diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index ac667e3be..491e872e2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -10,4 +10,4 @@ out/
 .project
 .settings
 .vscode
-bin/
\ No newline at end of file
+bin/plugins/*.zip
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/QueryInsightsPlugin.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/QueryInsightsPlugin.java
index 5c749629f..4105f9c27 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/QueryInsightsPlugin.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/QueryInsightsPlugin.java
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
 import org.opensearch.action.ActionRequest;
+import org.opensearch.rest.RestHeaderDefinition;
 import org.opensearch.cluster.metadata.IndexNameExpressionResolver;
 import org.opensearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNodes;
 import org.opensearch.cluster.service.ClusterService;
@@ -70,11 +71,27 @@
  * Plugin class for Query Insights.
  */
 public class QueryInsightsPlugin extends Plugin implements ActionPlugin, TelemetryAwarePlugin {
+
+    /**
+     * Custom task header for tracking the application/source that initiated a query.
+     */
+    public static final String APPLICATION_ID_HEADER = "X-QI-Application-Id";
+
     /**
      * Default constructor
      */
     public QueryInsightsPlugin() {}
 
+    @Override
+    public Collection<RestHeaderDefinition> getRestHeaders() {
+        return List.of(new RestHeaderDefinition(APPLICATION_ID_HEADER, false));
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Collection<String> getTaskHeaders() {
+        return List.of(APPLICATION_ID_HEADER);
+    }
+
     @Override
     public Collection<Object> createComponents(
         final Client client,
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/core/listener/QueryInsightsListener.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/core/listener/QueryInsightsListener.java
index 83810be1f..b0856275b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/core/listener/QueryInsightsListener.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/core/listener/QueryInsightsListener.java
@@ -42,11 +42,13 @@
 import org.opensearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.opensearch.core.index.Index;
 import org.opensearch.core.tasks.resourcetracker.TaskResourceInfo;
+import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.QueryInsightsPlugin;
 import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.core.auth.UserPrincipalContext;
 import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.core.metrics.OperationalMetric;
 import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.core.metrics.OperationalMetricsCounter;
 import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.core.service.FinishedQueriesCache;
 import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.core.service.QueryInsightsService;
+import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.core.service.TopQueriesService;
 import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.core.service.categorizer.QueryShapeGenerator;
 import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.rules.model.Attribute;
 import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.rules.model.Measurement;
@@ -223,7 +225,29 @@ public boolean isEnabled() {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void onPhaseStart(SearchPhaseContext context) {}
+    public void onPhaseStart(SearchPhaseContext context) {
+        // Capture user identity at search phase start for live queries
+        try {
+            if (context.getTask() != null) {
+                long taskIdNum = context.getTask().getId();
+                String nodeId = clusterService.localNode().getId();
+                String taskId = nodeId + ":" + taskIdNum;
+                // Only capture once per task
+                if (queryInsightsService.getLiveQueryUserInfo(taskId) == null) {
+                    UserPrincipalContext ctx = new UserPrincipalContext(threadPool);
+                    String rawUserStr = ctx.getUserString();
+                    log.debug("onPhaseStart taskId={} rawUserStr={}", taskId, rawUserStr);
+                    UserPrincipalContext.UserPrincipalInfo userInfo = ctx.extractUserInfo();
+                    if (userInfo != null) {
+                        log.debug("Captured user for task {}: {}", taskId, userInfo.getUserName());
+                        queryInsightsService.putLiveQueryUserInfo(taskId, userInfo);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            log.debug("Failed to capture user info in onPhaseStart", e);
+        }
+    }
 
     @Override
     public void onPhaseEnd(SearchPhaseContext context, SearchRequestContext searchRequestContext) {}
@@ -250,6 +274,14 @@ public void onRequestFailure(final SearchPhaseContext context, final SearchReque
 
     private void addToFinishedCache(SearchPhaseContext context, SearchQueryRecord record) {
         try {
+            // Clean up live query user map
+            if (context.getTask() != null) {
+                long taskIdNum = context.getTask().getId();
+                String nodeId = clusterService.localNode().getId();
+                queryInsightsService.removeLiveQueryUserInfo(nodeId + ":" + taskIdNum);
+            }
+            // Extract user info into record attributes before caching
+            TopQueriesService.setUserInfo(record);
             FinishedQueriesCache cache = queryInsightsService.getFinishedQueriesCache();
             if (cache == null || record == null) return;
             cache.capture(record, context.getTask().getId());
@@ -373,6 +405,11 @@ private SearchQueryRecord constructSearchQueryRecord(
             if (userProvidedLabel != null) {
                 labels.put(Task.X_OPAQUE_ID, userProvidedLabel);
             }
+            // Retrieve custom source tracking headers
+            String applicationId = context.getTask().getHeader(QueryInsightsPlugin.APPLICATION_ID_HEADER);
+            if (applicationId != null) {
+                labels.put(QueryInsightsPlugin.APPLICATION_ID_HEADER, applicationId);
+            }
             attributes.put(Attribute.LABELS, labels);
 
             UserPrincipalContext userPrincipalContext = threadPool != null ? new UserPrincipalContext(threadPool) : null;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/core/service/QueryInsightsService.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/core/service/QueryInsightsService.java
index 6a1ce0ad7..06eb3b274 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/core/service/QueryInsightsService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/core/service/QueryInsightsService.java
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
 import org.opensearch.threadpool.Scheduler;
 import org.opensearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.opensearch.transport.client.Client;
+import org.opensearch.plugin.insights.core.auth.UserPrincipalContext;
 
 /**
  * Service responsible for gathering, analyzing, storing and exporting
@@ -143,6 +144,7 @@ public class QueryInsightsService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent {
     private LocalIndexLifecycleManager localIndexLifecycleManager;
 
     private final FinishedQueriesCache finishedQueriesCache;
+    private final java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap<String, UserPrincipalContext.UserPrincipalInfo> liveQueryUserMap = new java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap<>();
 
     SinkType sinkType;
 
@@ -673,6 +675,18 @@ public FinishedQueriesCache getFinishedQueriesCache() {
         return finishedQueriesCache;
     }
 
+    public void putLiveQueryUserInfo(String taskId, UserPrincipalContext.UserPrincipalInfo userInfo) {
+        liveQueryUserMap.put(taskId, userInfo);
+    }
+
+    public UserPrincipalContext.UserPrincipalInfo getLiveQueryUserInfo(String taskId) {
+        return liveQueryUserMap.get(taskId);
+    }
+
+    public void removeLiveQueryUserInfo(String taskId) {
+        liveQueryUserMap.remove(taskId);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Returns true if the finished queries cache is enabled (idle timeout is non-zero).
      */
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/rules/model/LiveQueryRecord.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/rules/model/LiveQueryRecord.java
index 8fafa9c50..995e24119 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/rules/model/LiveQueryRecord.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/rules/model/LiveQueryRecord.java
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ public class LiveQueryRecord implements Writeable, ToXContentObject {
     private final long totalMemory;
     private final TaskDetails coordinatorTask;
     private final List<TaskDetails> shardTasks;
+    private final String username;
+    private final List<String> userRoles;
+    private final List<String> backendRoles;
 
     public LiveQueryRecord(
         String liveQueryRecordId,
@@ -41,7 +44,10 @@ public LiveQueryRecord(
         long totalCpu,
         long totalMemory,
         TaskDetails coordinatorTask,
-        List<TaskDetails> shardTasks
+        List<TaskDetails> shardTasks,
+        String username,
+        List<String> userRoles,
+        List<String> backendRoles
     ) {
         this.liveQueryRecordId = liveQueryRecordId;
         this.status = status;
@@ -52,6 +58,9 @@ public LiveQueryRecord(
         this.totalMemory = totalMemory;
         this.coordinatorTask = coordinatorTask;
         this.shardTasks = shardTasks != null ? shardTasks : new ArrayList<>();
+        this.username = username;
+        this.userRoles = userRoles != null ? userRoles : List.of();
+        this.backendRoles = backendRoles != null ? backendRoles : List.of();
     }
 
     public LiveQueryRecord(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
@@ -64,6 +73,9 @@ public LiveQueryRecord(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
         this.totalMemory = in.readLong();
         this.coordinatorTask = in.readOptionalWriteable(TaskDetails::new);
         this.shardTasks = in.readList(TaskDetails::new);
+        this.username = in.readOptionalString();
+        this.userRoles = in.readOptionalStringList();
+        this.backendRoles = in.readOptionalStringList();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -77,6 +89,9 @@ public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
         out.writeLong(totalMemory);
         out.writeOptionalWriteable(coordinatorTask);
         out.writeList(shardTasks);
+        out.writeOptionalString(username);
+        out.writeOptionalStringCollection(userRoles.isEmpty() ? null : userRoles);
+        out.writeOptionalStringCollection(backendRoles.isEmpty() ? null : backendRoles);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -100,6 +115,15 @@ public XContentBuilder toXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) throws
             task.toXContent(builder, params);
         }
         builder.endArray();
+        if (username != null) {
+            builder.field("username", username);
+        }
+        if (!userRoles.isEmpty()) {
+            builder.array("user_roles", userRoles.toArray(new String[0]));
+        }
+        if (!backendRoles.isEmpty()) {
+            builder.array("backend_roles", backendRoles.toArray(new String[0]));
+        }
         builder.endObject();
         return builder;
     }
@@ -139,4 +163,16 @@ public TaskDetails getCoordinatorTask() {
     public List<TaskDetails> getShardTasks() {
         return shardTasks;
     }
+
+    public String getUsername() {
+        return username;
+    }
+
+    public List<String> getUserRoles() {
+        return userRoles;
+    }
+
+    public List<String> getBackendRoles() {
+        return backendRoles;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/rules/transport/live_queries/TransportLiveQueriesAction.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/rules/transport/live_queries/TransportLiveQueriesAction.java
index 92919fdaa..af5f35f9a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/rules/transport/live_queries/TransportLiveQueriesAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/plugin/insights/rules/transport/live_queries/TransportLiveQueriesAction.java
@@ -141,6 +141,17 @@ public void onResponse(ListTasksResponse taskResponse) {
                         // Determine status based on coordinator cancellation
                         String queryStatus = coordinatorInfo.isCancelled() ? "cancelled" : "running";
 
+                        // Look up user info captured by the listener at search start
+                        String username = null;
+                        List<String> userRoles = List.of();
+                        List<String> backendRoles = List.of();
+                        var userInfo = queryInsightsService.getLiveQueryUserInfo(queryId);
+                        if (userInfo != null) {
+                            username = userInfo.getUserName();
+                            userRoles = userInfo.getRoles();
+                            backendRoles = userInfo.getBackendRoles();
+                        }
+
                         LiveQueryRecord record = new LiveQueryRecord(
                             queryId,
                             queryStatus,
@@ -150,7 +161,10 @@ public void onResponse(ListTasksResponse taskResponse) {
                             totalCpu,
                             totalMem,
                             new TaskDetails(coordinatorInfo, queryStatus),
-                            shardTasks
+                            shardTasks,
+                            username,
+                            userRoles,
+                            backendRoles
                         );
 
                         allRecords.add(record);