diff --git a/backend/feed_engine/fetcher.py b/backend/feed_engine/fetcher.py
index 6f4324f..8ca4617 100644
--- a/backend/feed_engine/fetcher.py
+++ b/backend/feed_engine/fetcher.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@
 import ssl
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from urllib.error import HTTPError, URLError
-from urllib.parse import urlsplit
+from urllib.parse import urlsplit, urlunsplit
 from urllib.request import HTTPSHandler, Request, build_opener
 
 import certifi
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ def validate_url(url: str) -> str:
     value = url.strip()
     parts = urlsplit(value)
 
-    if parts.scheme not in {"http", "https"} or not parts.netloc:
+    if parts.scheme not in {"http", "https"} or not parts.netloc.strip():
         raise FeedEngineError(
             "INVALID_URL",
             "Feed URL must be an absolute http or https URL.",
@@ -141,7 +141,12 @@ def validate_url(url: str) -> str:
             context={"url": url},
         )
 
-    print("[VALIDATE URL]", repr(url))
+    clean_netloc = parts.netloc.strip()
+    clean_path = parts.path.strip() or "/"
+    clean_query = parts.query.strip()
+    value = urlunsplit((parts.scheme, clean_netloc, clean_path, clean_query, ""))
+
+    print("[VALIDATE URL]", repr(url), "->", repr(value))
     return value
 
 
diff --git a/backend/scripts/build_sidecar.py b/backend/scripts/build_sidecar.py
index ee2a1be..cf52bbd 100644
--- a/backend/scripts/build_sidecar.py
+++ b/backend/scripts/build_sidecar.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
+import os
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
@@ -83,6 +84,9 @@ def build_binary(output_dir: str | None):
     shutil.rmtree(DIST_DIR, ignore_errors=True)
     shutil.rmtree(BUILD_DIR, ignore_errors=True)
 
+    schema_dir = BACKEND_DIR / "db" / "schema"
+    add_data_sep = ";" if sys.platform == "win32" else ":"
+
     subprocess.run(
         [
             sys.executable,
@@ -95,6 +99,8 @@ def build_binary(output_dir: str | None):
             "mercury-backend",
             "--collect-all",
             "certifi",
+            "--add-data",
+            f"{schema_dir}{add_data_sep}db{os.sep}schema",
             str(SIDECAR_ENTRY),
         ],
         check=True,