diff --git a/src/database_flatfile.c b/src/database_flatfile.c
index 629d1908..ee7d76df 100644
--- a/src/database_flatfile.c
+++ b/src/database_flatfile.c
@@ -205,6 +205,15 @@ _ff_state_build(ff_contact_state_t* state)
 
     state->bom_len = ff_skip_bom(fp);
 
+    int file_version = ff_read_format_version(fp);
+    if (file_version == 0) {
+        log_warning("flatfile: %s has no format-version marker, expected %d",
+                    state->filepath, FLATFILE_FORMAT_VERSION);
+    } else if (file_version != FLATFILE_FORMAT_VERSION) {
+        log_warning("flatfile: %s format-version %d does not match expected %d",
+                    state->filepath, file_version, FLATFILE_FORMAT_VERSION);
+    }
+
     state->n_entries = 0;
     state->total_lines = 0;
 
diff --git a/src/database_flatfile.h b/src/database_flatfile.h
index c0c978f5..86fdf619 100644
--- a/src/database_flatfile.h
+++ b/src/database_flatfile.h
@@ -24,8 +24,13 @@
 
 // --- Constants ---
 
-#define DIR_FLATLOG      "flatlog"
-#define FLATFILE_HEADER  "# profanity chat log — UTF-8, LF line endings\n# vim: set fileencoding=utf-8 fileformat=unix :\n"
+#define DIR_FLATLOG             "flatlog"
+#define FLATFILE_FORMAT_VERSION 1
+#define FF_VERSION_PREFIX       "# format-version: "
+#define FLATFILE_HEADER                                                   \
+    "# profanity chat log — UTF-8, LF line endings\n"                     \
+    "# format-version: 1\n"                                               \
+    "# vim: set fileencoding=utf-8 fileformat=unix :\n"
 #define FF_MAX_LINE_LEN  (10 * 1024 * 1024) /* 10 MB — reject lines longer than this */
 #define FF_MAX_LMC_DEPTH 100                /* max correction chain depth */
 
@@ -125,6 +130,11 @@ char* ff_unescape_meta_value(const char* val);
 // Skip UTF-8 BOM if present; returns 3 if skipped, 0 otherwise.
 int ff_skip_bom(FILE* fp);
 
+// Scan leading '#' comment lines for the format-version marker. Returns
+// the version found, 0 if no marker is present, or -1 on read error.
+// File position is rewound to the start of the comment block on entry.
+int ff_read_format_version(FILE* fp);
+
 char* ff_readline(FILE* fp, gboolean* truncated);
 void ff_write_line(FILE* fp, const char* timestamp, const char* type, const char* enc,
                    const char* stanza_id, const char* archive_id, const char* replace_id,
diff --git a/src/database_flatfile_parser.c b/src/database_flatfile_parser.c
index 53d2a340..650d5790 100644
--- a/src/database_flatfile_parser.c
+++ b/src/database_flatfile_parser.c
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 #include <glib.h>
 #include <glib/gstdio.h>
+#include <limits.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <string.h>
@@ -338,6 +339,49 @@ ff_skip_bom(FILE* fp)
     return 0;
 }
 
+// Format-version helper
+// =========================================================================
+//
+// Scan leading '#' comment lines for `# format-version: <N>`. Stops at
+// the first non-comment line or after FF_VERSION_SCAN_MAX comments.
+// Restores fp to its position at entry, so callers can re-parse the
+// header normally afterwards.
+#define FF_VERSION_SCAN_MAX 16
+
+int
+ff_read_format_version(FILE* fp)
+{
+    long start = ftell(fp);
+    if (start < 0)
+        return -1;
+
+    int version = 0;
+    size_t prefix_len = strlen(FF_VERSION_PREFIX);
+
+    for (int i = 0; i < FF_VERSION_SCAN_MAX; i++) {
+        gboolean truncated = FALSE;
+        char* line = ff_readline(fp, &truncated);
+        if (!line)
+            break;
+        if (line[0] != '#') {
+            free(line);
+            break;
+        }
+        if (strncmp(line, FF_VERSION_PREFIX, prefix_len) == 0) {
+            char* endptr = NULL;
+            long v = strtol(line + prefix_len, &endptr, 10);
+            if (endptr != line + prefix_len && v > 0 && v <= INT_MAX)
+                version = (int)v;
+            free(line);
+            break;
+        }
+        free(line);
+    }
+
+    fseek(fp, start, SEEK_SET);
+    return version;
+}
+
 // Readline helper
 // =========================================================================
 //