diff --git a/src/paperless/parsers/text.py b/src/paperless/parsers/text.py
index a6c149a0a..99d9dab08 100644
--- a/src/paperless/parsers/text.py
+++ b/src/paperless/parsers/text.py
@@ -1,22 +1,239 @@
+"""
+Built-in plain-text document parser.
+
+Handles text/plain, text/csv, and application/csv MIME types by reading the
+file content directly.  Thumbnails are generated by rendering a page-sized
+WebP image from the first 100,000 characters using Pillow.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+import shutil
+import tempfile
 from pathlib import Path
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+from typing import Self
 
 from django.conf import settings
 from PIL import Image
 from PIL import ImageDraw
 from PIL import ImageFont
 
-from documents.parsers import DocumentParser
+from paperless.version import __full_version_str__
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    import datetime
+    from types import TracebackType
+
+    from paperless.parsers import MetadataEntry
+
+logger = logging.getLogger("paperless.parsing.text")
+
+_SUPPORTED_MIME_TYPES: dict[str, str] = {
+    "text/plain": ".txt",
+    "text/csv": ".csv",
+    "application/csv": ".csv",
+}
 
 
-class TextDocumentParser(DocumentParser):
-    """
-    This parser directly parses a text document (.txt, .md, or .csv)
+class TextDocumentParser:
+    """Parse plain-text documents (txt, csv) for Paperless-ngx.
+
+    This parser reads the file content directly as UTF-8 text and renders a
+    simple thumbnail using Pillow.  It does not perform OCR and does not
+    produce a searchable PDF archive copy.
+
+    Class attributes
+    ----------------
+    name : str
+        Human-readable parser name.
+    version : str
+        Semantic version string, kept in sync with Paperless-ngx releases.
+    author : str
+        Maintainer name.
+    url : str
+        Issue tracker / source URL.
     """
 
-    logging_name = "paperless.parsing.text"
+    name: str = "Paperless-ngx Text Parser"
+    version: str = __full_version_str__
+    author: str = "Paperless-ngx Contributors"
+    url: str = "https://github.com/paperless-ngx/paperless-ngx"
 
-    def get_thumbnail(self, document_path: Path, mime_type, file_name=None) -> Path:
-        # Avoid reading entire file into memory
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Class methods
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    @classmethod
+    def supported_mime_types(cls) -> dict[str, str]:
+        """Return the MIME types this parser handles.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        dict[str, str]
+            Mapping of MIME type to preferred file extension.
+        """
+        return _SUPPORTED_MIME_TYPES
+
+    @classmethod
+    def score(
+        cls,
+        mime_type: str,
+        filename: str,
+        path: Path | None = None,
+    ) -> int | None:
+        """Return the priority score for handling this file.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        mime_type:
+            Detected MIME type of the file.
+        filename:
+            Original filename including extension.
+        path:
+            Optional filesystem path. Not inspected by this parser.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        int | None
+            10 if the MIME type is supported, otherwise None.
+        """
+        if mime_type in _SUPPORTED_MIME_TYPES:
+            return 10
+        return None
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Properties
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    @property
+    def can_produce_archive(self) -> bool:
+        """Whether this parser can produce a searchable PDF archive copy.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        bool
+            Always False — the text parser does not produce a PDF archive.
+        """
+        return False
+
+    @property
+    def requires_pdf_rendition(self) -> bool:
+        """Whether the parser must produce a PDF for the frontend to display.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        bool
+            Always False — plain text files are displayable as-is.
+        """
+        return False
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Lifecycle
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def __init__(self, logging_group: object = None) -> None:
+        settings.SCRATCH_DIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        self._tempdir = Path(
+            tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="paperless-", dir=settings.SCRATCH_DIR),
+        )
+        self._text: str | None = None
+
+    def __enter__(self) -> Self:
+        return self
+
+    def __exit__(
+        self,
+        exc_type: type[BaseException] | None,
+        exc_val: BaseException | None,
+        exc_tb: TracebackType | None,
+    ) -> None:
+        logger.debug("Cleaning up temporary directory %s", self._tempdir)
+        shutil.rmtree(self._tempdir, ignore_errors=True)
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Core parsing interface
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def parse(
+        self,
+        document_path: Path,
+        mime_type: str,
+        *,
+        produce_archive: bool = True,
+    ) -> None:
+        """Read the document and store its text content.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        document_path:
+            Absolute path to the text file.
+        mime_type:
+            Detected MIME type of the document.
+        produce_archive:
+            Ignored — this parser never produces a PDF archive.
+
+        Raises
+        ------
+        documents.parsers.ParseError
+            If the file cannot be read.
+        """
+        self._text = self._read_text(document_path)
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Result accessors
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def get_text(self) -> str | None:
+        """Return the plain-text content extracted during parse.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        str | None
+            Extracted text, or None if parse has not been called yet.
+        """
+        return self._text
+
+    def get_date(self) -> datetime.datetime | None:
+        """Return the document date detected during parse.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        datetime.datetime | None
+            Always None — the text parser does not detect dates.
+        """
+        return None
+
+    def get_archive_path(self) -> Path | None:
+        """Return the path to a generated archive PDF, or None.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        Path | None
+            Always None — the text parser does not produce a PDF archive.
+        """
+        return None
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Thumbnail and metadata
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def get_thumbnail(self, document_path: Path, mime_type: str) -> Path:
+        """Render the first portion of the document as a WebP thumbnail.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        document_path:
+            Absolute path to the source document.
+        mime_type:
+            Detected MIME type of the document.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        Path
+            Path to the generated WebP thumbnail inside the temporary directory.
+        """
         max_chars = 100_000
         file_size_limit = 50 * 1024 * 1024
 
@@ -35,16 +252,69 @@ class TextDocumentParser(DocumentParser):
         )
         draw.multiline_text((5, 5), text, font=font, fill="black", spacing=4)
 
-        out_path = self.tempdir / "thumb.webp"
+        out_path = self._tempdir / "thumb.webp"
         img.save(out_path, format="WEBP")
 
         return out_path
 
-    def parse(self, document_path, mime_type, file_name=None) -> None:
-        self.text = self.read_file_handle_unicode_errors(document_path)
+    def get_page_count(
+        self,
+        document_path: Path,
+        mime_type: str,
+    ) -> int | None:
+        """Return the number of pages in the document.
 
-    def get_settings(self) -> None:
-        """
-        This parser does not implement additional settings yet
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        document_path:
+            Absolute path to the source document.
+        mime_type:
+            Detected MIME type of the document.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        int | None
+            Always None — page count is not meaningful for plain text.
         """
         return None
+
+    def extract_metadata(
+        self,
+        document_path: Path,
+        mime_type: str,
+    ) -> list[MetadataEntry]:
+        """Extract format-specific metadata from the document.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        list[MetadataEntry]
+            Always ``[]`` — plain text files carry no structured metadata.
+        """
+        return []
+
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Private helpers
+    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def _read_text(self, filepath: Path) -> str:
+        """Read file content, replacing invalid UTF-8 bytes rather than failing.
+
+        Parameters
+        ----------
+        filepath:
+            Path to the file to read.
+
+        Returns
+        -------
+        str
+            File content as a string.
+        """
+        try:
+            return filepath.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+        except UnicodeDecodeError as exc:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Unicode error reading %s, replacing bad bytes: %s",
+                filepath,
+                exc,
+            )
+            return filepath.read_bytes().decode("utf-8", errors="replace")