under ``app/adapters/``, and the two are
+introduced to each other in this file; no router, middleware, or lifespan hook
+constructs an adapter of its own.
+
+**Why this is a pure function rather than part of the lifespan.** Wiring used
+to live inline in ``deps.py::langgraph_runtime``, tangled with engine startup
+and shutdown -- so the one rule that actually governs it ("no SQL backend
+means no service, and the routes answer 503") could not be tested without
+driving a full application startup. ``build_domain_services`` takes what it
+needs and returns what it built, so that rule is an assertion in
+``tests/test_composition.py`` instead.
+
+**What "no SQL backend" means.** ``session_factory is None`` is how a
+``database.backend: memory`` deployment presents itself. The feedback context
+owns a table, so it cannot run on it; the service is ``None`` and the
+dependency provider translates that into 503. This is deliberately not a
+silent degradation to an in-memory implementation.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+
+from deerflow.domain.feedback import FeedbackService
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession, async_sessionmaker
+
+    from deerflow.runtime.runs.store import RunStore
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class DomainServices:
+    """Every application service the Gateway serves, or ``None`` where the
+    configured backend cannot support one."""
+
+    feedback: FeedbackService | None
+
+
+def build_domain_services(
+    *,
+    session_factory: async_sessionmaker[AsyncSession] | None,
+    run_store: RunStore,
+) -> DomainServices:
+    """Wire the domain services from already-built infrastructure.
+
+    Takes infrastructure rather than building it: engines and stores have
+    lifecycles (startup, recovery, shutdown) that belong to the lifespan,
+    while deciding *what is assembled from them* is this function's only
+    job. That split is what makes it callable from a test.
+    """
+    if session_factory is None:
+        return DomainServices(feedback=None)
+
+    # Imported here, not at module scope: these pull in SQLAlchemy, and the
+    # composition root is imported by tests that only want the memory branch.
+    from app.adapters.feedback.feedback_repository import SqlFeedbackRepository
+    from app.adapters.feedback.run_lookup import RunStoreRunLookup
+
+    return DomainServices(
+        feedback=FeedbackService(
+            repository=SqlFeedbackRepository(session_factory),
+            runs=RunStoreRunLookup(run_store),
+        ),
+    )
diff --git a/backend/app/gateway/deps.py b/backend/app/gateway/deps.py
index 3f758203a..7848af3be 100644
--- a/backend/app/gateway/deps.py
+++ b/backend/app/gateway/deps.py
@@ -400,23 +400,21 @@ async def langgraph_runtime(app: FastAPI, startup_config: AppConfig) -> AsyncGen
         # Initialize repositories — one get_session_factory() call for all.
         sf = get_session_factory()
         if sf is not None:
-            from app.adapters.feedback.feedback_repository import SqlFeedbackRepository
-            from app.adapters.feedback.run_lookup import RunStoreRunLookup
             from deerflow.persistence.run import RunRepository
 
             app.state.run_store = RunRepository(sf)
-            # Hexagonal feedback slice: the service (input port) is wired with
-            # its SQL adapter here — the composition root is the only place
-            # adapters are instantiated.
-            app.state.feedback_service = FeedbackService(
-                repository=SqlFeedbackRepository(sf),
-                runs=RunStoreRunLookup(app.state.run_store),
-            )
         else:
             from deerflow.runtime.runs.store.memory import MemoryRunStore
 
             app.state.run_store = MemoryRunStore()
-            app.state.feedback_service = None  # memory backend → 503, as before
+
+        # Composition root: adapters are instantiated only inside
+        # build_domain_services; a memory backend yields None services and
+        # the dependency providers translate that into 503.
+        from app.composition import build_domain_services
+
+        domain_services = build_domain_services(session_factory=sf, run_store=app.state.run_store)
+        app.state.feedback_service = domain_services.feedback
 
         from deerflow.persistence.thread_meta import make_thread_store
 
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_composition.py b/backend/tests/test_composition.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..25ce6918d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/test_composition.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+"""Composition-root tests -- the rules the wiring itself owns.
+
+``build_domain_services`` was extracted into a pure function precisely so
+these rules are assertions instead of a comment inside the lifespan:
+a ``database.backend: memory`` deployment gets no services (the dependency
+providers translate that into 503).
+"""
+
+from app.composition import build_domain_services
+
+
+class TestMemoryBackend:
+    def test_no_sql_backend_means_no_services(self):
+        services = build_domain_services(session_factory=None, run_store=object())
+        assert services.feedback is None
+
+
+class TestSqlBackend:
+    def test_services_are_assembled(self):
+        # A bare object suffices: the factory is only handed to adapters,
+        # never called during assembly.
+        services = build_domain_services(session_factory=object(), run_store=object())
+        assert services.feedback is not None