diff --git a/src/app/api/conversations/[threadId]/runs/[runId]/stream/route.ts b/src/app/api/conversations/[threadId]/runs/[runId]/stream/route.ts
index edb2321..e04c55c 100644
--- a/src/app/api/conversations/[threadId]/runs/[runId]/stream/route.ts
+++ b/src/app/api/conversations/[threadId]/runs/[runId]/stream/route.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ export async function GET(request: NextRequest, context: RouteContext) {
       signal: request.signal,
       cancelOnDisconnect: false,
       lastEventId,
-      streamMode: ["messages", "updates", "values", "tasks"],
+      streamMode: ["messages", "updates", "values", "tasks", "custom"],
     });
     const stream = new ReadableStream<Uint8Array>({
       async start(controller) {
diff --git a/src/app/api/conversations/[threadId]/runs/route.ts b/src/app/api/conversations/[threadId]/runs/route.ts
index 6966074..cf555d6 100644
--- a/src/app/api/conversations/[threadId]/runs/route.ts
+++ b/src/app/api/conversations/[threadId]/runs/route.ts
@@ -281,6 +281,9 @@ export async function POST(request: NextRequest, context: RouteContext) {
           metadata,
           config,
           multitaskStrategy: "enqueue",
+          // langgraph dev only buffers the stream modes declared at run
+          // creation; joinStream subscribers receive nothing outside them.
+          streamMode: ["messages", "updates", "values", "tasks", "custom"],
         }
       );
     } catch (error) {
diff --git a/src/app/components/ChatInterface.tsx b/src/app/components/ChatInterface.tsx
index 9da167b..6d3f6a9 100644
--- a/src/app/components/ChatInterface.tsx
+++ b/src/app/components/ChatInterface.tsx
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ import {
 import { ChatMessage } from "@/app/components/ChatMessage";
 import { ActionGroup } from "@/app/components/ActionGroup";
 import { CompactionSummary } from "@/app/components/CompactionSummary";
+import { ContextUsageIndicator } from "@/app/components/ContextUsageIndicator";
+import { extractMeasuredInputTokens } from "@/lib/contextUsage";
 import { ResearchDashboard } from "@/app/components/ResearchDashboard";
 import { isSummarizationMessage } from "@/lib/summarization";
 import { useCollapseAgentActions } from "@/lib/uiSettings";
@@ -509,6 +511,7 @@ export const ChatInterface = React.memo<ChatInterfaceProps>(
       subAgentActivity,
       asyncTasks,
       summarizationEvent,
+      contextUsage,
       modelSelection,
       setModelSelection,
     } = useChatContext();
@@ -771,6 +774,14 @@ export const ChatInterface = React.memo<ChatInterfaceProps>(
       [selectableModels, modelSelection]
     );
 
+    // Provider-measured prompt size of the most recent model call — the
+    // truthful numerator for the ctx pill (the middleware's stream event
+    // only estimates message text + fixed reserves).
+    const measuredInputTokens = useMemo(
+      () => extractMeasuredInputTokens(messages),
+      [messages]
+    );
+
     // Bind captured sub-agent activity (keyed by subgraph namespace) to each task
     // tool call → its live steps. B': match a finished sub-agent to a task by its
     // final text == the task's result; assign still-running sub-agents to the
@@ -1811,11 +1822,21 @@ export const ChatInterface = React.memo<ChatInterfaceProps>(
                         <CompactionSummary
                           content={summarizationEvent.content}
                           summarizedCount={summarizationEvent.cutoffIndex}
+                          estimatedTokensBefore={
+                            summarizationEvent.estimatedTokensBefore
+                          }
+                          estimatedTokensAfter={
+                            summarizationEvent.estimatedTokensAfter
+                          }
+                          budgetHardTokens={
+                            summarizationEvent.budget?.hardTokens ?? null
+                          }
                         />
                       )}
                       <ChatMessage
                         message={data.message}
                         toolCalls={data.toolCalls}
+                        threadId={threadId}
                         isLoading={isLoading}
                         isStreaming={isLoading && isLastMessage && isAssistant}
                         actionRequests={
@@ -1840,6 +1861,15 @@ export const ChatInterface = React.memo<ChatInterfaceProps>(
                   <CompactionSummary
                     content={summarizationEvent.content}
                     summarizedCount={summarizationEvent.cutoffIndex}
+                    estimatedTokensBefore={
+                      summarizationEvent.estimatedTokensBefore
+                    }
+                    estimatedTokensAfter={
+                      summarizationEvent.estimatedTokensAfter
+                    }
+                    budgetHardTokens={
+                      summarizationEvent.budget?.hardTokens ?? null
+                    }
                   />
                 )}
                 {askUserQuestions && reviewMode !== "full" && (
@@ -2326,6 +2356,12 @@ export const ChatInterface = React.memo<ChatInterfaceProps>(
                     }}
                   />
                 )}
+                {threadId && (
+                  <ContextUsageIndicator
+                    usage={contextUsage}
+                    measuredTokens={measuredInputTokens}
+                  />
+                )}
                 {threadId && (
                   <button
                     type="button"
diff --git a/src/app/components/ContextUsageIndicator.tsx b/src/app/components/ContextUsageIndicator.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..82f9e69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/app/components/ContextUsageIndicator.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+"use client";
+
+import React from "react";
+import { CircleGauge } from "lucide-react";
+import {
+  formatCompactTokens,
+  type ContextUsageEvent,
+} from "@/lib/contextUsage";
+import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
+
+/**
+ * Live context-occupancy pill.
+ *
+ * `measuredTokens` is the provider-measured prompt size of the most recent
+ * model call (covers system prompt, memory and tools) and is preferred over
+ * the middleware's message-text estimate, which systematically undercounts
+ * whenever prompts carry large non-message sections. The denominator is the
+ * snapshot-frozen `input_limit` carried by the stream event, so the pill
+ * appears once the session's first model call completes.
+ */
+export const ContextUsageIndicator = React.memo<{
+  usage: ContextUsageEvent | null;
+  measuredTokens: number | null;
+}>(function ContextUsageIndicator({ usage, measuredTokens }) {
+  if (!usage) return null;
+  const estimated = usage.usedTokens + usage.reservedTokens;
+  const occupied = measuredTokens ?? estimated;
+  const limit = usage.inputLimit;
+
+  const percent = Math.max(0, Math.round((occupied / limit) * 100));
+  const nearlyFull = occupied >= limit * 0.85;
+  const label = `ctx ${percent}% · ${formatCompactTokens(
+    occupied
+  )}/${formatCompactTokens(limit)}`;
+  const tooltip =
+    (measuredTokens !== null
+      ? `Last model call used ${occupied.toLocaleString()} of ` +
+        `${limit.toLocaleString()} tokens (measured)`
+      : `Context used (estimate): ${occupied.toLocaleString()} of ` +
+        `${limit.toLocaleString()} tokens`) +
+    ` · auto-compact messages at ≈${usage.softTokens.toLocaleString()}.`;
+
+  return (
+    <span
+      title={tooltip}
+      aria-label={tooltip}
+      className={cn(
+        "flex shrink-0 items-center gap-1.5 rounded px-1.5 py-0.5",
+        nearlyFull
+          ? "text-amber-700 dark:text-amber-300"
+          : "text-muted-foreground"
+      )}
+    >
+      <CircleGauge
+        className="size-3.5 shrink-0"
+        aria-hidden="true"
+      />
+      <span className="hidden sm:inline">{label}</span>
+    </span>
+  );
+});
+
+ContextUsageIndicator.displayName = "ContextUsageIndicator";
diff --git a/src/app/hooks/useChat.ts b/src/app/hooks/useChat.ts
index a7f4e04..ec7ce23 100644
--- a/src/app/hooks/useChat.ts
+++ b/src/app/hooks/useChat.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ import { v4 as uuidv4 } from "uuid";
 import type { TodoItem } from "@/app/types/types";
 import { useQueryState } from "nuqs";
 import { parseSummarizationEvent } from "@/lib/summarization";
+import {
+  parseContextUsageEvent,
+  type ContextUsageEvent,
+} from "@/lib/contextUsage";
 import { findActiveTurnId } from "@/lib/usageTurn";
 import { errorToast } from "@/lib/errorReporter";
 import type { ModelRef, ThreadModelSelection } from "@/lib/modelRegistry";
@@ -356,6 +360,12 @@ export function useChat({
     null
   );
   const [fetchedThreadId, setFetchedThreadId] = useState<string | null>(null);
+  // Latest context-occupancy event from the live run's custom stream, keyed
+  // by thread so a stale value never leaks across a thread switch.
+  const [contextUsageEntry, setContextUsageEntry] = useState<{
+    threadId: string;
+    usage: ContextUsageEvent;
+  } | null>(null);
   const fetchedThreadIdRef = useRef<string | null>(null);
   fetchedThreadIdRef.current = fetchedThreadId;
   const recoveryRunRef = useRef(0);
@@ -915,6 +925,10 @@ export function useChat({
                   : undefined;
               messageAccumulator.add(event.data[0], metadata);
             }
+            if (event.event === "custom") {
+              const usage = parseContextUsageEvent(event.data);
+              if (usage) setContextUsageEntry({ threadId: tracked.threadId, usage });
+            }
             scheduleStreamFlush();
             if (event.event === "error") streamFailure = event.data;
           }
@@ -1193,6 +1207,10 @@ export function useChat({
       fetchedValues?._summarization_event
     ),
     ui: fetchedValues?.ui,
+    contextUsage:
+      contextUsageEntry && contextUsageEntry.threadId === threadId
+        ? contextUsageEntry.usage
+        : null,
     setFiles,
     messages,
     isLoading: isRunLoading,
diff --git a/src/lib/contextUsage.test.ts b/src/lib/contextUsage.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..906b283
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/contextUsage.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import {
+  extractMeasuredInputTokens,
+  formatCompactTokens,
+  parseContextUsageEvent,
+} from "@/lib/contextUsage";
+
+function rawEvent(overrides: Record<string, unknown> = {}) {
+  return {
+    type: "evoscientist_context_usage",
+    used_tokens: 12300,
+    reserved_tokens: 16384,
+    input_limit: 1015808,
+    hard_tokens: 896000,
+    soft_tokens: 627200,
+    ...overrides,
+  };
+}
+
+describe("parseContextUsageEvent", () => {
+  it("parses a well-formed event", () => {
+    expect(parseContextUsageEvent(rawEvent())).toEqual({
+      usedTokens: 12300,
+      reservedTokens: 16384,
+      inputLimit: 1015808,
+      hardTokens: 896000,
+      softTokens: 627200,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("ignores custom events of other types", () => {
+    expect(parseContextUsageEvent({ type: "something_else" })).toBeNull();
+    expect(parseContextUsageEvent({})).toBeNull();
+    expect(parseContextUsageEvent(null)).toBeNull();
+    expect(parseContextUsageEvent("evoscientist_context_usage")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("drops malformed stats", () => {
+    expect(parseContextUsageEvent(rawEvent({ used_tokens: -1 }))).toBeNull();
+    expect(
+      parseContextUsageEvent(rawEvent({ used_tokens: "many" }))
+    ).toBeNull();
+    expect(parseContextUsageEvent(rawEvent({ input_limit: 0 }))).toBeNull();
+    expect(
+      parseContextUsageEvent(rawEvent({ soft_tokens: undefined }))
+    ).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
+
+describe("formatCompactTokens", () => {
+  it("formats small, kilo and mega ranges", () => {
+    expect(formatCompactTokens(999)).toBe("999");
+    expect(formatCompactTokens(12300)).toBe("12k");
+    expect(formatCompactTokens(54100)).toBe("54k");
+    expect(formatCompactTokens(1015808)).toBe("1M");
+    expect(formatCompactTokens(1536000)).toBe("1.5M");
+    expect(formatCompactTokens(12582912)).toBe("13M");
+  });
+});
+
+describe("extractMeasuredInputTokens", () => {
+  it("reads input_tokens from the last AI message with usage metadata", () => {
+    const messages = [
+      { type: "human", content: "hi" },
+      { type: "ai", content: "a", usage_metadata: { input_tokens: 1000 } },
+      { type: "human", content: "again" },
+      { type: "ai", content: "b", usage_metadata: { input_tokens: 42000 } },
+    ];
+    expect(extractMeasuredInputTokens(messages)).toBe(42000);
+  });
+
+  it("falls back to response_metadata token_usage", () => {
+    const messages = [
+      {
+        type: "ai",
+        content: "a",
+        response_metadata: { token_usage: { prompt_tokens: 777 } },
+      },
+    ];
+    expect(extractMeasuredInputTokens(messages)).toBe(777);
+  });
+
+  it("skips malformed entries and returns null when nothing is measured", () => {
+    expect(
+      extractMeasuredInputTokens([
+        { type: "ai", content: "a", usage_metadata: { input_tokens: 0 } },
+        { type: "human", content: "hi" },
+      ])
+    ).toBeNull();
+    expect(extractMeasuredInputTokens([])).toBeNull();
+    expect(extractMeasuredInputTokens(null)).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/contextUsage.ts b/src/lib/contextUsage.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b7afeef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/contextUsage.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+// Live context-occupancy indicator support.
+//
+// The backend's MessageBudgetMiddleware emits one custom stream event per
+// model call carrying the character-estimated size of the prompt actually
+// sent (message text) plus the frozen budget of the run snapshot:
+//
+//   {
+//     type: "evoscientist_context_usage",
+//     used_tokens: number,      // message-text estimate of the sent prompt
+//     reserved_tokens: number,  // fixed system/tools/attachments reserves
+//     input_limit: number,      // snapshot's resolved input limit
+//     hard_tokens: number,      // auto-compaction ceiling (messages)
+//     soft_tokens: number,      // auto-compaction trigger (messages)
+//   }
+//
+// `used_tokens + reserved_tokens` approximates total context occupancy; the
+// provider-measured sizes keep flowing through the usage pipeline and land in
+// the token-consumption view after the call completes.
+
+export const CONTEXT_USAGE_EVENT_TYPE = "evoscientist_context_usage";
+
+export interface ContextUsageEvent {
+  usedTokens: number;
+  reservedTokens: number;
+  inputLimit: number;
+  hardTokens: number;
+  softTokens: number;
+}
+
+function nonNegativeNumber(value: unknown): number | null {
+  return typeof value === "number" && Number.isFinite(value) && value >= 0
+    ? value
+    : null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Validate + normalize a raw custom-stream payload. Returns null for events
+ * of other types or malformed stats so unknown custom events pass through
+ * untouched.
+ */
+export function parseContextUsageEvent(
+  raw: unknown
+): ContextUsageEvent | null {
+  if (!raw || typeof raw !== "object") return null;
+  const ev = raw as Record<string, unknown>;
+  if (ev["type"] !== CONTEXT_USAGE_EVENT_TYPE) return null;
+  const usedTokens = nonNegativeNumber(ev["used_tokens"]);
+  const reservedTokens = nonNegativeNumber(ev["reserved_tokens"]);
+  const inputLimit = nonNegativeNumber(ev["input_limit"]);
+  const hardTokens = nonNegativeNumber(ev["hard_tokens"]);
+  const softTokens = nonNegativeNumber(ev["soft_tokens"]);
+  if (
+    usedTokens === null ||
+    reservedTokens === null ||
+    inputLimit === null ||
+    inputLimit <= 0 ||
+    hardTokens === null ||
+    softTokens === null
+  ) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  return { usedTokens, reservedTokens, inputLimit, hardTokens, softTokens };
+}
+
+/** Compact token count for the ctx pill: 54000 → "54k", 1048576 → "1M". */
+export function formatCompactTokens(value: number): string {
+  if (value >= 1_000_000) {
+    const m = value / 1_000_000;
+    return `${m >= 10 ? Math.round(m) : m.toFixed(1).replace(/\.0$/, "")}M`;
+  }
+  if (value >= 1_000) return `${Math.round(value / 1_000)}k`;
+  return String(Math.round(value));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Provider-measured prompt size of the most recent model call, read from the
+ * last AI message's `usage_metadata.input_tokens` (langchain stamps it on
+ * every response; it covers the whole provider request — system prompt,
+ * memory, tools — unlike the middleware's message-text estimate). Returns
+ * null when no AI message carries measured usage yet.
+ */
+export function extractMeasuredInputTokens(messages: unknown): number | null {
+  if (!Array.isArray(messages)) return null;
+  for (let i = messages.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
+    const m = messages[i] as Record<string, unknown> | null;
+    if (!m || typeof m !== "object" || m["type"] !== "ai") continue;
+    const usage = m["usage_metadata"] as Record<string, unknown> | undefined;
+    const measured = nonNegativeNumber(usage?.["input_tokens"]);
+    if (measured !== null && measured > 0) return measured;
+    const responseMeta = m["response_metadata"] as
+      | Record<string, unknown>
+      | undefined;
+    const tokenUsage = responseMeta?.["token_usage"] as
+      | Record<string, unknown>
+      | undefined;
+    const promptTokens = nonNegativeNumber(tokenUsage?.["prompt_tokens"]);
+    if (promptTokens !== null && promptTokens > 0) return promptTokens;
+  }
+  return null;
+}