diff --git a/backend/src/pipeline/populate-collection-runtime.ts b/backend/src/pipeline/populate-collection-runtime.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b0b695a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/src/pipeline/populate-collection-runtime.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+import type { DatasetContext, PopulateColumn } from "./populate.js";
+import type { PopulateRuntimeResult } from "./populate-runtime.js";
+import {
+  emptyPopulateRuntimeResult,
+  populateRecipeRunResultFromRuntimeResult,
+  type PopulateRecipe,
+  type PopulateRecipeRunResult,
+  type PopulateRecipeRuntime,
+} from "./populate-self-healing.js";
+
+export interface CollectionPopulatePipelineColumn {
+  name: string;
+  type: PopulateColumn["type"];
+  description?: string;
+}
+
+export interface CollectionPopulatePipelineInput {
+  datasetId: string;
+  datasetName: string;
+  description: string;
+  columns: CollectionPopulatePipelineColumn[];
+  requiredColumns: string[];
+  prompt: string;
+  recipeInstructions: string;
+  targetRows: number;
+}
+
+export type CollectionPopulatePipelineRunner = (
+  input: CollectionPopulatePipelineInput
+) => Promise<PopulateRuntimeResult>;
+
+export interface CollectionPopulateRecipeRuntimeOptions {
+  runPipeline: CollectionPopulatePipelineRunner;
+  targetRows?: number;
+}
+
+export class CollectionPopulateRecipeRuntime implements PopulateRecipeRuntime {
+  constructor(private readonly input: CollectionPopulateRecipeRuntimeOptions) {}
+
+  async runRecipe(input: {
+    recipe: PopulateRecipe;
+    context: DatasetContext;
+  }): Promise<PopulateRecipeRunResult> {
+    const startedAtMs = Date.now();
+    const startedAt = new Date(startedAtMs).toISOString();
+    let result: PopulateRuntimeResult;
+    let failureMessage: string | undefined;
+
+    try {
+      result = await this.input.runPipeline(
+        collectionPipelineInputFromRecipe({
+          recipe: input.recipe,
+          context: input.context,
+          targetRows: this.input.targetRows ?? 10,
+        })
+      );
+    } catch (error) {
+      failureMessage = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
+      result = emptyPopulateRuntimeResult([failureMessage]);
+    }
+
+    return populateRecipeRunResultFromRuntimeResult({
+      recipe: input.recipe,
+      context: input.context,
+      result,
+      failureMessage,
+      startedAt,
+      startedAtMs,
+    });
+  }
+}
+
+export function collectionPipelineInputFromRecipe(input: {
+  recipe: PopulateRecipe;
+  context: DatasetContext;
+  targetRows: number;
+}): CollectionPopulatePipelineInput {
+  const recipeInstructions = input.recipe.runtimeInstructions.trim();
+  return {
+    datasetId: input.context.datasetId,
+    datasetName: input.context.datasetName,
+    description: input.context.description,
+    columns: input.context.columns.map((column) => ({
+      name: column.name,
+      type: column.type,
+      description: column.description,
+    })),
+    requiredColumns: input.context.columns.map((column) => column.name),
+    prompt: buildCollectionPopulatePrompt({
+      context: input.context,
+      recipeInstructions,
+    }),
+    recipeInstructions,
+    targetRows: input.targetRows,
+  };
+}
+
+function buildCollectionPopulatePrompt(input: {
+  context: DatasetContext;
+  recipeInstructions: string;
+}): string {
+  const columnLines = input.context.columns.map((column) => {
+    const description = column.description ? ` - ${column.description}` : "";
+    return `- ${column.name} (${column.type})${description}`;
+  });
+  const parts = [
+    `Dataset: ${input.context.datasetName}`,
+    `Task: ${input.context.description}`,
+    "",
+    "Requested columns:",
+    ...columnLines,
+  ];
+
+  if (input.recipeInstructions) {
+    parts.push(
+      "",
+      "Durable recipe instructions:",
+      input.recipeInstructions
+    );
+  }
+
+  return parts.join("\n");
+}
diff --git a/backend/src/pipeline/populate-self-healing.ts b/backend/src/pipeline/populate-self-healing.ts
index 0a51728..b5f89e2 100644
--- a/backend/src/pipeline/populate-self-healing.ts
+++ b/backend/src/pipeline/populate-self-healing.ts
@@ -167,32 +167,50 @@ export class MastraPopulateRecipeRuntime implements PopulateRecipeRuntime {
       result = emptyPopulateRuntimeResult([failureMessage]);
     }
 
-    const productionValidation = validatePopulateRuntimeResult({
-      result,
+    return populateRecipeRunResultFromRuntimeResult({
+      recipe: input.recipe,
       context: input.context,
-    });
-    const artifacts = artifactsForRun({
       result,
       failureMessage,
-      validationIssues: result.validationIssues,
-      productionValidation,
-    });
-    const completedAt = new Date().toISOString();
-
-    return {
-      ...result,
-      recipeId: input.recipe.recipeId,
-      recipeVersion: input.recipe.version,
-      runStatus: productionValidation.isValid ? "succeeded" : "failed",
       startedAt,
-      completedAt,
-      runtimeMs: Date.now() - startedAtMs,
-      productionValidation,
-      artifacts,
-    };
+      startedAtMs,
+    });
   }
 }
 
+export function populateRecipeRunResultFromRuntimeResult(input: {
+  recipe: PopulateRecipe;
+  context: DatasetContext;
+  result: PopulateRuntimeResult;
+  failureMessage?: string;
+  startedAt: string;
+  startedAtMs: number;
+}): PopulateRecipeRunResult {
+  const productionValidation = validatePopulateRuntimeResult({
+    result: input.result,
+    context: input.context,
+  });
+  const artifacts = artifactsForRun({
+    result: input.result,
+    failureMessage: input.failureMessage,
+    validationIssues: input.result.validationIssues,
+    productionValidation,
+  });
+  const completedAt = new Date().toISOString();
+
+  return {
+    ...input.result,
+    recipeId: input.recipe.recipeId,
+    recipeVersion: input.recipe.version,
+    runStatus: productionValidation.isValid ? "succeeded" : "failed",
+    startedAt: input.startedAt,
+    completedAt,
+    runtimeMs: Date.now() - input.startedAtMs,
+    productionValidation,
+    artifacts,
+  };
+}
+
 export class DefaultPopulateRecipeAuthor implements PopulateRecipeAuthor {
   async generateRecipe(
     input: PopulateRecipeAuthorGenerateInput
@@ -836,7 +854,7 @@ function artifactsForRun(input: {
   return artifacts;
 }
 
-function emptyPopulateRuntimeResult(validationIssues: string[]): PopulateRuntimeResult {
+export function emptyPopulateRuntimeResult(validationIssues: string[]): PopulateRuntimeResult {
   return {
     rows: [],
     validationIssues,
diff --git a/backend/test/populate-collection-runtime.test.ts b/backend/test/populate-collection-runtime.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..162a74f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/test/populate-collection-runtime.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { test } from "node:test";
+
+import {
+  CollectionPopulateRecipeRuntime,
+  collectionPipelineInputFromRecipe,
+  type CollectionPopulatePipelineInput,
+} from "../src/pipeline/populate-collection-runtime.js";
+import {
+  createPopulateRecipe,
+  type PopulateRecipe,
+} from "../src/pipeline/populate-self-healing.js";
+import type { DatasetContext } from "../src/pipeline/populate.js";
+
+const context: DatasetContext = {
+  datasetId: "dataset-ai-posts",
+  datasetName: "AI posts",
+  description: "Find latest blog posts from OpenAI.",
+  columns: [
+    {
+      name: "entity_name",
+      type: "text",
+      description: "Company name.",
+    },
+    {
+      name: "latest_post_title",
+      type: "text",
+      description: "Post title.",
+    },
+    {
+      name: "source_url",
+      type: "url",
+      description: "Source URL.",
+    },
+    {
+      name: "evidence_quote",
+      type: "text",
+      description: "Evidence quote.",
+    },
+  ],
+};
+
+test("collection runtime threads recipe instructions into the collection prompt", async () => {
+  let capturedInput: CollectionPopulatePipelineInput | undefined;
+  const runtime = new CollectionPopulateRecipeRuntime({
+    targetRows: 3,
+    runPipeline: async (input) => {
+      capturedInput = input;
+      return {
+        rows: [{
+          cells: {
+            entity_name: "OpenAI",
+            latest_post_title: "Release notes from OpenAI",
+            source_url: "https://openai.com/news",
+            evidence_quote: "Release notes from OpenAI",
+          },
+          sourceUrls: ["https://openai.com/news"],
+          evidence: [{
+            columnName: "latest_post_title",
+            sourceUrl: "https://openai.com/news",
+            quote: "Release notes from OpenAI",
+          }],
+          needsReview: false,
+        }],
+        validationIssues: [],
+        usage: {
+          promptTokens: 11,
+          completionTokens: 7,
+          totalTokens: 18,
+        },
+        metrics: {
+          searchCalls: 1,
+          fetchCalls: 1,
+          browserCalls: 0,
+          agentRuns: 1,
+          agentSteps: 0,
+        },
+      };
+    },
+  });
+  const recipe = collectionRecipe({
+    runtimeInstructions:
+      "Prefer official news pages already known to work. Do not use aggregator pages.",
+  });
+
+  const run = await runtime.runRecipe({ recipe, context });
+
+  assert.ok(capturedInput);
+  assert.equal(capturedInput.datasetId, context.datasetId);
+  assert.equal(capturedInput.datasetName, context.datasetName);
+  assert.equal(capturedInput.targetRows, 3);
+  assert.deepEqual(capturedInput.requiredColumns, [
+    "entity_name",
+    "latest_post_title",
+    "source_url",
+    "evidence_quote",
+  ]);
+  assert.match(capturedInput.prompt, /Find latest blog posts from OpenAI/);
+  assert.match(capturedInput.prompt, /Durable recipe instructions/);
+  assert.match(capturedInput.prompt, /Do not use aggregator pages/);
+  assert.equal(
+    capturedInput.recipeInstructions,
+    "Prefer official news pages already known to work. Do not use aggregator pages."
+  );
+  assert.equal(run.runStatus, "succeeded");
+  assert.equal(run.productionValidation.isValid, true);
+  assert.equal(run.productionValidation.score, 1);
+  assert.equal(run.rows[0]?.cells.entity_name, "OpenAI");
+});
+
+test("collection pipeline input builder trims empty recipe instructions", () => {
+  const input = collectionPipelineInputFromRecipe({
+    recipe: collectionRecipe({ runtimeInstructions: "   " }),
+    context,
+    targetRows: 5,
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(input.recipeInstructions, "");
+  assert.doesNotMatch(input.prompt, /Durable recipe instructions/);
+});
+
+function collectionRecipe(input: {
+  runtimeInstructions?: string;
+} = {}): PopulateRecipe {
+  return createPopulateRecipe({
+    recipeId: "collection-v1",
+    datasetId: context.datasetId,
+    version: 1,
+    status: "active",
+    runtimeInstructions: input.runtimeInstructions ?? "",
+    sourceDescription: context.description,
+    requestedColumns: context.columns.map((column) => column.name),
+    createdBy: "system",
+  });
+}