diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 88760ceb9d..bf8cd2e33f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -1362,6 +1362,25 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run Protolint
         run: protolint lint -config_path=.protolint.yaml crates/rpc/proto/
 
+  migration-police:
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    needs:
+      - changes
+    if: ${{ contains(github.ref, 'pull-request/') }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Check new migration timestamps
+        run: |
+          git fetch --no-tags origin main:refs/remotes/origin/main
+          bash scripts/check-migration-filenames.sh --base origin/main
+
   proto-breaking-changes:
     name: Proto Breaking Changes Check
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -2059,6 +2078,7 @@ jobs:
       - build-release-artifacts-arm-host
       - security-secret-scan
       - lint-police
+      - migration-police
       - check-rest-core-proto-sync
       - build-machine-a-tron
       - build-mat-k8s-controller
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index ecf2db1aa0..4c7517f8a5 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -169,6 +169,11 @@ verification expectations.
 See [`STYLE_GUIDE.md`](STYLE_GUIDE.md) for detailed Rust coding conventions.
 Make sure to review it to ensure changes meet the expected style of the codebase.
 
+Name new Core database migrations with the fully populated
+`YYYYMMDDhhmmss_description.sql` format described in
+[`STYLE_GUIDE.md`](STYLE_GUIDE.md#database-migrations). The `migration-police`
+CI job checks only newly added migrations, so existing filenames remain accepted.
+
 ### Documentation
 
 Give every fenced code block a language identifier. Use `bash` or `sh` for
diff --git a/STYLE_GUIDE.md b/STYLE_GUIDE.md
index c5ce25834c..a5be6305a9 100644
--- a/STYLE_GUIDE.md
+++ b/STYLE_GUIDE.md
@@ -342,6 +342,14 @@ your interface `async` just so you can use the tokio Mutex. That way callers can
 async themselves. Async work should generally be traceable to some I/O or timer that needs to be used, otherwise
 code should typically be synchronous.
 
+## Database migrations
+
+Name new Core database migration files with a fully populated 14-digit timestamp:
+`YYYYMMDDhhmmss_description.sql`. Use the actual hour, minute, and second values instead of a
+trailing `0000` minute-and-second placeholder so independently authored migrations are less likely
+to collide. Existing migration filenames remain unchanged, and migrations already on `main` are
+immutable.
+
 ## Database transactions
 
 Transactions should be used to group write operations together such that they can be rolled back on failure. But do
diff --git a/scripts/check-migration-filenames.sh b/scripts/check-migration-filenames.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..ee897e5c4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-migration-filenames.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+usage() {
+	echo "Usage: check-migration-filenames.sh --base REVISION"
+	echo "       check-migration-filenames.sh MIGRATION_FILE..."
+}
+
+escape_workflow_data() {
+	local value="$1"
+
+	value="${value//'%'/'%25'}"
+	value="${value//$'\r'/'%0D'}"
+	value="${value//$'\n'/'%0A'}"
+	printf '%s' "${value}"
+}
+
+migration_files=()
+
+if [[ "${1:-}" == "-h" || "${1:-}" == "--help" ]]; then
+	usage
+	exit 0
+elif [[ "${1:-}" == "--base" ]]; then
+	if (( $# != 2 )); then
+		usage >&2
+		exit 2
+	fi
+
+	base_revision="$2"
+	migration_list="$(mktemp)"
+	trap 'rm -f "${migration_list}"' EXIT
+
+	git diff --no-renames --diff-filter=A --name-only -z \
+		"${base_revision}...HEAD" \
+		-- ':(top,glob)crates/api-db/migrations/*.sql' >"${migration_list}"
+
+	while IFS= read -r -d '' migration_file; do
+		migration_files+=("${migration_file}")
+	done <"${migration_list}"
+elif (( $# > 0 )); then
+	migration_files=("$@")
+else
+	usage >&2
+	exit 2
+fi
+
+failed=0
+
+for migration_file in "${migration_files[@]}"; do
+	filename="${migration_file##*/}"
+	timestamp="${filename%%_*}"
+
+	if [[ ! "${filename}" =~ ^[0-9]{14}_.+\.sql$ ]]; then
+		message="New Core database migration ${migration_file} must use the YYYYMMDDhhmmss_description.sql filename format."
+		printf '::error title=Invalid migration filename::%s\n' \
+			"$(escape_workflow_data "${message}")"
+		failed=1
+	elif [[ "${timestamp}" =~ ^[0-9]{10}0000$ ]]; then
+		message="New Core database migration ${migration_file} must use a fully populated YYYYMMDDhhmmss timestamp; replace the trailing 0000 minute/second placeholder."
+		printf '::error title=Placeholder migration timestamp::%s\n' \
+			"$(escape_workflow_data "${message}")"
+		failed=1
+	fi
+done
+
+if (( failed )); then
+	echo "migration-police rejected one or more new database migrations."
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+printf 'migration-police checked %d new database migration(s).\n' "${#migration_files[@]}"