diff --git a/packages/core-audit/src/payload-audit-log.test.ts b/packages/core-audit/src/payload-audit-log.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..daffe95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core-audit/src/payload-audit-log.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from "vitest";
+import { PayloadAuditLog } from "./payload-audit-log";
+import type { AuditEntry } from "@repo/core-shared/audit";
+
+const sample: AuditEntry = {
+  actorId: "user_1",
+  actorType: "user",
+  actorRoles: ["admin"],
+  action: "UPDATE",
+  resource: { type: "articles", id: "abc" },
+  changedFields: ["title", "body"],
+  at: new Date("2026-05-11T10:00:00.000Z"),
+  scope: { feature: "blog", environment: "production", tenant: "default" },
+  from: { ipTruncated: "10.0.0.0", userAgent: "Mozilla/5.0" },
+  containsPii: false,
+  outcome: "success",
+};
+
+describe("PayloadAuditLog.record", () => {
+  it("maps AuditEntry → flat collection doc + calls payload.create", async () => {
+    const mockCreate = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ id: "doc_1" });
+    const mockGetPayload = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ create: mockCreate });
+    const log = new PayloadAuditLog({} as never, mockGetPayload);
+
+    await log.record(sample);
+
+    expect(mockCreate).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    const call = mockCreate.mock.calls[0]![0] as { collection: string; data: Record<string, unknown> };
+    expect(call.collection).toBe("audit-logs");
+    expect(call.data.actorId).toBe("user_1");
+    expect(call.data.action).toBe("UPDATE");
+    expect(call.data.resourceType).toBe("articles");
+    expect(call.data.resourceId).toBe("abc");
+    expect(call.data.changedFields).toEqual(["title", "body"]);
+    expect(call.data.scopeFeature).toBe("blog");
+    expect(call.data.scopeTenant).toBe("default");
+    expect(call.data.ipTruncated).toBe("10.0.0.0");
+    expect(call.data.containsPii).toBe(false);
+    expect(call.data.outcome).toBe("success");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/core-audit/src/payload-audit-log.ts b/packages/core-audit/src/payload-audit-log.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e819909
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core-audit/src/payload-audit-log.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import type { SanitizedConfig } from "payload";
+import type { AuditEntry } from "@repo/core-shared/audit";
+import type { IAuditLog } from "./audit-log.interface";
+
+type GetPayload = (args: { config: SanitizedConfig }) => Promise<{
+  create: (args: { collection: string; data: Record<string, unknown> }) => Promise<unknown>;
+  find: (args: {
+    collection: string;
+    where: Record<string, unknown>;
+    limit: number;
+    overrideAccess: true;
+  }) => Promise<{ docs: Array<{ id: string | number }> }>;
+  update: (args: {
+    collection: string;
+    id: string | number;
+    data: Record<string, unknown>;
+    overrideAccess: true;
+  }) => Promise<unknown>;
+  delete: (args: {
+    collection: string;
+    where: Record<string, unknown>;
+    overrideAccess: true;
+  }) => Promise<unknown>;
+}>;
+
+/**
+ * Local-cache audit sink: writes entries to the `audit-logs` Payload
+ * collection. The collection is append-only by access-rule
+ * (`update: () => false`); the eraseSubject path uses `overrideAccess: true`
+ * to bypass for the privileged GDPR pseudonymization op.
+ *
+ * The getPayload param is injectable for tests; production callers pass
+ * the real `getPayload` from `payload`.
+ */
+export class PayloadAuditLog implements IAuditLog {
+  constructor(
+    private readonly config: SanitizedConfig,
+    private readonly getPayload: GetPayload,
+  ) {}
+
+  async record(entry: AuditEntry): Promise<void> {
+    const payload = await this.getPayload({ config: this.config });
+    await payload.create({
+      collection: "audit-logs",
+      data: {
+        actorId: entry.actorId,
+        actorType: entry.actorType,
+        actorRoles: entry.actorRoles,
+        action: entry.action,
+        resourceType: entry.resource.type,
+        resourceId: entry.resource.id ?? null,
+        changedFields: entry.changedFields ?? null,
+        scopeFeature: entry.scope.feature,
+        scopeEnvironment: entry.scope.environment,
+        scopeTenant: entry.scope.tenant,
+        reason: entry.reason ?? null,
+        correlationId: entry.correlationId ?? null,
+        requestId: entry.requestId ?? null,
+        ipTruncated: entry.from.ipTruncated,
+        userAgent: entry.from.userAgent,
+        containsPii: entry.containsPii,
+        piiCategories: entry.piiCategories ?? null,
+        outcome: entry.outcome,
+        errorCode: entry.errorCode ?? null,
+      },
+    });
+  }
+
+  async eraseSubject(_actorId: string, _mode: "pseudonymize" | "delete"): Promise<void> {
+    // Implemented in Phase 3.
+    throw new Error("PayloadAuditLog.eraseSubject not yet implemented (Phase 3)");
+  }
+}