diff --git a/src/engine.rs b/src/engine.rs
index 97b2f2e..741cf0c 100644
--- a/src/engine.rs
+++ b/src/engine.rs
@@ -23,6 +23,15 @@ pub struct IngestedLine {
     pub text: String,
 }
 
+/// One sample scraped from a Prometheus/OpenMetrics endpoint, pushed straight into a metric's bucket
+/// without going through log-line regex matching — see `crate::ingest::run_metrics_poll`.
+pub struct MetricSample {
+    pub metric_name: String,
+    pub labels: BTreeMap<String, String>,
+    pub value: f64,
+    pub timestamp: Timestamp,
+}
+
 /// Also the request body for `POST /api/params` — `Deserialize` is derived directly here rather than adding a separate DTO, since the shape already matches.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Deserialize)]
 pub struct DeclareParamRequest {
@@ -69,6 +78,7 @@ pub enum EngineQuery {
 #[allow(dead_code)]
 pub enum EngineMessage {
     Ingest(IngestedLine),
+    IngestMetricSample(MetricSample),
     DeclareParam {
         request: DeclareParamRequest,
         respond_to: oneshot::Sender<Result<(), String>>,
@@ -114,6 +124,8 @@ pub async fn run(mut rx: mpsc::Receiver<EngineMessage>, settings: SettingsHandle
     let mut index: BTreeMap<IndexKey, DataValue> = BTreeMap::new();
     let mut max_logs: Option<usize> = None;
     let mut log_count: usize = 0;
+    // Its own counter, independent of log `sequence` — scraped samples aren't tied to any ingested line.
+    let mut metric_sample_sequence: u64 = 0;
     // Per-rule rolling windows/seen-value sets, keyed by rule id; lives only as long as this loop (no restart persistence).
     let mut alert_states: HashMap<String, AlertRuntimeState> = HashMap::new();
 
@@ -139,6 +151,22 @@ pub async fn run(mut rx: mpsc::Receiver<EngineMessage>, settings: SettingsHandle
                     tokio::spawn(alerts::deliver_for_rule(rule.name, message, ntfy_topic.clone(), ntfy_server.clone()));
                 }
             }
+            EngineMessage::IngestMetricSample(sample) => {
+                let labels = sample
+                    .labels
+                    .into_iter()
+                    .map(|(name, value)| (name, MetricPrimitive::String(value)))
+                    .collect();
+                push_bucket_value(
+                    &mut index,
+                    &sample.metric_name,
+                    labels,
+                    metric_sample_sequence,
+                    sample.timestamp,
+                    MetricPrimitive::Number(Number::Float(sample.value)),
+                );
+                metric_sample_sequence += 1;
+            }
             EngineMessage::SetMaxLogs(new_max) => {
                 max_logs = new_max;
                 evict_excess_logs(&mut index, &mut log_count, max_logs);
diff --git a/src/ingest.rs b/src/ingest.rs
index c152651..83b6acc 100644
--- a/src/ingest.rs
+++ b/src/ingest.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::time::Duration;
 
-use crate::engine::{EngineMessage, IngestedLine};
+use crate::engine::{EngineMessage, IngestedLine, MetricSample};
 use crate::timestamp::Timestamp;
 use tokio::fs::File;
 use tokio::io::{AsyncBufReadExt, BufReader};
@@ -9,6 +10,8 @@ use tokio::sync::mpsc;
 
 const POLL_INTERVAL: Duration = Duration::from_millis(200);
 
+const METRICS_POLL_INTERVAL: Duration = Duration::from_secs(15);
+
 /// Reads stdin line by line, sequences and timestamps each line, and forwards it
 /// to the engine task.
 pub async fn run(engine: mpsc::Sender<EngineMessage>) {
@@ -118,6 +121,120 @@ pub async fn run_file(engine: mpsc::Sender<EngineMessage>, path: PathBuf) {
     }
 }
 
+/// Polls `url` on a fixed interval for a Prometheus/OpenMetrics-format response, pushing every parsed
+/// sample straight into the engine. Errors (unreachable endpoint, non-2xx response) are only logged —
+/// polling keeps retrying on the next tick rather than exiting.
+pub async fn run_metrics_poll(engine: mpsc::Sender<EngineMessage>, url: String) {
+    let client = reqwest::Client::new();
+    loop {
+        match client.get(&url).send().await {
+            Ok(response) => match response.error_for_status() {
+                Ok(response) => match response.text().await {
+                    Ok(body) => {
+                        let now = Timestamp::now();
+                        for sample in parse_openmetrics(&body, now) {
+                            if engine.send(EngineMessage::IngestMetricSample(sample)).await.is_err() {
+                                return;
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                    Err(err) => eprintln!("warning: failed to read metrics response from {url}: {err}"),
+                },
+                Err(err) => eprintln!("warning: metrics endpoint {url} returned an error: {err}"),
+            },
+            Err(err) => eprintln!("warning: failed to poll metrics endpoint {url}: {err}"),
+        }
+        tokio::time::sleep(METRICS_POLL_INTERVAL).await;
+    }
+}
+
+/// Parses the Prometheus text exposition / OpenMetrics format: one sample per non-comment,
+/// non-empty line, as `metric_name{label="value",...} value [timestamp_ms]` (labels and the
+/// timestamp are both optional). A line that doesn't parse is skipped rather than aborting the
+/// whole scrape.
+fn parse_openmetrics(body: &str, now: Timestamp) -> Vec<MetricSample> {
+    body.lines().filter_map(|line| parse_openmetrics_line(line, now)).collect()
+}
+
+fn parse_openmetrics_line(line: &str, now: Timestamp) -> Option<MetricSample> {
+    let line = line.trim();
+    if line.is_empty() || line.starts_with('#') {
+        return None;
+    }
+
+    let (name_and_labels, rest) = line.split_once(char::is_whitespace)?;
+    let mut fields = rest.split_whitespace();
+    let value: f64 = fields.next()?.parse().ok()?;
+    let timestamp = fields
+        .next()
+        .and_then(|raw| raw.parse::<f64>().ok())
+        .map(|ms| Timestamp::from_millis(ms as i64))
+        .unwrap_or(now);
+
+    let (metric_name, labels) = match name_and_labels.find('{') {
+        Some(open) => {
+            let close = name_and_labels.rfind('}')?;
+            (name_and_labels[..open].to_string(), parse_openmetrics_labels(&name_and_labels[open + 1..close]))
+        }
+        None => (name_and_labels.to_string(), BTreeMap::new()),
+    };
+    if metric_name.is_empty() {
+        return None;
+    }
+
+    Some(MetricSample { metric_name, labels, value, timestamp })
+}
+
+/// Splits on commas without handling an escaped comma inside a quoted label value — fine for the
+/// common case this targets, not a full OpenMetrics-grammar parser.
+fn parse_openmetrics_labels(raw: &str) -> BTreeMap<String, String> {
+    raw.split(',')
+        .filter_map(|pair| pair.split_once('='))
+        .map(|(name, value)| (name.trim().to_string(), value.trim().trim_matches('"').to_string()))
+        .collect()
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod openmetrics_tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn parses_bare_metric_without_labels_or_timestamp() {
+        let now = Timestamp::from_millis(1000);
+        let samples = parse_openmetrics("requests_total 42\n", now);
+        assert_eq!(samples.len(), 1);
+        assert_eq!(samples[0].metric_name, "requests_total");
+        assert_eq!(samples[0].value, 42.0);
+        assert!(samples[0].labels.is_empty());
+        assert_eq!(samples[0].timestamp, now);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn parses_labels_and_explicit_timestamp() {
+        let now = Timestamp::from_millis(1000);
+        let samples = parse_openmetrics(
+            r#"http_requests_total{method="GET",path="/a"} 7 5000"#,
+            now,
+        );
+        assert_eq!(samples.len(), 1);
+        let sample = &samples[0];
+        assert_eq!(sample.metric_name, "http_requests_total");
+        assert_eq!(sample.value, 7.0);
+        assert_eq!(sample.labels.get("method").map(String::as_str), Some("GET"));
+        assert_eq!(sample.labels.get("path").map(String::as_str), Some("/a"));
+        assert_eq!(sample.timestamp, Timestamp::from_millis(5000));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn skips_comments_blank_lines_and_malformed_lines() {
+        let now = Timestamp::from_millis(0);
+        let body = "# HELP requests_total docs\n# TYPE requests_total counter\n\nnot a valid line\nrequests_total 1\n";
+        let samples = parse_openmetrics(body, now);
+        assert_eq!(samples.len(), 1);
+        assert_eq!(samples[0].metric_name, "requests_total");
+    }
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 811d166..bb3fdf4 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ mod settings;
 mod timestamp;
 
 use std::path::PathBuf;
-use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
+use std::sync::{Arc, LazyLock, Mutex};
 
 use clap::Parser;
 use tokio::net::TcpListener;
@@ -23,6 +23,17 @@ use tokio::sync::mpsc;
 use profile::ProfileStore;
 use settings::Settings;
 
+/// The resolved default settings path, rendered into `--help` so `--settings-path`'s help text
+/// names a real, concrete location instead of only describing where to look for one.
+static SETTINGS_PATH_HELP: LazyLock<String> = LazyLock::new(|| {
+    format!(
+        "Path to the settings file. Defaults to {}.",
+        settings::default_settings_path()
+            .map(|path| path.display().to_string())
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| "a per-OS config location".to_string())
+    )
+});
+
 /// Observability dashboard from terminal output.
 #[derive(Parser, Debug)]
 struct Args {
@@ -31,13 +42,16 @@ struct Args {
     #[arg(long, default_value_t = 0)]
     port: u16,
 
-    /// Path to the settings file. Defaults to a per-OS config location.
-    #[arg(long)]
+    #[arg(long, help = SETTINGS_PATH_HELP.as_str())]
     settings_path: Option<PathBuf>,
 
     /// File to tail for log lines, instead of reading from stdin. Behaves like `tail -f`.
     #[arg(long)]
     file: Option<PathBuf>,
+
+    /// URL of a Prometheus/OpenMetrics-compatible endpoint to poll for metrics, in addition to log ingestion.
+    #[arg(long)]
+    metrics_url: Option<String>,
 }
 
 #[tokio::main]
@@ -94,6 +108,10 @@ async fn main() {
         }
     }
 
+    if let Some(metrics_url) = args.metrics_url.clone() {
+        tokio::spawn(ingest::run_metrics_poll(engine_tx.clone(), metrics_url));
+    }
+
     let app = api::router(engine_tx, settings, settings_path);
     let listener = TcpListener::bind(("0.0.0.0", args.port))
         .await