diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3644358..d3296ae 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -43,3 +43,6 @@ sample*
 .rewrite/
 .venv/
 config.test.json
+
+# local secrets-bearing test config (do not commit)
+anotherconfig.test.json
diff --git a/src/frontend/exec.zig b/src/frontend/exec.zig
index dc61ab9..f985185 100644
--- a/src/frontend/exec.zig
+++ b/src/frontend/exec.zig
@@ -197,6 +197,52 @@ pub fn policiesActiveFor(registry: *policy.Registry, signal: service_mod.Signal)
     };
 }
 
+/// Mirror the active snapshot's per-signal policy counts into the gauge. Called
+/// at scrape time so the gauge always reflects the live snapshot without hooking
+/// the loader's reload path. Counts match `policiesActiveFor` (the fast-path
+/// gate), so a 0 here is exactly when that signal is raw-forwarded untouched.
+pub fn refreshPolicyGauge(ctx: *SharedCtx) void {
+    const metrics = ctx.metrics orelse return;
+    const snapshot = ctx.registry.getSnapshot();
+    metrics.setPoliciesLoaded(.log, if (snapshot) |s| @intCast(s.getLogTargetIndices().len) else 0);
+    metrics.setPoliciesLoaded(.metric, if (snapshot) |s| @intCast(s.getMetricTargetIndices().len) else 0);
+    metrics.setPoliciesLoaded(.trace, if (snapshot) |s| @intCast(s.trace_target_indices.len) else 0);
+}
+
+/// Dump the loaded policies in the active snapshot, for the `/_edge/policies`
+/// debug endpoint. `json=true` emits the full policy tree (match rules, keep,
+/// transform — via the proto type's own jsonStringify); otherwise a one-line
+/// text summary per policy (id, signal, enabled, name).
+pub fn writePolicies(registry: *policy.Registry, w: *std.Io.Writer, json: bool) !void {
+    const snapshot = registry.getSnapshot();
+    if (json) {
+        // std.json's default struct serializer over the proto types. Repeated
+        // fields surface as {"items":[...],"capacity":N} (raw ArrayList) — fine
+        // for a debug dump; the policy data is all there.
+        try w.print("{{\"version\":{d},\"policies\":", .{if (snapshot) |s| s.version else 0});
+        try std.json.Stringify.value(if (snapshot) |s| s.policies else &.{}, .{}, w);
+        try w.writeAll("}\n");
+        return;
+    }
+    const s = snapshot orelse {
+        try w.writeAll("# no policy snapshot loaded (0 policies)\n");
+        return;
+    };
+    try w.print("# snapshot version={d} policies={d} (log={d} metric={d} trace={d})\n", .{
+        s.version,
+        s.policies.len,
+        s.getLogTargetIndices().len,
+        s.getMetricTargetIndices().len,
+        s.trace_target_indices.len,
+    });
+    for (s.policies) |*p| {
+        const signal = if (p.target) |t| @tagName(std.meta.activeTag(t)) else "none";
+        try w.print("id={s} signal={s} enabled={} name={s}\n", .{
+            p.id, signal, p.enabled, p.name,
+        });
+    }
+}
+
 pub const BufferedResult = struct {
     body: []const u8,
     all_dropped: bool,
diff --git a/src/frontend/httpz/server.zig b/src/frontend/httpz/server.zig
index 6efb0da..ed7c1b1 100644
--- a/src/frontend/httpz/server.zig
+++ b/src/frontend/httpz/server.zig
@@ -246,10 +246,20 @@ pub const Handler = struct {
         // with the stdio driver's /_edge/metrics short-circuit.
         if (req.method == .GET and std.mem.eql(u8, path, "/_edge/metrics")) {
             res.header("content-type", "text/plain; version=0.0.4");
+            exec.refreshPolicyGauge(ctx);
             if (ctx.metrics) |metrics| try metrics.writePrometheus(res.writer());
             return;
         }
 
+        // Dump the loaded policy snapshot (id/signal/enabled/name). Pairs with
+        // the gauge: shows *which* policies are active, not just how many.
+        if (req.method == .GET and std.mem.eql(u8, path, "/_edge/policies")) {
+            const json = std.mem.eql(u8, (try req.query()).get("format") orelse "", "json");
+            res.header("content-type", if (json) "application/json" else "text/plain; charset=utf-8");
+            try exec.writePolicies(ctx.registry, res.writer(), json);
+            return;
+        }
+
         // Debug tap (config-gated): block this request up to 1s while data-plane
         // threads stream the next N records into our buffer, before or after
         // policy evaluation. ctx.tap is null unless enabled in config.
diff --git a/src/runtime/runtime_metrics.zig b/src/runtime/runtime_metrics.zig
index 6a10a01..da8d155 100644
--- a/src/runtime/runtime_metrics.zig
+++ b/src/runtime/runtime_metrics.zig
@@ -97,6 +97,12 @@ const PolicyLabels = struct {
     telemetry: PolicyTelemetryLabel,
 };
 
+pub const SignalLabel = enum { log, metric, trace };
+
+const PolicySignalLabels = struct {
+    signal: SignalLabel,
+};
+
 const BuildInfoLabels = struct {
     version: []const u8,
     commit: []const u8,
@@ -112,6 +118,7 @@ const InternalMetrics = struct {
     edge_policy_records_evaluated_total: PolicyRecordsEvaluatedTotal,
     edge_policy_records_kept_total: PolicyRecordsKeptTotal,
     edge_policy_records_dropped_total: PolicyRecordsDroppedTotal,
+    edge_policies_loaded: PoliciesLoaded,
     edge_build_info: BuildInfo,
 
     const RequestsTotal = m.CounterVec(u64, RequestLabels);
@@ -126,6 +133,7 @@ const InternalMetrics = struct {
     const PolicyRecordsEvaluatedTotal = m.CounterVec(u64, PolicyLabels);
     const PolicyRecordsKeptTotal = m.CounterVec(u64, PolicyLabels);
     const PolicyRecordsDroppedTotal = m.CounterVec(u64, PolicyLabels);
+    const PoliciesLoaded = m.GaugeVec(u64, PolicySignalLabels);
     const BuildInfo = m.GaugeVec(u64, BuildInfoLabels);
 };
 
@@ -195,6 +203,13 @@ pub const RuntimeMetrics = struct {
                     .{ .help = "Total number of telemetry records dropped after policy evaluation." },
                     .{},
                 ),
+                .edge_policies_loaded = try InternalMetrics.PoliciesLoaded.init(
+                    allocator,
+                    io,
+                    "edge_policies_loaded",
+                    .{ .help = "Number of loaded policies targeting each signal in the active snapshot." },
+                    .{},
+                ),
                 .edge_build_info = try InternalMetrics.BuildInfo.init(
                     allocator,
                     io,
@@ -247,6 +262,10 @@ pub const RuntimeMetrics = struct {
             try self.internal.edge_policy_records_kept_total.incrBy(.{ .telemetry = telemetry }, 0);
             try self.internal.edge_policy_records_dropped_total.incrBy(.{ .telemetry = telemetry }, 0);
         }
+
+        inline for (std.meta.tags(SignalLabel)) |signal| {
+            try self.internal.edge_policies_loaded.set(.{ .signal = signal }, 0);
+        }
     }
 
     pub fn deinit(self: *RuntimeMetrics) void {
@@ -335,6 +354,11 @@ pub const RuntimeMetrics = struct {
         }, dropped_count) catch |err| log.debug("failed to record policy dropped metric: {}", .{err});
     }
 
+    pub fn setPoliciesLoaded(self: *RuntimeMetrics, signal: SignalLabel, count: u64) void {
+        self.internal.edge_policies_loaded.set(.{ .signal = signal }, count) catch |err|
+            log.warn("failed to set policies loaded metric: {}", .{err});
+    }
+
     pub fn setBuildInfo(self: *RuntimeMetrics, version: []const u8, commit: []const u8) void {
         self.internal.edge_build_info.set(.{
             .version = version,