diff --git a/backend/app/collections.py b/backend/app/collections.py
index d767b32..d5b8f9c 100644
--- a/backend/app/collections.py
+++ b/backend/app/collections.py
@@ -48,3 +48,39 @@ def collection_type(collection_id: str) -> str:
         "SELECT type FROM collections WHERE id = ?", (collection_id,)
     ).fetchone()
     return row["type"] if row and row["type"] else "document"
+
+
+def subfolder_of(collection_id: str) -> str:
+    """The content-repo subfolder a collection lives under (§22.3). Empty string
+    for the default collection (entries at the repo root `rfcs/`)."""
+    row = db.conn().execute(
+        "SELECT subfolder FROM collections WHERE id = ?", (collection_id,)
+    ).fetchone()
+    return (row["subfolder"] if row else "") or ""
+
+
+def get_collection(collection_id: str) -> dict | None:
+    """The full collection row as a dict, or None if unknown."""
+    row = db.conn().execute(
+        "SELECT id, project_id, type, subfolder, initial_state, visibility, name "
+        "FROM collections WHERE id = ?",
+        (collection_id,),
+    ).fetchone()
+    return dict(row) if row else None
+
+
+def list_collections(project_id: str, include_unlisted: bool = False) -> list[dict]:
+    """Collections in a project, the default first then by name (§22.5). `unlisted`
+    is omitted from enumeration unless include_unlisted (a direct-id read or the
+    corpus mirror, which serves every collection)."""
+    rows = db.conn().execute(
+        "SELECT id, project_id, type, subfolder, initial_state, visibility, name "
+        "FROM collections WHERE project_id = ? ORDER BY (id != 'default'), name, id",
+        (project_id,),
+    ).fetchall()
+    out: list[dict] = []
+    for r in rows:
+        if not include_unlisted and r["visibility"] == "unlisted":
+            continue
+        out.append(dict(r))
+    return out
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_collection_helpers.py b/backend/tests/test_collection_helpers.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..77c0e02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/test_collection_helpers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+"""§22 S2 — collection read helpers: list_collections / get_collection /
+subfolder_of."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import tempfile
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from app import collections as collections_mod, db
+from app.config import Config
+
+
+def _db() -> Config:
+    cfg = Config(
+        gitea_url="x", gitea_bot_user="x", gitea_bot_token="x", gitea_org="x",
+        registry_repo="registry", oauth_client_id="x",
+        oauth_client_secret="x", app_url="x", secret_key="x",
+        database_path=Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="colhelp-")) / "t.db",
+        owner_gitea_login="x", webhook_secret="x",
+    )
+    db.run_migrations(cfg)
+    if db._CONN is not None:
+        db._CONN.close()
+        db._CONN = None
+    db.init(cfg)
+    return cfg
+
+
+def _seed(project_id="ohm"):
+    db.conn().execute(
+        "INSERT OR REPLACE INTO projects (id, name, content_repo, visibility, updated_at) "
+        "VALUES (?, 'Ohm', 'ohm-rfc', 'public', datetime('now'))", (project_id,))
+    for cid, sub, vis, name in [
+        ("default", "", "public", "Model"),
+        ("features", "features", "public", "Features"),
+        ("secret", "secret", "unlisted", "Secret"),
+    ]:
+        db.conn().execute(
+            "INSERT OR REPLACE INTO collections (id, project_id, type, subfolder, initial_state, "
+            "visibility, name, created_at, updated_at) VALUES (?,?, 'document', ?, "
+            "'super-draft', ?, ?, datetime('now'), datetime('now'))",
+            (cid, project_id, sub, vis, name))
+
+
+def test_list_collections_excludes_unlisted():
+    _db()
+    _seed()
+    ids = [c["id"] for c in collections_mod.list_collections("ohm", include_unlisted=False)]
+    assert ids == ["default", "features"]  # default first, then by name; 'secret' omitted
+
+
+def test_list_collections_include_unlisted():
+    _db()
+    _seed()
+    ids = {c["id"] for c in collections_mod.list_collections("ohm", include_unlisted=True)}
+    assert ids == {"default", "features", "secret"}
+
+
+def test_get_collection_and_subfolder():
+    _db()
+    _seed()
+    assert collections_mod.get_collection("features")["name"] == "Features"
+    assert collections_mod.subfolder_of("features") == "features"
+    assert collections_mod.subfolder_of("default") == ""
+    assert collections_mod.get_collection("nope") is None