diff --git a/scripts/fabric-health-check.sh b/scripts/fabric-health-check.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc65291
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/fabric-health-check.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# FABRIC systemd health check script
+# Called by systemd's WatchdogSec mechanism.
+# Exits non-zero if the health endpoint reports unhealthy.
+
+PORT="${FABRIC_PORT:-3000}"
+MAX_RETRIES=3
+RETRY_INTERVAL=1
+
+for i in $(seq 1 $MAX_RETRIES); do
+  STATUS=$(curl -sf -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' "http://localhost:${PORT}/api/health" 2>/dev/null)
+  if [ "$STATUS" = "200" ]; then
+    exit 0
+  fi
+  if [ "$i" -lt "$MAX_RETRIES" ]; then
+    sleep $RETRY_INTERVAL
+  fi
+done
+
+echo "FABRIC health check failed: HTTP $STATUS after $MAX_RETRIES attempts" >&2
+exit 1
diff --git a/src/serverMetrics.ts b/src/serverMetrics.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a09980
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/serverMetrics.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+/**
+ * FABRIC Server Metrics
+ *
+ * Collects and exposes internal metrics for /api/health and /api/metrics endpoints.
+ */
+
+import { VERSION } from './index.js';
+
+export interface ServerMetricsSnapshot {
+  status: string;
+  uptime_sec: number;
+  version: string;
+  event_count: number;
+  ingest_rate_per_sec: number;
+  ws_clients: number;
+  tailer_files_watched: number;
+  dedup_dropped: number;
+  process_resident_memory_bytes: number;
+}
+
+export class ServerMetrics {
+  private startTime = Date.now();
+  private eventTimestamps: number[] = [];
+  private _wsClients = 0;
+  private _tailerFilesWatched = 0;
+  private _eventCount = 0;
+  private _dedupDropped = 0;
+
+  recordEvent(): void {
+    this._eventCount++;
+    this.eventTimestamps.push(Date.now());
+  }
+
+  set wsClients(count: number) {
+    this._wsClients = count;
+  }
+
+  set tailerFilesWatched(count: number) {
+    this._tailerFilesWatched = count;
+  }
+
+  set dedupDropped(count: number) {
+    this._dedupDropped = count;
+  }
+
+  set eventCount(count: number) {
+    this._eventCount = count;
+  }
+
+  reset(): void {
+    this.startTime = Date.now();
+    this.eventTimestamps = [];
+    this._wsClients = 0;
+    this._tailerFilesWatched = 0;
+    this._eventCount = 0;
+    this._dedupDropped = 0;
+  }
+
+  private ingestRate(): number {
+    const now = Date.now();
+    // Keep only last 60s of timestamps
+    const cutoff = now - 60_000;
+    this.eventTimestamps = this.eventTimestamps.filter(t => t >= cutoff);
+
+    if (this.eventTimestamps.length < 2) return 0;
+
+    const spanSec = (now - this.eventTimestamps[0]) / 1000;
+    if (spanSec < 0.001) return 0;
+
+    return this.eventTimestamps.length / spanSec;
+  }
+
+  snapshot(): ServerMetricsSnapshot {
+    const rss = process.memoryUsage().rss;
+    return {
+      status: 'ok',
+      uptime_sec: Math.round((Date.now() - this.startTime) / 1000),
+      version: VERSION,
+      event_count: this._eventCount,
+      ingest_rate_per_sec: Math.round(this.ingestRate() * 100) / 100,
+      ws_clients: this._wsClients,
+      tailer_files_watched: this._tailerFilesWatched,
+      dedup_dropped: this._dedupDropped,
+      process_resident_memory_bytes: rss,
+    };
+  }
+
+  /** Format snapshot as Prometheus text exposition format. */
+  toPrometheus(snap: ServerMetricsSnapshot): string {
+    const lines: string[] = [];
+    const metric = (name: string, type: string, help: string, value: number | string, labels?: string) => {
+      lines.push(`# HELP fabric_${name} ${help}`);
+      lines.push(`# TYPE fabric_${name} ${type}`);
+      if (labels) {
+        lines.push(`fabric_${name}{${labels}} ${value}`);
+      } else {
+        lines.push(`fabric_${name} ${value}`);
+      }
+    };
+
+    metric('status', 'gauge', 'Server status (1=ok)', snap.status === 'ok' ? 1 : 0);
+    metric('uptime_seconds', 'gauge', 'Server uptime in seconds', snap.uptime_sec);
+    metric('info', 'gauge', 'Build info', 1, `version="${snap.version}"`);
+    metric('event_count', 'gauge', 'Total events in store', snap.event_count);
+    metric('ingest_rate_per_second', 'gauge', 'Events ingested per second (60s window)', snap.ingest_rate_per_sec);
+    metric('websocket_clients', 'gauge', 'Connected WebSocket clients', snap.ws_clients);
+    metric('tailer_files_watched', 'gauge', 'Log files being watched', snap.tailer_files_watched);
+    metric('dedup_dropped_total', 'counter', 'Total duplicate events dropped', snap.dedup_dropped);
+    metric('process_resident_memory_bytes', 'gauge', 'Process RSS in bytes', snap.process_resident_memory_bytes);
+
+    return lines.join('\n') + '\n';
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/web/server.ts b/src/web/server.ts
index 0b325bb..4a2c768 100644
--- a/src/web/server.ts
+++ b/src/web/server.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { createServer, Server as HttpServer } from 'http';
 import { EventEmitter } from 'events';
 import { join, dirname } from 'path';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
+import { createSocket } from 'dgram';
 import { WebSocketServer, WebSocket } from 'ws';
 import { LogEvent, EventFilter, CrossReferenceEntityType, CrossReferenceRelationship, DagOptions, BeadStatus } from '../types.js';
 import { InMemoryEventStore } from '../store.js';
@@ -26,6 +27,21 @@ const MAX_BATCH_SIZE = 100;
 
 const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
 
+/** Send a systemd sd_notify message via the NOTIFY_SOCKET Unix datagram socket. */
+function sdNotify(state: string): void {
+  const socketPath = process.env.NOTIFY_SOCKET;
+  if (!socketPath) return;
+  try {
+    const client = createSocket('unix_dgram');
+    const msg = Buffer.from(state);
+    // Abstract sockets start with '@' in systemd notation; replace with '\0'
+    const addr = socketPath.startsWith('@') ? '\0' + socketPath.slice(1) : socketPath;
+    client.send(msg, 0, msg.length, addr, () => client.close());
+  } catch {
+    // Never crash the server due to a notify failure
+  }
+}
+
 export interface WebServerOptions {
   port: number;
   logPath: string;
@@ -679,6 +695,17 @@ export function createWebServer(options: WebServerOptions): WebServer {
         );
       }
       console.log('Press Ctrl+C to stop');
+
+      // Notify systemd that the service is ready (Type=notify)
+      sdNotify('READY=1\nSTATUS=FABRIC running\n');
+
+      // Watchdog keepalives: ping at half the configured interval
+      const watchdogUsec = parseInt(process.env.WATCHDOG_USEC ?? '0', 10);
+      if (watchdogUsec > 0) {
+        const intervalMs = Math.floor(watchdogUsec / 2 / 1000);
+        setInterval(() => sdNotify('WATCHDOG=1'), intervalMs);
+      }
+
       emitter.emit('start');
     });