diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e2a80a7..af4bf85 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ poseguide poses list
 poseguide poses list --tag portrait --difficulty easy
 poseguide poses search --tag jump --difficulty medium
 poseguide scenes list
+poseguide guide recommend --description "sunset beach" --no-svg
+poseguide guide recommend --background photos/urban_wall.jpg --no-svg
 ```
 
 SVG / overlay outputs are written under the configured `OUT_DIR` (see `poseguide.config`).
@@ -112,6 +114,24 @@ poseguide demo -p studio
 
 ---
 
+## Offline scene tagging
+
+`guide recommend` can infer ranker tags from a background description or image
+filename without reading image pixels, making network requests, or downloading a
+model:
+
+```powershell
+poseguide guide recommend --description "studio business portrait"
+poseguide guide recommend --background photos/beach_sunset.jpg
+poseguide guide recommend --background photos/urban_wall.jpg --tags casual
+```
+
+The deterministic rules live in `poseguide.guide.scene_tagger.infer_scene_tags`.
+An optional CLIP implementation can later replace that function while preserving
+its `list[str]` output contract and the existing ranker integration.
+
+---
+
 ## Diagrams
 
 System architecture and workflow — full width. Open the HTML files for **dark/light theme** and export (PNG/SVG).
diff --git a/src/poseguide/cli.py b/src/poseguide/cli.py
index d6f1c45..7fd148b 100644
--- a/src/poseguide/cli.py
+++ b/src/poseguide/cli.py
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@
 from poseguide.models.catalog import get_pose_by_id
 from poseguide.guide.demo import PRESETS, run_demo
 from poseguide.guide.recommend import recommend_for_scene_path, recommend_for_tags
+from poseguide.guide.scene_tagger import infer_scene_tags
 from poseguide.guide.score import score_subject_against_pose
+from poseguide.models.toy import tags_from_text
 from poseguide.render.overlay import (
     VisionUnavailableError,
     render_overlay_png,
@@ -215,6 +217,17 @@ def scenes_list() -> None:
 def guide_recommend(
     scene: Optional[Path] = typer.Option(None, "--scene", "-s", exists=True, dir_okay=False),
     tags: Optional[str] = typer.Option(None, "--tags", "-t"),
+    background: Optional[Path] = typer.Option(
+        None,
+        "--background",
+        "-b",
+        exists=True,
+        dir_okay=False,
+        help="Infer scene tags from an image filename.",
+    ),
+    description: Optional[str] = typer.Option(
+        None, "--description", help="Infer scene tags from a background description."
+    ),
     top: int = typer.Option(3, "--top", "-k", min=1, max=20),
     subject: Optional[Path] = typer.Option(None, "--subject", exists=True, dir_okay=False),
     overlay_out: Optional[Path] = typer.Option(None, "--overlay-out"),
@@ -223,13 +236,21 @@ def guide_recommend(
         None, "--difficulty", "-d", help="Filter by difficulty: easy, medium, hard"
     ),
 ) -> None:
-    if scene is None and not tags:
-        console.print("[red]Provide --scene or --tags[/red]")
+    if scene is None and not tags and background is None and not description:
+        console.print("[red]Provide --scene, --tags, --background, or --description[/red]")
         raise typer.Exit(code=1)
     if scene is not None:
         result = recommend_for_scene_path(scene, top_k=top, subject_path=subject)
     else:
-        result = recommend_for_tags(tags or "", top_k=top)
+        inferred_tags = infer_scene_tags(description=description, image_path=background)
+        scene_tags = tags_from_text(tags or "")
+        scene_tags.extend(tag for tag in inferred_tags if tag not in scene_tags)
+        if not scene_tags:
+            console.print("[red]No scene tags inferred; add --tags or a clearer description[/red]")
+            raise typer.Exit(code=1)
+        result = recommend_for_tags(scene_tags, top_k=top)
+        if inferred_tags:
+            result["inferred_scene_tags"] = inferred_tags
     if difficulty:
         recs = result.get("recommendations", [])
         before = len(recs)
diff --git a/src/poseguide/guide/scene_tagger.py b/src/poseguide/guide/scene_tagger.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34aa4bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/poseguide/guide/scene_tagger.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import re
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+_TAG_RULES = (
+    (("beach", "coast", "ocean", "seaside"), ("beach", "outdoor")),
+    (("urban", "city", "downtown"), ("urban", "outdoor")),
+    (("street", "alley"), ("street", "urban", "outdoor")),
+    (("wall", "brick"), ("wall",)),
+    (("studio", "backdrop"), ("studio", "indoor")),
+    (("portrait", "headshot"), ("portrait",)),
+    (("business", "corporate"), ("business", "indoor")),
+    (("office", "workplace", "lobby"), ("office", "indoor", "business")),
+    (("forest", "woods", "woodland"), ("forest", "outdoor")),
+    (("park", "garden"), ("garden", "outdoor")),
+    (("cafe", "coffee"), ("cafe", "indoor")),
+    (("home", "room", "library", "loft"), ("indoor",)),
+    (("mountain", "trail", "hiking"), ("mountain", "outdoor")),
+    (("sunset", "sunrise", "golden hour"), ("golden_hour", "outdoor")),
+    (("night", "neon"), ("night", "urban")),
+    (("rooftop", "balcony"), ("rooftop", "urban", "outdoor")),
+    (("sports", "field", "stadium"), ("sports", "outdoor")),
+    (("subway", "metro", "station"), ("subway", "urban", "indoor")),
+    (("festival", "crowd"), ("festival", "outdoor")),
+    (("harbor", "pier", "lakeside"), ("waterfront", "outdoor")),
+)
+
+
+def infer_scene_tags(
+    *, description: str | None = None, image_path: Path | None = None
+) -> list[str]:
+    """Infer ranker-compatible scene tags from text and an image filename."""
+    sources = [description or ""]
+    if image_path is not None:
+        sources.append(image_path.stem)
+    normalized = re.sub(r"[^a-z0-9]+", " ", " ".join(sources).lower()).strip()
+    if not normalized:
+        return []
+
+    haystack = f" {normalized} "
+    tags: list[str] = []
+    for keywords, inferred_tags in _TAG_RULES:
+        if not any(f" {keyword} " in haystack for keyword in keywords):
+            continue
+        for tag in inferred_tags:
+            if tag not in tags:
+                tags.append(tag)
+    return tags
diff --git a/tests/test_scene_tagger.py b/tests/test_scene_tagger.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..338d22a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_scene_tagger.py
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from typer.testing import CliRunner
+
+from poseguide import cli
+from poseguide.guide.scene_tagger import infer_scene_tags
+
+
+runner = CliRunner()
+
+
+def test_infer_scene_tags_from_description() -> None:
+    tags = infer_scene_tags(description="Portrait at a beach during sunset")
+
+    assert tags == ["beach", "outdoor", "portrait", "golden_hour"]
+
+
+def test_infer_scene_tags_from_image_fixture(tmp_path) -> None:
+    image = tmp_path / "urban_brick_wall.jpg"
+    image.write_bytes(b"offline image fixture")
+
+    tags = infer_scene_tags(image_path=image)
+
+    assert tags == ["urban", "outdoor", "wall"]
+
+
+def test_guide_recommend_uses_inferred_tags(tmp_path, monkeypatch) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setattr(cli, "OUT_DIR", tmp_path)
+
+    result = runner.invoke(
+        cli.app,
+        ["guide", "recommend", "--description", "sunset beach", "--no-svg"],
+    )
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert '"inferred_scene_tags":' in result.output
+    assert '"beach"' in result.output
+    assert '"golden_hour"' in result.output
+
+
+def test_guide_recommend_rejects_unknown_description() -> None:
+    result = runner.invoke(
+        cli.app,
+        ["guide", "recommend", "--description", "plain backdropless photograph", "--no-svg"],
+    )
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 1
+    assert "No scene tags inferred" in result.output