diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 60ca2b9..9134017 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -222,4 +222,8 @@ __marimo__/
 
 data/
 
-opencode.json
\ No newline at end of file
+opencode.json
+
+# Hermes agent working files (per-developer)
+.worktrees/
+.worktreeinclude
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/api/app.py b/src/api/app.py
index 1fc84e7..3c9b8af 100644
--- a/src/api/app.py
+++ b/src/api/app.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
     health,
     ingest,
     ingest_run,
+    ingest_status,
     insights,
     knowledge_gaps,
     onboarding,
@@ -84,6 +85,7 @@ async def unhandled_exception_handler(request: Request, exc: Exception) -> JSONR
 api_router.include_router(buddy.router)
 api_router.include_router(ingest.router)
 api_router.include_router(ingest_run.router)
+api_router.include_router(ingest_status.router)
 api_router.include_router(artifact_projects.router)
 api_router.include_router(title.router)
 api_router.include_router(vector_db.router)
diff --git a/src/api/routes/ingest_status.py b/src/api/routes/ingest_status.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2349d9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/api/routes/ingest_status.py
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+"""GET /api/v1/ingest/status -- read-only AI index state for many artifacts."""
+
+from typing import Annotated
+
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, Query
+
+from api.dependencies import get_ingestion_metadata_store
+from api.schemas import (
+    ArtifactIndexStatus,
+    ArtifactIngestStatusResponse,
+    IngestStatusResponse,
+    StatusArtifactId,
+)
+from ingestion.metadata_store import (
+    ArtifactRecord,
+    IngestionMetadataStore,
+    IngestionStatus,
+)
+
+router = APIRouter()
+
+# The knowledge base asks once per visible page, and a page never shows more.
+MAX_STATUS_IDS = 100
+
+_STATUS_BY_RECORDED: dict[IngestionStatus, ArtifactIndexStatus] = {
+    "completed": "indexed",
+    "processing": "processing",
+    "failed": "failed",
+    "deindexed": "deindexed",
+}
+
+
+def _to_item(
+    artifact_id: str,
+    record: ArtifactRecord | None,
+) -> ArtifactIngestStatusResponse:
+    if record is None:
+        return ArtifactIngestStatusResponse(artifact_id=artifact_id, status="unknown")
+
+    return ArtifactIngestStatusResponse(
+        artifact_id=artifact_id,
+        # A status this service does not know how to name is reported as
+        # unknown rather than guessed at: the chip must never claim more
+        # than the record says.
+        status=_STATUS_BY_RECORDED.get(record.status, "unknown"),
+        updated_at=record.updated_at,
+        chunk_count=record.chunk_count,
+    )
+
+
+@router.get(
+    "/ingest/status",
+    response_model=IngestStatusResponse,
+    summary="Get the AI index status of artifacts",
+    description=(
+        "Read-only. Returns one entry per distinct requested artifact id, in "
+        "request order: indexed, processing, failed, deindexed, or unknown "
+        "for an id this service holds no record of. Pass ids as a repeated "
+        f"query parameter, at most {MAX_STATUS_IDS} per request."
+    ),
+)
+def get_ingest_status(
+    metadata_store: Annotated[
+        IngestionMetadataStore,
+        Depends(get_ingestion_metadata_store),
+    ],
+    artifact_ids: Annotated[
+        list[StatusArtifactId],
+        Query(default_factory=list, max_length=MAX_STATUS_IDS),
+    ],
+) -> IngestStatusResponse:
+    requested = list(dict.fromkeys(artifact_ids))
+    records = metadata_store.get_artifacts(requested)
+    return IngestStatusResponse(
+        items=[
+            _to_item(artifact_id, records.get(artifact_id)) for artifact_id in requested
+        ]
+    )
diff --git a/src/api/schemas.py b/src/api/schemas.py
index 0b9b28c..ec2c4f6 100644
--- a/src/api/schemas.py
+++ b/src/api/schemas.py
@@ -908,6 +908,41 @@ class RunArtifactsSyncResponse(BaseModel):
     )
 
 
+# What the knowledge base shows as an artifact's AI index state. ``indexed``
+# is the metadata store's ``completed``, renamed for the reader: it means the
+# chatbot can answer from the artifact. ``unknown`` means this service holds
+# no record of the id at all.
+ArtifactIndexStatus = Literal["indexed", "processing", "failed", "deindexed", "unknown"]
+
+# One requested id. Non-empty so that a stray ``artifact_ids=`` is a client
+# error rather than a lookup that can only ever answer ``unknown``.
+StatusArtifactId = Annotated[str, StringConstraints(min_length=1)]
+
+
+class ArtifactIngestStatusResponse(BaseModel):
+    """One artifact's index state, as the AI service recorded it."""
+
+    artifact_id: str = Field(description="The requested artifact id, verbatim.")
+    status: ArtifactIndexStatus
+    updated_at: str | None = Field(
+        default=None,
+        description="ISO timestamp of the last recorded change; null if unknown.",
+    )
+    chunk_count: int | None = Field(
+        default=None,
+        description="Chunks recorded for the artifact; null if unknown.",
+    )
+
+
+class IngestStatusResponse(BaseModel):
+    items: list[ArtifactIngestStatusResponse] = Field(
+        description=(
+            "One entry per distinct requested id, in the order the ids were "
+            "first requested. An id this service never saw is 'unknown'."
+        ),
+    )
+
+
 # ── Connector / source enable-disable ───────────────────────────────────────
 
 
diff --git a/src/ingestion/metadata_store.py b/src/ingestion/metadata_store.py
index a9dd0c8..0a26247 100644
--- a/src/ingestion/metadata_store.py
+++ b/src/ingestion/metadata_store.py
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@
     "labels",
 )
 
+# SQLite builds before 3.32 reject statements binding more than 999
+# parameters. Staying below that keeps batch lookups portable to any
+# interpreter's bundled SQLite.
+_MAX_IN_PARAMS = 900
+
 
 @dataclass(frozen=True)
 class ArtifactRecord:
@@ -544,6 +549,35 @@ def get_artifact(self, artifact_id: str) -> ArtifactRecord | None:
 
         return self._row_to_record(row)
 
+    def get_artifacts(self, artifact_ids: Sequence[str]) -> dict[str, ArtifactRecord]:
+        """Look up many artifacts at once, keyed by id.
+
+        Ids with no record are simply absent from the result, so callers can
+        tell "never ingested" from every recorded status. The result carries
+        no order; a caller that must answer in request order walks its own
+        list. Duplicates collapse, and the lookup is batched into as few
+        ``IN`` queries as SQLite's bound-parameter limit allows -- one for any
+        request of up to ``_MAX_IN_PARAMS`` distinct ids.
+        """
+        normalized = tuple(dict.fromkeys(artifact_ids))
+        if not normalized:
+            return {}
+
+        rows: list[sqlite3.Row] = []
+        with self._lock:
+            for start in range(0, len(normalized), _MAX_IN_PARAMS):
+                batch = normalized[start : start + _MAX_IN_PARAMS]
+                placeholders = ", ".join("?" for _ in batch)
+                cursor = self._connection.execute(
+                    f"SELECT {', '.join(_COLUMNS)} FROM artifacts "
+                    f"WHERE id IN ({placeholders})",
+                    batch,
+                )
+                rows.extend(cast(list[sqlite3.Row], cursor.fetchall()))
+
+        records = (self._row_to_record(row) for row in rows)
+        return {record.id: record for record in records}
+
     def list_artifacts(
         self,
         status: IngestionStatus | None = "completed",
diff --git a/tests/api/test_ingest_status.py b/tests/api/test_ingest_status.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94acf0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/api/test_ingest_status.py
@@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
+from collections.abc import Iterable
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+from api.app import app
+from api.dependencies import get_ingestion_metadata_store
+from ingestion.metadata_store import ArtifactRecord, IngestionMetadataStore
+
+_URL = "/api/v1/ingest/status"
+_CREATED = "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00"
+_UPDATED = "2026-01-02T00:00:00+00:00"
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def metadata_store(tmp_path: Path) -> Iterable[IngestionMetadataStore]:
+    store = IngestionMetadataStore(path=str(tmp_path / "metadata.db"))
+    yield store
+    store.close()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def client(metadata_store: IngestionMetadataStore) -> Iterable[TestClient]:
+    app.dependency_overrides[get_ingestion_metadata_store] = lambda: metadata_store
+
+    yield TestClient(app)
+
+    app.dependency_overrides.clear()
+
+
+def _save(
+    store: IngestionMetadataStore,
+    artifact_id: str,
+    chunk_count: int = 2,
+) -> None:
+    store.save_completed_artifact(
+        ArtifactRecord(
+            id=artifact_id,
+            filename=f"{artifact_id}.md",
+            content_type="text/markdown",
+            source_type="github",
+            size_bytes=10,
+            chunk_count=chunk_count,
+            status="completed",
+            created_at=_CREATED,
+            updated_at=_UPDATED,
+        )
+    )
+
+
+def test_completed_artifact_is_reported_as_indexed(
+    client: TestClient,
+    metadata_store: IngestionMetadataStore,
+) -> None:
+    _save(metadata_store, "a1", chunk_count=3)
+
+    response = client.get(_URL, params={"artifact_ids": ["a1"]})
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert response.json() == {
+        "items": [
+            {
+                "artifact_id": "a1",
+                "status": "indexed",
+                "updated_at": _UPDATED,
+                "chunk_count": 3,
+            }
+        ]
+    }
+
+
+def test_unknown_id_is_reported_with_null_details(client: TestClient) -> None:
+    response = client.get(_URL, params={"artifact_ids": ["never-ingested"]})
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert response.json() == {
+        "items": [
+            {
+                "artifact_id": "never-ingested",
+                "status": "unknown",
+                "updated_at": None,
+                "chunk_count": None,
+            }
+        ]
+    }
+
+
+def test_every_recorded_status_keeps_its_name_except_completed(
+    client: TestClient,
+    metadata_store: IngestionMetadataStore,
+) -> None:
+    for artifact_id in ("done", "broken", "gone"):
+        _save(metadata_store, artifact_id)
+    metadata_store.mark_failed("broken", "parse error", _UPDATED)
+    metadata_store.mark_deindexed("gone", _UPDATED)
+    metadata_store.save_artifact(
+        ArtifactRecord(
+            id="busy",
+            filename="busy.md",
+            content_type="text/markdown",
+            source_type="github",
+            size_bytes=10,
+            chunk_count=0,
+            status="processing",
+            created_at=_CREATED,
+            updated_at=_CREATED,
+        )
+    )
+
+    response = client.get(
+        _URL, params={"artifact_ids": ["done", "broken", "gone", "busy"]}
+    )
+
+    statuses = {i["artifact_id"]: i["status"] for i in response.json()["items"]}
+    assert statuses == {
+        "done": "indexed",
+        "broken": "failed",
+        "gone": "deindexed",
+        "busy": "processing",
+    }
+
+
+def test_items_follow_request_order_without_duplicates(
+    client: TestClient,
+    metadata_store: IngestionMetadataStore,
+) -> None:
+    _save(metadata_store, "a1")
+    _save(metadata_store, "a2")
+
+    response = client.get(
+        _URL, params={"artifact_ids": ["a2", "x", "a1", "a2", "x", "a1"]}
+    )
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    ids = [item["artifact_id"] for item in response.json()["items"]]
+    assert ids == ["a2", "x", "a1"]
+
+
+def test_batch_of_exactly_the_limit_is_accepted(client: TestClient) -> None:
+    ids = [f"id-{i}" for i in range(100)]
+
+    response = client.get(_URL, params={"artifact_ids": ids})
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert [i["artifact_id"] for i in response.json()["items"]] == ids
+
+
+def test_batch_above_the_limit_is_rejected(client: TestClient) -> None:
+    ids = [f"id-{i}" for i in range(101)]
+
+    response = client.get(_URL, params={"artifact_ids": ids})
+
+    assert response.status_code == 422
+    assert response.json()["detail"][0]["loc"] == ["query", "artifact_ids"]
+
+
+def test_no_ids_returns_no_items(client: TestClient) -> None:
+    response = client.get(_URL)
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert response.json() == {"items": []}
+
+
+def test_blank_id_is_rejected(client: TestClient) -> None:
+    response = client.get(f"{_URL}?artifact_ids=a1&artifact_ids=")
+
+    assert response.status_code == 422
+
+
+def test_status_lookup_writes_nothing(
+    client: TestClient,
+    metadata_store: IngestionMetadataStore,
+) -> None:
+    _save(metadata_store, "a1")
+    revision = metadata_store.corpus_revision()
+    changes = metadata_store._connection.total_changes
+
+    response = client.get(_URL, params={"artifact_ids": ["a1", "missing"]})
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert metadata_store._connection.total_changes == changes
+    assert metadata_store.corpus_revision() == revision
+    assert metadata_store.get_artifact("missing") is None
diff --git a/tests/ingestion/test_metadata_store.py b/tests/ingestion/test_metadata_store.py
index f6e3e15..9f4f433 100644
--- a/tests/ingestion/test_metadata_store.py
+++ b/tests/ingestion/test_metadata_store.py
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 import sqlite3
 from pathlib import Path
 
+import pytest
+
+from ingestion import metadata_store
 from ingestion.metadata_store import ArtifactRecord, IngestionMetadataStore
 
 _NOW = "2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00"
@@ -432,3 +435,50 @@ def test_only_failed_revocation_operations_are_recoverable(tmp_path: Path) -> No
         )
     finally:
         store.close()
+
+
+def test_get_artifacts_returns_known_ids_and_omits_unknown() -> None:
+    store = IngestionMetadataStore(":memory:")
+    store.save_completed_artifact(_record("a1", chunk_count=3))
+    store.save_completed_artifact(_record("a2", status="failed"))
+
+    records = store.get_artifacts(["a2", "missing", "a1", "a2"])
+
+    assert set(records) == {"a1", "a2"}
+    assert records["a1"].chunk_count == 3
+    assert records["a2"].status == "failed"
+
+
+def test_get_artifacts_without_ids_returns_empty() -> None:
+    store = IngestionMetadataStore(":memory:")
+    store.save_completed_artifact(_record("a1"))
+
+    assert store.get_artifacts([]) == {}
+
+
+def test_get_artifacts_reads_a_batch_in_one_query() -> None:
+    store = IngestionMetadataStore(":memory:")
+    ids = [f"a{i}" for i in range(100)]
+    for artifact_id in ids:
+        store.save_completed_artifact(_record(artifact_id))
+    statements: list[str] = []
+    store._connection.set_trace_callback(statements.append)
+
+    records = store.get_artifacts(ids)
+
+    assert set(records) == set(ids)
+    selects = [s for s in statements if s.lstrip().upper().startswith("SELECT")]
+    assert len(selects) == 1
+
+
+def test_get_artifacts_splits_batches_above_the_parameter_limit(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
+) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setattr(metadata_store, "_MAX_IN_PARAMS", 2)
+    store = IngestionMetadataStore(":memory:")
+    for artifact_id in ("a1", "a2", "a3", "a4", "a5"):
+        store.save_completed_artifact(_record(artifact_id))
+
+    records = store.get_artifacts(["a5", "a1", "missing", "a3", "a2", "a4"])
+
+    assert set(records) == {"a1", "a2", "a3", "a4", "a5"}