diff --git a/backend/app/models/alert.py b/backend/app/models/alert.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a67582a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/app/models/alert.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+"""Alert model - budget warnings, task failures, system events."""
+from sqlalchemy import Column, String, Integer, Text, Boolean, ForeignKey
+from app.models.base import Base, TimestampMixin, TenantMixin
+
+
+class Alert(Base, TimestampMixin, TenantMixin):
+    """System alerts: budget warnings, task failures, worker offline."""
+    __tablename__ = "alerts"
+
+    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True, autoincrement=True)
+    alert_type = Column(String(50), nullable=False)  # budget_warning, budget_exceeded, task_failed, worker_offline
+    severity = Column(String(20), nullable=False, default="warning")  # info, warning, critical
+    message = Column(Text, nullable=False)
+    project_id = Column(Integer, ForeignKey("projects.id"), nullable=True)
+    worker_id = Column(Integer, ForeignKey("ai_workers.id"), nullable=True)
+    is_read = Column(Boolean, default=False, nullable=False)