diff --git a/headroom/compression/handlers/code_handler.py b/headroom/compression/handlers/code_handler.py
index a15466e65..7066e511d 100644
--- a/headroom/compression/handlers/code_handler.py
+++ b/headroom/compression/handlers/code_handler.py
@@ -173,6 +173,15 @@ _STRUCTURAL_NODE_TYPES: dict[str, set[str]] = {
         "interface_declaration",
         "annotation",
     },
+    "perl": {
+        "use_statement",
+        "use_version_statement",
+        "subroutine_declaration_statement",
+        "method_declaration_statement",
+        "package_statement",
+        "class_statement",
+        "role_statement",
+    },
 }
 
 # Regex patterns for fallback detection
@@ -211,6 +220,10 @@ _SIGNATURE_PATTERNS: dict[str, list[re.Pattern[str]]] = {
         re.compile(r"^\s*(public\s+)?(class|interface|enum)\s+\w+", re.MULTILINE),
         re.compile(r"^\s*@\w+(\([^)]*\))?\s*$", re.MULTILINE),
     ],
+    "perl": [
+        re.compile(r"^\s*sub\s+\w+\s*(\([^)]*\))?", re.MULTILINE),
+        re.compile(r"^\s*(package|class|role)\s+[\w:]+", re.MULTILINE),
+    ],
 }
 
 # Body child node types for container definitions (classes, impls,
@@ -238,6 +251,7 @@ _LANGUAGE_MARKERS: dict[str, list[str]] = {
     "go": ["func ", "package ", "import (", "type "],
     "rust": ["fn ", "let mut", "impl ", "pub fn", "use "],
     "java": ["public class", "private ", "protected ", "void "],
+    "perl": ["sub ", "my $", "our $", "package ", "use strict"],
 }
 
 # Import patterns for fallback
@@ -248,6 +262,7 @@ _IMPORT_PATTERNS: dict[str, re.Pattern[str]] = {
     "go": re.compile(r'^\s*import\s+(\(|")', re.MULTILINE),
     "rust": re.compile(r"^\s*use\s+\w+", re.MULTILINE),
     "java": re.compile(r"^\s*import\s+[\w.]+;", re.MULTILINE),
+    "perl": re.compile(r"^\s*(use|require)\s+[\w:]+", re.MULTILINE),
 }
 
 
diff --git a/headroom/transforms/code_compressor.py b/headroom/transforms/code_compressor.py
index db2cd78b6..984661d34 100644
--- a/headroom/transforms/code_compressor.py
+++ b/headroom/transforms/code_compressor.py
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ def _get_parser(language: str) -> Any:
         except Exception as e:
             raise ValueError(
                 f"Language '{language}' is not supported by tree-sitter. "
-                f"Supported: python, javascript, typescript, go, rust, java, c, cpp. "
+                f"Supported: python, javascript, typescript, go, rust, java, c, cpp, perl. "
                 f"Error: {e}"
             ) from e
 
@@ -183,6 +183,7 @@ class CodeLanguage(Enum):
     JAVA = "java"
     C = "c"
     CPP = "cpp"
+    PERL = "perl"
     UNKNOWN = "unknown"
 
 
@@ -317,6 +318,20 @@ _LANG_CONFIGS: dict[CodeLanguage, LangConfig] = {
         uses_colon_after_signature=False,
         detection_hints=("#include", "namespace ", "class ", "::"),
     ),
+    CodeLanguage.PERL: LangConfig(
+        import_nodes=frozenset({"use_statement", "use_version_statement"}),
+        function_nodes=frozenset(
+            {"subroutine_declaration_statement", "method_declaration_statement"}
+        ),
+        class_nodes=frozenset({"package_statement", "class_statement", "role_statement"}),
+        type_nodes=frozenset(),
+        body_node_types=frozenset({"block"}),
+        decorator_node=None,
+        comment_prefix="#",
+        uses_colon_after_signature=False,
+        package_node="package_statement",
+        detection_hints=("sub ", "my ", "our ", "use ", "package "),
+    ),
 }
 
 
@@ -506,6 +521,11 @@ _LANGUAGE_PREFILTER: dict[CodeLanguage, list[re.Pattern[str]]] = {
         re.compile(r"\bnamespace\s+\w+", re.MULTILINE),
         re.compile(r"::\w+", re.MULTILINE),
     ],
+    CodeLanguage.PERL: [
+        re.compile(r"^\s*(sub|package|use|require)\s+[\w:]+", re.MULTILINE),
+        re.compile(r"^\s*(my|our|local)\s+[\$@%]", re.MULTILINE),
+        re.compile(r"[\$@%]\w+", re.MULTILINE),
+    ],
 }
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_compression/test_code_handler.py b/tests/test_compression/test_code_handler.py
index 4cebc697e..3987ed616 100644
--- a/tests/test_compression/test_code_handler.py
+++ b/tests/test_compression/test_code_handler.py
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ class TestLanguageDetection:
         code = "use std::io;\n\npub fn main() {\n    let mut x = 1;\n}\n"
         assert handler._detect_language(code) == "rust"
 
+    def test_detects_perl(self, handler):
+        code = "use strict;\npackage Foo;\n\nsub greet {\n    my $name = shift;\n    return $name;\n}\n"
+        assert handler._detect_language(code) == "perl"
+
     def test_falls_back_to_default(self):
         handler = CodeStructureHandler(default_language="javascript")
         assert handler._detect_language("plain words only here") == "javascript"
@@ -110,6 +114,18 @@ class TestRegexFallbackLanguages:
         start = code.index(sig)
         assert all(result.mask.mask[i] for i in range(start, start + len(sig)))
 
+    def test_perl_sub_signature_preserved(self, handler):
+        code = "sub add {\n    my ($a, $b) = @_;\n    return $a + $b;\n}\n"
+        result = handler.get_mask(code, language="perl")
+        sig = "sub add"
+        start = code.index(sig)
+        assert all(result.mask.mask[i] for i in range(start, start + len(sig)))
+
+    def test_perl_use_import_preserved(self, handler):
+        code = "use strict;\nuse warnings;\n\nmy $x = 1;\n"
+        result = handler.get_mask(code, language="perl")
+        assert all(result.mask.mask[i] for i in range(len("use strict")))
+
     def test_regex_confidence_lower_than_tree_sitter(self, handler):
         result = handler.get_mask("def f():\n    pass\n", language="python")
         assert result.confidence == 0.7