diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d54721d..815fba7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ include config.mk dev.mk
 
 # cluster admin commands to operate Warden
 .PHONY: set-accessible \
- ping get-logs
+ ping get-logs get-status
 
 # Mock QPU when the actual QPU is not available
 .PHONY: start-mock-qpu start-qutip-qpu
@@ -137,6 +137,11 @@ get-logs:
 	curl -X GET $(URL)/jobs/$(ID)/logs \
 		-H "X-Munge-Cred: $$(munge -n)"
 
+get-status:
+
+	curl -s -X GET $(URL)/status\
+		-H "X-Munge-Cred: $$(munge -n)"
+
 ping:
 	curl $(URL)
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3761a79..6a243b1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -136,6 +136,15 @@ and `GET /accounting/jobs` accepts `session_id` and `status` filtering.
 See FastAPI's `/docs` page for the full request/response schema of each
 route.
 
+### Status API
+
+`GET /status` returns a live snapshot of Warden's current activity, restricted
+to `api.admin_users`: 
+- the number of pending jobs
+- the job currently running
+- and the list of open sessions.
+Historical jobs/sessions are not included, see the Accounting API above for reporting.
+
 ### Database
 
 Warden supports the following databases:
diff --git a/tests/api/test_status.py b/tests/api/test_status.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d676933
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/api/test_status.py
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
+
+import pytest
+
+from tests.api.conftest import mock_munge_auth
+from warden.lib.models import Job, Session
+
+
+async def _seed(app, *, serialized_sequence: str):
+    async_session = app.state.db_session_factory
+
+    open_session = Session(
+        user_id="1000", slurm_job_id="1", created_at=datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+    )
+    other_sessions = [
+        Session(
+            user_id="1000",
+            slurm_job_id="1",
+            created_at=(datetime.now(timezone.utc) - timedelta(minutes=i)),
+        )
+        for i in range(5, 0, -1)
+    ]
+    revoked_session = Session(
+        user_id="1000", slurm_job_id="2", revoked_at=datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+    )
+
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        session.add_all([open_session, *other_sessions, revoked_session])
+        await session.commit()
+
+    pending_jobs = [
+        Job(sequence=serialized_sequence, shots=100, session=open_session)
+        for _ in range(10)
+    ]
+    running_job = Job(
+        sequence=serialized_sequence,
+        shots=100,
+        session=open_session,
+        status="RUNNING",
+        scheduled_at=datetime.now(),
+        started_at=datetime.now(),
+    )
+    done_job = Job(
+        sequence=serialized_sequence,
+        shots=100,
+        session=open_session,
+        status="DONE",
+        scheduled_at=datetime.now(),
+        started_at=datetime.now(),
+        ended_at=datetime.now(),
+    )
+
+    async with async_session() as session:
+        session.add_all([*pending_jobs, running_job, done_job])
+        await session.commit()
+        await session.refresh(running_job)
+
+    return open_session, other_sessions, running_job
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_get_status_non_admin(client, app):
+    with mock_munge_auth(app, uid=1001):
+        response = await client.get("/status")
+    assert response.status_code == 403
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_get_status_no_auth(client):
+    response = await client.get("/status")
+    assert response.status_code == 401
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_get_status_admin(client, app, serialized_sequence: str):
+    """A PENDING, RUNNING and DONE job plus several open sessions and a
+    revoked session are seeded; the snapshot must count only the PENDING job,
+    surface the RUNNING job as current_job (ignoring DONE), and list the open
+    sessions ordered by creation time, oldest first."""
+    open_session, other_sessions, running_job = await _seed(
+        app, serialized_sequence=serialized_sequence
+    )
+
+    with mock_munge_auth(app, uid=0):
+        response = await client.get("/status")
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    data = response.json()
+
+    assert data["pending_jobs_count"] == 10
+    assert data["current_job"]["id"] == running_job.id
+    assert data["current_job"]["session_id"] == str(open_session.id)
+
+    expected_order = [str(s.id) for s in other_sessions] + [str(open_session.id)]
+    assert [s["id"] for s in data["open_sessions"]] == expected_order
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_get_status_no_current_job(client, app):
+    """With an empty DB, current_job is null and both counts/lists are empty."""
+    with mock_munge_auth(app, uid=0):
+        response = await client.get("/status")
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    data = response.json()
+    assert data["pending_jobs_count"] == 0
+    assert data["current_job"] is None
+    assert data["open_sessions"] == []
diff --git a/warden/api/app.py b/warden/api/app.py
index 9018b0a..ff3ba1e 100644
--- a/warden/api/app.py
+++ b/warden/api/app.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 from fastapi import FastAPI
 
-from warden.api.routes import accessible, acct, jobs, qpu, sessions
+from warden.api.routes import accessible, acct, jobs, qpu, sessions, status
 from warden.api.routes.dependencies.auth import init_auth
 from warden.api.routes.dependencies.db import init_db
 from warden.api.routes.dependencies.qpu_client import init_qpu_client
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ def create_app(config: Config):
     app.include_router(qpu.router, tags=["qpu"])
     app.include_router(accessible.router, tags=["accessible"])
     app.include_router(acct.router, tags=["accounting"])
+    app.include_router(status.router, tags=["status"])
 
     logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
diff --git a/warden/api/routes/status.py b/warden/api/routes/status.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c27c67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/warden/api/routes/status.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+from fastapi import APIRouter
+from sqlalchemy import func, select
+
+from warden.api.routes.dependencies.auth import AdminUserDep
+from warden.api.routes.dependencies.db import DBSessionDep
+from warden.api.schemas.status import CurrentJob, OpenSession, StatusResponse
+from warden.lib.models import Job, Session
+
+router = APIRouter(prefix="/status")
+
+
+@router.get("")
+async def get_status(
+    db_session: DBSessionDep,
+    _admin: AdminUserDep,
+) -> StatusResponse:
+    """
+    Provide live snapshot of Warden's current activity:
+    - count of pending jobs
+    - the job currently executing
+    - open sessions
+    """
+    pending_jobs_count = await db_session.scalar(
+        select(func.count(Job.id)).where(Job.status == "PENDING")
+    )
+
+    running_job = await db_session.scalar(select(Job).where(Job.status == "RUNNING"))
+    current_job = (
+        CurrentJob(
+            id=running_job.id,
+            session_id=running_job.session_id,
+            user_id=running_job.user_id,
+            started_at=running_job.started_at,
+            backend_id=running_job.backend_id,
+        )
+        if running_job is not None
+        else None
+    )
+
+    open_sessions_result = await db_session.execute(
+        select(Session).where(Session.revoked_at.is_(None)).order_by(Session.created_at)
+    )
+    open_sessions = [
+        OpenSession(
+            id=session.id,
+            user_id=session.user_id,
+            created_at=session.created_at,
+            slurm_job_id=session.slurm_job_id,
+        )
+        for session in open_sessions_result.scalars()
+    ]
+
+    return StatusResponse(
+        pending_jobs_count=pending_jobs_count or 0,
+        current_job=current_job,
+        open_sessions=open_sessions,
+    )
diff --git a/warden/api/schemas/status.py b/warden/api/schemas/status.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..523da92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/warden/api/schemas/status.py
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+from datetime import datetime
+
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+from warden.api.schemas.common import JobID, SessionID, UserID
+
+
+class CurrentJob(BaseModel):
+    id: JobID
+    session_id: SessionID
+    user_id: UserID
+    started_at: datetime | None
+    backend_id: str | None
+
+
+class OpenSession(BaseModel):
+    id: SessionID
+    user_id: UserID
+    created_at: datetime
+    slurm_job_id: str
+
+
+class StatusResponse(BaseModel):
+    pending_jobs_count: int
+    current_job: CurrentJob | None
+    open_sessions: list[OpenSession]