diff --git a/internal/cloud/kafka-event-bridge.test.ts b/internal/cloud/kafka-event-bridge.test.ts
index 463072a5..907206a0 100644
--- a/internal/cloud/kafka-event-bridge.test.ts
+++ b/internal/cloud/kafka-event-bridge.test.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import { test } from "bun:test";
 
 import { createCloudApiBunServer } from "./bun-server.ts";
 import { buildCloudApiReadiness } from "./health-contract.ts";
-import { decodeCanonicalAgentRunKafkaMessage, kafkaEventBridgeConfig, projectAgentRunKafkaEventToHwlabEvent, relayHwlabKafkaOutboxOnce, startHwlabKafkaEventBridge } from "./kafka-event-bridge.ts";
+import { decodeCanonicalAgentRunKafkaMessage, kafkaEventBridgeConfig, projectAgentRunKafkaEventToHwlabEvent, publishAgentRunKafkaMessageLive, relayHwlabKafkaOutboxOnce, startHwlabKafkaEventBridge } from "./kafka-event-bridge.ts";
 
 const PROJECTOR_ENV = Object.freeze({
   HWLAB_KAFKA_DIRECT_PUBLISH_ENABLED: "false",
@@ -396,6 +396,29 @@ test("live Kafka startup does not touch transactional v8 readiness", async () =>
   await bridge.stop();
 });
 
+test("live Kafka publishes Artificer runs without HWLAB trace lineage for the unscoped observer", async () => {
+  const published = [];
+  const message = canonicalMessage({ offset: "52", traceId: null, hwlabSessionId: null, sessionId: "sess_artificer_test" });
+  const result = await publishAgentRunKafkaMessageLive({
+    topic: "agentrun.event.v1",
+    partition: 0,
+    message
+  }, {
+    producer: { async send(input) { published.push(input); return [{ partition: 0, baseOffset: "7" }]; } },
+    config: kafkaEventBridgeConfig(LIVE_ENV),
+    env: LIVE_ENV,
+    logger: null,
+    otelSpanEmitter() {}
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(result.published, true);
+  assert.equal(result.envelope.runId, "run_projector_test");
+  assert.equal(result.envelope.sessionId, "sess_artificer_test");
+  assert.equal(result.envelope.traceId, null);
+  assert.equal(published.length, 1);
+  assert.equal(published[0].topic, "hwlab.event.v1");
+});
+
 test("Cloud API starts with all six Kafka capabilities and without transactional v8 schema", async () => {
   let transactionalV8Reads = 0;
   const runtimeStore = new Proxy({}, {
@@ -727,7 +750,7 @@ function kafkaProjectorHarness(overrides = {}, calls = []) {
   };
 }
 
-function canonicalMessage({ offset, traceId = "trc_projector_test", hwlabSessionId = "ses_projector_test" }) {
+function canonicalMessage({ offset, traceId = "trc_projector_test", hwlabSessionId = "ses_projector_test", sessionId = hwlabSessionId }) {
   const eventId = `evt_projector_${offset}`;
   const runId = "run_projector_test";
   return {
@@ -740,10 +763,11 @@ function canonicalMessage({ offset, traceId = "trc_projector_test", hwlabSession
       eventId,
       sourceSeq: Number(offset) + 1,
       traceId,
+      sessionId,
       hwlabSessionId,
       runId,
       commandId: "cmd_projector_test",
-      run: { runId, status: "running", valuesPrinted: false },
+      run: { runId, status: "running", sessionId, hwlabSessionId, valuesPrinted: false },
       command: { commandId: "cmd_projector_test", runId, seq: 1, type: "prompt", state: "running", valuesPrinted: false },
       event: { id: eventId, runId, seq: Number(offset) + 1, type: "assistant_message", payload: { traceId, hwlabSessionId, commandId: "cmd_projector_test", text: "projected answer" }, createdAt: "2026-07-10T10:00:00.000Z" },
       valuesPrinted: false
diff --git a/internal/cloud/kafka-event-bridge.ts b/internal/cloud/kafka-event-bridge.ts
index 8689df09..56c7e60a 100644
--- a/internal/cloud/kafka-event-bridge.ts
+++ b/internal/cloud/kafka-event-bridge.ts
@@ -447,9 +447,6 @@ export async function publishAgentRunKafkaMessageLive(kafkaMessage = {}, { produ
     logWarn(logger, "hwlab-live-kafka-message-invalid", { topic: transport.sourceTopic, partition: transport.sourcePartition, offset: transport.sourceOffset, errorCode: decoded.error.code, valuesPrinted: false });
     return { handled: true, invalid: true, published: false, valuesPrinted: false };
   }
-  if (!stringValue(decoded.event.traceId) || !stringValue(decoded.event.hwlabSessionId)) {
-    return { handled: true, ignored: true, published: false, valuesPrinted: false };
-  }
   const projected = projectAgentRunKafkaEventToHwlabEvent(decoded.event, {
     source: config.clientId,
     sourceTopic: transport.sourceTopic,
diff --git a/scripts/gitops-render.test.ts b/scripts/gitops-render.test.ts
index af3f13f6..93159497 100644
--- a/scripts/gitops-render.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/gitops-render.test.ts
@@ -702,6 +702,11 @@ test("v03 render keeps node identity as data instead of generated structure", as
     assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_KAFKA_AGENTRUN_EVENT_GROUP_ID"), "hwlab-v03-agentrun-event-direct-publish");
     assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_KAFKA_PROJECTOR_GROUP_ID"), "hwlab-v03-agentrun-event-projector");
     assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_KAFKA_HWLAB_EVENT_GROUP_ID"), "hwlab-v03-workbench-live-sse");
+    assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_GROUP_PREFIX"), "hwlab-v03-agent-observer-replay");
+    assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_TIMEOUT_MS"), "30000");
+    assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_SCAN_LIMIT"), "1000000");
+    assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_MATCHED_EVENT_LIMIT"), "10000");
+    assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_LIVE_BUFFER_LIMIT"), "2000");
     assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_KAFKA_HWLAB_DEBUG_EVENT_TOPIC"), "hwlab.event.debug.v1");
     assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_KAFKA_HWLAB_DEBUG_GROUP_PREFIX"), "hwlab-v03-workbench-isolated-debug");
     assert.equal(cloudApiEnv.get("HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_DEBUG_REPLAY_LIMIT"), "200");
diff --git a/scripts/src/gitops-render/core.mjs b/scripts/src/gitops-render/core.mjs
index 9a1a28eb..239b4cb5 100644
--- a/scripts/src/gitops-render/core.mjs
+++ b/scripts/src/gitops-render/core.mjs
@@ -1583,6 +1583,13 @@ function transformWorkloads({ workloads, deploy, catalog, source, sourceBranch =
           upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_AGENT_OBSERVER_CHANGE_HIGHLIGHT_MS", String(agentObserverPolicy.changeHighlightMs));
           upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_AGENT_OBSERVER_STALE_AFTER_MS", String(agentObserverPolicy.staleAfterMs));
           upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_AGENT_OBSERVER_REDUCED_MOTION", String(agentObserverPolicy.reducedMotion));
+          if (serviceId === "hwlab-cloud-api") {
+            upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_GROUP_PREFIX", String(agentObserverPolicy.retentionGroupPrefix));
+            upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_TIMEOUT_MS", String(agentObserverPolicy.retentionTimeoutMs));
+            upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_SCAN_LIMIT", String(agentObserverPolicy.retentionScanLimit));
+            upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_MATCHED_EVENT_LIMIT", String(agentObserverPolicy.retentionEventLimit));
+            upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_WORKBENCH_KAFKA_REFRESH_REPLAY_LIVE_BUFFER_LIMIT", String(agentObserverPolicy.liveBufferLimit));
+          }
           if (serviceId === "hwlab-cloud-web") {
             upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_AGENT_OBSERVER_NODE_ID", runtimeNodeIdForProfile(deploy, profile, nodeId));
             upsertEnv(container.env, "HWLAB_AGENT_OBSERVER_LANE", profile);
diff --git a/tools/hwlab-cli/agent-observer.test.ts b/tools/hwlab-cli/agent-observer.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..22e6db14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/hwlab-cli/agent-observer.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { test } from "bun:test";
+
+import { collectAgentObserverRuns } from "../src/hwlab-cli/agent-observer-client.ts";
+
+test("agent observer CLI collects unscoped Artificer runs through retention-to-live SSE", async () => {
+  const envelope = {
+    schema: "hwlab.event.v1",
+    runId: "run_artificer_test",
+    sessionId: "sess_artificer_test",
+    producedAt: "2026-07-16T02:24:51.000Z",
+    context: { projectId: "pikainc/pikaoa", runId: "run_artificer_test" },
+    event: { runId: "run_artificer_test", lane: "release", backend: "gpt-pika", runStatus: "running", createdAt: "2026-07-16T02:24:50.000Z" }
+  };
+  const frames = [
+    `event: hwlab.event.v1\ndata: ${JSON.stringify(envelope)}\n\n`,
+    `event: agent-observer.handoff\ndata: ${JSON.stringify({ replay: { scannedCount: 12, deliveredCount: 1 } })}\n\n`,
+    `event: agent-observer.connected\ndata: ${JSON.stringify({ replay: { scannedCount: 12, deliveredCount: 1 } })}\n\n`
+  ].join("");
+  let authorization = "";
+  const result = await collectAgentObserverRuns({
+    fetchImpl: async (_url, init) => {
+      authorization = new Headers(init?.headers).get("authorization") ?? "";
+      return new Response(frames, { status: 200, headers: { "content-type": "text/event-stream" } });
+    },
+    url: "https://lab-dev.hwpod.com/v1/agent-observer/events",
+    apiKey: "hwl_live_test_only",
+    timeoutMs: 1000,
+    limit: 20
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(authorization, "Bearer hwl_live_test_only");
+  assert.equal(result.phase, "live");
+  assert.equal(result.eventCount, 1);
+  assert.equal(result.runCount, 1);
+  assert.equal(result.runs[0].runId, "run_artificer_test");
+  assert.equal(result.runs[0].lane, "release");
+  assert.equal(result.runs[0].backend, "gpt-pika");
+});
diff --git a/tools/src/hwlab-cli-lib.ts b/tools/src/hwlab-cli-lib.ts
index 7a323ce8..a69d257f 100644
--- a/tools/src/hwlab-cli-lib.ts
+++ b/tools/src/hwlab-cli-lib.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
 import { chmod, mkdir, readFile, readdir, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { caseCommand } from "./hwlab-caserun-lib.ts";
+import { collectAgentObserverRuns } from "./hwlab-cli/agent-observer-client.ts";
 import { computeCodeAgentComposerState, isCodeAgentSessionUnusableStatus } from "./hwlab-cli/composer-policy.ts";
 import { traceDisplayRows, traceNoiseEventCount } from "./hwlab-cli/trace-renderer.ts";
 import { resolveRuntimeEndpoint, runtimeEndpointVisibility, sameRuntimeEndpointScope } from "./runtime-endpoint-resolver.ts";
@@ -86,6 +87,7 @@ async function clientCommand(context: any) {
   if (group === "runtime") return runtimeCommand(next);
   if (group === "gateway") return gatewayCommand(next);
   if (group === "agent") return agentCommand(next);
+  if (group === "agent-observer") return agentObserverCommand(next);
   if (group === "session" || group === "sessions") return sessionCommand(next);
   if (["harness", "harness-ops", "harness-opt"].includes(group)) return harnessCommand(next);
   if (group === "workbench") return workbenchCommand(next);
@@ -105,6 +107,7 @@ function clientSubcommandHelp(group: string) {
   if (group === "runtime") return runtimeHelp();
   if (group === "gateway") return gatewayHelp();
   if (group === "agent") return agentHelp();
+  if (group === "agent-observer") return agentObserverHelp();
   if (group === "session" || group === "sessions") return sessionHelp();
   if (["harness", "harness-ops", "harness-opt"].includes(group)) return harnessHelp();
   if (group === "workbench") return workbenchHelp();
@@ -2280,6 +2283,43 @@ function agentSendWaitPolicy(traceId: string) {
   };
 }
 
+async function agentObserverCommand(context: any) {
+  const subcommand = context.rest[0] || "list";
+  if (wantsHelp(context)) return agentObserverHelp();
+  if (subcommand !== "list") throw cliError("unsupported_agent_observer_command", `unsupported agent-observer command: ${subcommand}`, { subcommand });
+  const endpoint = runtimeEndpoint(context.parsed, context.env, "web");
+  const apiKey = explicitApiKey(context.parsed, context.env);
+  if (!apiKey) throw cliError("hwlab_api_key_required", "client agent-observer list requires HWLAB_API_KEY.", { credentialSource: "HWLAB_API_KEY" });
+  const timeoutMs = numberOption(context.parsed.timeoutMs) ?? DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS;
+  const limit = numberOption(context.parsed.limit) ?? 100;
+  if (!Number.isInteger(limit) || limit <= 0) throw cliError("invalid_limit", "--limit must be a positive integer.", { limit });
+  const observation = await collectAgentObserverRuns({
+    fetchImpl: context.fetchImpl,
+    url: `${endpoint.baseUrl}/v1/agent-observer/events`,
+    apiKey,
+    timeoutMs,
+    limit
+  });
+  return ok("client.agent-observer.list", {
+    baseUrl: endpoint.baseUrl,
+    runtimeEndpoint: runtimeEndpointVisibility(endpoint),
+    route: route("GET", "/v1/agent-observer/events"),
+    authority: "hwlab.event.v1",
+    ...observation,
+    valuesPrinted: false
+  });
+}
+
+function agentObserverHelp() {
+  return ok("client.agent-observer.help", {
+    serviceRuntime: false,
+    imagePublished: false,
+    commands: ["list [--limit 100] [--timeout-ms 30000]"],
+    auth: "HWLAB_API_KEY",
+    authority: "hwlab.event.v1"
+  });
+}
+
 async function workbenchCommand(context: any) {
   const subcommand = context.rest[0] || "summary";
   if (wantsHelp(context)) return workbenchHelp();
diff --git a/tools/src/hwlab-cli/agent-observer-client.ts b/tools/src/hwlab-cli/agent-observer-client.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f80358a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/src/hwlab-cli/agent-observer-client.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+type FetchLike = typeof fetch;
+
+type ObserverRun = {
+  runId: string;
+  taskId: string | null;
+  commandId: string | null;
+  sessionId: string | null;
+  projectId: string | null;
+  workspace: string | null;
+  lane: string | null;
+  backend: string | null;
+  providerId: string | null;
+  status: string | null;
+  lastEventAt: string | null;
+};
+
+export async function collectAgentObserverRuns({ fetchImpl, url, apiKey, timeoutMs, limit }: {
+  fetchImpl: FetchLike;
+  url: string;
+  apiKey: string;
+  timeoutMs: number;
+  limit: number;
+}) {
+  const controller = new AbortController();
+  const timer = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), timeoutMs);
+  const runs = new Map<string, ObserverRun>();
+  let replay: unknown = null;
+  let phase = "replay";
+  let eventCount = 0;
+  try {
+    const response = await fetchImpl(url, {
+      method: "GET",
+      headers: { accept: "text/event-stream", authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}` },
+      signal: controller.signal
+    });
+    if (!response.ok) {
+      const body = await response.text();
+      throw observerError("agent_observer_request_failed", `GET /v1/agent-observer/events returned HTTP ${response.status}.`, { httpStatus: response.status, bodyBytes: Buffer.byteLength(body) });
+    }
+    const reader = response.body?.getReader();
+    if (!reader) throw observerError("agent_observer_stream_missing", "Agent observer response did not provide an SSE body.");
+    const decoder = new TextDecoder();
+    let buffer = "";
+    let connected = false;
+    while (!connected) {
+      const chunk = await reader.read();
+      if (chunk.done) break;
+      buffer += decoder.decode(chunk.value, { stream: true });
+      const frames = splitSseFrames(buffer);
+      buffer = frames.remainder;
+      for (const frame of frames.complete) {
+        const parsed = parseSseFrame(frame);
+        if (!parsed) continue;
+        if (parsed.event === "hwlab.event.v1") {
+          eventCount += 1;
+          mergeRun(runs, parsed.data);
+        } else if (parsed.event === "agent-observer.handoff") {
+          phase = "handoff";
+          replay = objectValue(parsed.data)?.replay ?? replay;
+        } else if (parsed.event === "agent-observer.connected") {
+          phase = "live";
+          replay = objectValue(parsed.data)?.replay ?? replay;
+          connected = true;
+          break;
+        } else if (parsed.event === "agent-observer.error") {
+          const error = objectValue(parsed.data);
+          throw observerError(text(error?.code) || "agent_observer_stream_failed", text(error?.message) || "Agent observer SSE reported an error.");
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    await reader.cancel().catch(() => undefined);
+    if (!connected) throw observerError("agent_observer_handoff_incomplete", "Agent observer SSE ended before retention-to-live handoff completed.");
+  } catch (error: any) {
+    if (controller.signal.aborted && error?.code === undefined) throw observerError("agent_observer_timeout", `Agent observer did not complete replay within ${timeoutMs}ms.`, { timeoutMs });
+    throw error;
+  } finally {
+    clearTimeout(timer);
+    controller.abort();
+  }
+
+  const allRuns = [...runs.values()].sort((left, right) => String(right.lastEventAt ?? "").localeCompare(String(left.lastEventAt ?? "")));
+  return {
+    phase,
+    replay,
+    eventCount,
+    runCount: allRuns.length,
+    returnedRunCount: Math.min(allRuns.length, limit),
+    truncated: allRuns.length > limit,
+    runs: allRuns.slice(0, limit),
+    valuesPrinted: false
+  };
+}
+
+function mergeRun(runs: Map<string, ObserverRun>, value: unknown) {
+  const envelope = objectValue(value);
+  const event = objectValue(envelope?.event);
+  const context = objectValue(envelope?.context);
+  const runId = firstText(envelope?.runId, context?.runId, event?.runId);
+  if (!runId) return;
+  const previous = runs.get(runId);
+  runs.set(runId, {
+    runId,
+    taskId: firstText(event?.taskId, previous?.taskId),
+    commandId: firstText(envelope?.commandId, context?.commandId, event?.commandId, previous?.commandId),
+    sessionId: firstText(envelope?.sessionId, envelope?.hwlabSessionId, event?.sessionId, previous?.sessionId),
+    projectId: firstText(context?.projectId, event?.projectId, previous?.projectId),
+    workspace: firstText(event?.workspace, previous?.workspace),
+    lane: firstText(event?.lane, previous?.lane),
+    backend: firstText(event?.backend, previous?.backend),
+    providerId: firstText(event?.providerId, previous?.providerId),
+    status: firstText(event?.runStatus, event?.status, previous?.status),
+    lastEventAt: firstText(event?.createdAt, envelope?.producedAt, previous?.lastEventAt)
+  });
+}
+
+function splitSseFrames(value: string) {
+  const normalized = value.replace(/\r\n/gu, "\n");
+  const parts = normalized.split("\n\n");
+  return { complete: parts.slice(0, -1), remainder: parts.at(-1) ?? "" };
+}
+
+function parseSseFrame(frame: string) {
+  let event = "message";
+  const data = [];
+  for (const line of frame.split("\n")) {
+    if (line.startsWith("event:")) event = line.slice(6).trim();
+    if (line.startsWith("data:")) data.push(line.slice(5).trimStart());
+  }
+  if (data.length === 0) return null;
+  try { return { event, data: JSON.parse(data.join("\n")) }; } catch { return null; }
+}
+
+function objectValue(value: any): any {
+  return value && typeof value === "object" && !Array.isArray(value) ? value : null;
+}
+
+function text(value: unknown) {
+  return typeof value === "string" && value.trim() ? value.trim() : null;
+}
+
+function firstText(...values: unknown[]) {
+  for (const value of values) {
+    const result = text(value);
+    if (result) return result;
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
+function observerError(code: string, message: string, details: Record<string, unknown> = {}) {
+  return Object.assign(new Error(message), { code, details: { ...details, valuesPrinted: false } });
+}