diff --git a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests/Transport/NetworkMetricsRecordingHandlerTests.cs b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests/Transport/NetworkMetricsRecordingHandlerTests.cs
index 81b4fa4a..236bffff 100644
--- a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests/Transport/NetworkMetricsRecordingHandlerTests.cs
+++ b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests/Transport/NetworkMetricsRecordingHandlerTests.cs
@@ -144,6 +144,77 @@ namespace AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests.Transport
             Assert.Equal(1 + 2 + 3, snap.TotalBytesUp);
         }
 
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Captures_bytes_down_via_buffering_when_content_length_is_missing()
+        {
+            // AutomaticDecompression strips Content-Length on the backend's gzipped JSON —
+            // the pre-fix handler recorded 0 for every such (healthy) response. A non-seekable
+            // stream body reproduces the headerless shape.
+            var metrics = new NetworkMetrics();
+            var inner = new RecordingHttpMessageHandler();
+            var payload = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("{\"ok\":true}"); // 11 bytes
+            inner.QueueResponse(() => new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK)
+            {
+                Content = new StreamContent(new NonSeekableReadStream(payload)),
+            });
+            using var client = BuildClient(metrics, inner);
+
+            using var resp = await client.SendAsync(NewPost(""));
+
+            var snap = metrics.GetSnapshot();
+            Assert.Equal(payload.Length, snap.TotalBytesDown);
+            // Buffering must not consume the body away from the caller.
+            Assert.Equal("{\"ok\":true}", await resp.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task Bytes_down_fails_soft_to_zero_when_buffering_throws()
+        {
+            var metrics = new NetworkMetrics();
+            var inner = new RecordingHttpMessageHandler();
+            inner.QueueResponse(() => new HttpResponseMessage(HttpStatusCode.OK)
+            {
+                Content = new ThrowingContent(),
+            });
+            using var client = BuildClient(metrics, inner);
+
+            // ResponseHeadersRead keeps HttpClient's own post-pipeline buffering out of the
+            // picture — the test isolates the handler's fallback catch (which must swallow
+            // the serialization failure and record 0, never throw).
+            using var resp = await client.SendAsync(NewPost(""), HttpCompletionOption.ResponseHeadersRead);
+
+            var snap = metrics.GetSnapshot();
+            Assert.Equal(1, snap.RequestCount);
+            Assert.Equal(0, snap.TotalBytesDown);
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>Read-only, non-seekable stream — CanSeek=false keeps StreamContent from
+        /// computing a Content-Length, mirroring a decompression-wrapped response body.</summary>
+        private sealed class NonSeekableReadStream : System.IO.Stream
+        {
+            private readonly System.IO.MemoryStream _inner;
+            public NonSeekableReadStream(byte[] data) { _inner = new System.IO.MemoryStream(data); }
+            public override bool CanRead => true;
+            public override bool CanSeek => false;
+            public override bool CanWrite => false;
+            public override long Length => throw new NotSupportedException();
+            public override long Position { get => throw new NotSupportedException(); set => throw new NotSupportedException(); }
+            public override void Flush() { }
+            public override int Read(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count) => _inner.Read(buffer, offset, count);
+            public override long Seek(long offset, System.IO.SeekOrigin origin) => throw new NotSupportedException();
+            public override void SetLength(long value) => throw new NotSupportedException();
+            public override void Write(byte[] buffer, int offset, int count) => throw new NotSupportedException();
+            protected override void Dispose(bool disposing) { if (disposing) _inner.Dispose(); base.Dispose(disposing); }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>Content whose serialization always fails — drives the fallback's catch path.</summary>
+        private sealed class ThrowingContent : HttpContent
+        {
+            protected override Task SerializeToStreamAsync(System.IO.Stream stream, System.Net.TransportContext? context)
+                => throw new System.IO.IOException("connection dropped mid-body");
+            protected override bool TryComputeLength(out long length) { length = 0; return false; }
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public void Constructor_rejects_null_metrics()
         {
diff --git a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests/Transport/RecordingHttpMessageHandler.cs b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests/Transport/RecordingHttpMessageHandler.cs
index 6fdba0a5..cf29bfa8 100644
--- a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests/Transport/RecordingHttpMessageHandler.cs
+++ b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests/Transport/RecordingHttpMessageHandler.cs
@@ -40,6 +40,17 @@ namespace AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Tests.Transport
             return this;
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Queues an arbitrary response — for shapes <see cref="QueueStatus"/> can't build,
+        /// e.g. content without a Content-Length header (what AutomaticDecompression leaves
+        /// behind on real compressed responses).
+        /// </summary>
+        public RecordingHttpMessageHandler QueueResponse(Func<HttpResponseMessage> factory)
+        {
+            _script.Enqueue(_ => factory());
+            return this;
+        }
+
         protected override async Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendAsync(
             HttpRequestMessage request,
             CancellationToken cancellationToken)
diff --git a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core/Monitoring/Transport/NetworkMetricsRecordingHandler.cs b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core/Monitoring/Transport/NetworkMetricsRecordingHandler.cs
index f78fedc8..aca20054 100644
--- a/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core/Monitoring/Transport/NetworkMetricsRecordingHandler.cs
+++ b/src/Agent/AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core/Monitoring/Transport/NetworkMetricsRecordingHandler.cs
@@ -21,12 +21,20 @@ namespace AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Monitoring.Transport
     /// <remarks>
     /// <b>bytes-up</b> is read from <see cref="System.Net.Http.Headers.HttpContentHeaders.ContentLength"/>
     /// on the request content (set eagerly by <c>ByteArrayContent</c>/<c>StringContent</c>).
-    /// <b>bytes-down</b> is read from the response Content-Length header — when
-    /// <c>AutomaticDecompression</c> is enabled the framework may strip this, so the value
-    /// is best-effort (degrades to 0). The request count and failure count are always exact.
+    /// <b>bytes-down</b> prefers the response Content-Length header; the pipeline's
+    /// <c>AutomaticDecompression</c> strips that header on compressed responses (i.e. on
+    /// virtually every backend JSON response), so when it is absent the content is buffered
+    /// and the DECOMPRESSED payload size is recorded instead — before the fallback the
+    /// counter read 0 on healthy sessions. <c>HttpClient</c> buffers responses anyway
+    /// (default <c>HttpCompletionOption.ResponseContentRead</c>), so this adds no real
+    /// memory cost. The request count and failure count are always exact.
     /// </remarks>
     internal sealed class NetworkMetricsRecordingHandler : DelegatingHandler
     {
+        // Buffering cap for the bytes-down fallback. Backend responses are small JSON
+        // (config, ingest acks); anything larger is counted as 0 rather than buffered.
+        private const long MaxCountedResponseBytes = 16 * 1024 * 1024;
+
         private readonly NetworkMetrics _metrics;
 
         public NetworkMetricsRecordingHandler(NetworkMetrics metrics)
@@ -54,6 +62,23 @@ namespace AutopilotMonitor.Agent.V2.Core.Monitoring.Transport
             {
                 response = await base.SendAsync(request, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
                 bytesDown = response?.Content?.Headers?.ContentLength ?? 0L;
+                if (bytesDown == 0 && response?.Content != null)
+                {
+                    // AutomaticDecompression stripped Content-Length (the norm for the
+                    // backend's gzipped JSON). Buffer the content — after buffering the
+                    // header reflects the decompressed length. Fail-soft: a buffering
+                    // error (too large, connection dropped mid-body) keeps 0 and leaves
+                    // the response for the caller to observe the failure itself.
+                    try
+                    {
+                        await response.Content.LoadIntoBufferAsync(MaxCountedResponseBytes).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                        bytesDown = response.Content.Headers.ContentLength ?? 0L;
+                    }
+                    catch
+                    {
+                        // keep bytesDown = 0
+                    }
+                }
                 if (response != null && !response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
                 {
                     failed = true;