diff --git a/app/Livewire/Fleet/Metrics.php b/app/Livewire/Fleet/Metrics.php
index 0d44d1d470..679fdf5593 100644
--- a/app/Livewire/Fleet/Metrics.php
+++ b/app/Livewire/Fleet/Metrics.php
@@ -35,12 +35,17 @@ class Metrics extends Component
     #[Url(as: 'cmetric')]
     public string $containerMetric = 'cpu';
 
+    public bool $live = false;
+
     /** @var array<string, mixed> */
     public array $kpis = [];
 
     /** @var array<int, array<string, mixed>> */
     public array $serverRows = [];
 
+    /** @var array<int, array<string, mixed>> All fetched containers, kept so the metric toggle re-ranks without re-fetching. */
+    public array $containersRaw = [];
+
     /** @var array<int, array<string, mixed>> */
     public array $topContainers = [];
 
@@ -78,7 +83,8 @@ class Metrics extends Component
 
     public function updatedContainerMetric(): void
     {
-        $this->loadData();
+        // Re-rank the already-fetched containers; no need to re-hit Sentinel.
+        $this->topContainers = FleetMetricsAggregator::rankContainers($this->containersRaw, $this->containerMetric);
     }
 
     public function setRange(string $range): void
@@ -87,6 +93,11 @@ class Metrics extends Component
         $this->loadData();
     }
 
+    public function isLivePollable(): bool
+    {
+        return $this->live && $this->range === '24h';
+    }
+
     /**
      * @return Collection<int, Server>
      */
@@ -147,6 +158,7 @@ class Metrics extends Component
 
         $this->serverRows = $rows;
         $this->kpis = FleetMetricsAggregator::fleetKpis($rows);
+        $this->containersRaw = $containers;
         $this->topContainers = FleetMetricsAggregator::rankContainers($containers, $this->containerMetric);
         $this->chartData = $this->buildChartPayload($series);
 
diff --git a/app/Services/SentinelMetricsClient.php b/app/Services/SentinelMetricsClient.php
index 5f27f1e564..820fd9c0f8 100644
--- a/app/Services/SentinelMetricsClient.php
+++ b/app/Services/SentinelMetricsClient.php
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ class SentinelMetricsClient
 {
     private string $base = 'http://localhost:8888/api';
 
+    /** Cap on points per trend series after downsampling raw Sentinel samples. */
+    private const MAX_SERIES_POINTS = 300;
+
     public function __construct(protected Server $server) {}
 
     public static function rangeFrom(string $range): string
@@ -126,10 +129,18 @@ class SentinelMetricsClient
             return [];
         }
 
-        return array_values(array_map(
+        $series = array_values(array_map(
             fn ($r) => [(int) ($r['time'] ?? 0), (float) ($r[$field] ?? 0)],
             $rows
         ));
+
+        // Sentinel returns raw samples (thousands of points over 24h). Cap the series so
+        // the chart payload stays small enough to embed and morph cheaply.
+        if (count($series) > self::MAX_SERIES_POINTS) {
+            $series = downsampleLTTB($series, self::MAX_SERIES_POINTS);
+        }
+
+        return $series;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/resources/views/livewire/fleet/metrics.blade.php b/resources/views/livewire/fleet/metrics.blade.php
index db28a47285..07bd0d9e0d 100644
--- a/resources/views/livewire/fleet/metrics.blade.php
+++ b/resources/views/livewire/fleet/metrics.blade.php
@@ -30,6 +30,28 @@ $serverListboxOptions = array_merge(
                 </div>
 
                 <div class="flex items-center gap-2 sm:ml-auto">
+                    @if ($range === '24h')
+                        <div x-data="{ live: $wire.entangle('live').live }"
+                            x-init="
+                                const stored = localStorage.getItem('metrics-live');
+                                if (stored === '0') { live = false; }
+                                if (stored === '1') { live = true; }
+                                $watch('live', value => localStorage.setItem('metrics-live', value ? '1' : '0'));
+                            ">
+                            <button type="button" @click="live = !live" :aria-pressed="live ? 'true' : 'false'"
+                                title="Toggle realtime refresh (updates every 60s)"
+                                class="inline-flex h-7 items-center gap-1.5 rounded-md px-2.5 text-[12px] font-medium ring-1 transition-colors"
+                                :class="live
+                                    ? 'bg-white text-black shadow-sm ring-neutral-200 dark:bg-white/[0.09] dark:text-fg dark:ring-white/[0.08]'
+                                    : 'text-neutral-500 ring-neutral-200 hover:text-black dark:text-fg-faint dark:ring-white/[0.08] dark:hover:text-fg'">
+                                <span class="relative flex h-1.5 w-1.5 shrink-0" aria-hidden="true">
+                                    <span x-show="live" class="absolute inline-flex h-full w-full rounded-full bg-emerald-500 opacity-75 motion-safe:animate-ping"></span>
+                                    <span class="relative inline-flex h-1.5 w-1.5 rounded-full" :class="live ? 'bg-emerald-500' : 'bg-neutral-400 dark:bg-white/40'"></span>
+                                </span>
+                                <span>Live Refresh</span>
+                            </button>
+                        </div>
+                    @endif
                     <div class="inline-flex items-center gap-0.5 rounded-lg bg-neutral-100 p-1 dark:bg-white/[0.04]">
                         @foreach (['24h' => '24 hours', '7d' => '7 days', '30d' => '30 days'] as $value => $label)
                             <button type="button" wire:click="setRange('{{ $value }}')"
@@ -44,6 +66,10 @@ $serverListboxOptions = array_merge(
         @endif
     </div>
 
+    @if ($this->isLivePollable())
+        <div wire:poll.60s="loadData" class="hidden"></div>
+    @endif
+
     @if ($servers->isEmpty())
         <x-empty size="sm" title="No server metrics yet"
             description="Enable metrics on a server to see fleet resource usage here."
diff --git a/tests/Feature/Livewire/Fleet/MetricsDataTest.php b/tests/Feature/Livewire/Fleet/MetricsDataTest.php
index 789694fb12..aa0a42cdb8 100644
--- a/tests/Feature/Livewire/Fleet/MetricsDataTest.php
+++ b/tests/Feature/Livewire/Fleet/MetricsDataTest.php
@@ -134,6 +134,25 @@ it('shows the KPI tiles, a stale badge for offline servers, and the container to
         ->assertSee('Offline');
 });
 
+it('re-ranks containers on metric switch without re-fetching', function () {
+    $s = metricsServer($this->team, $this->privateKey);
+
+    StubMetricsClient::$summaries = [$s->uuid => onlineSummary()];
+    StubMetricsClient::$containers = [$s->uuid => [
+        ['id' => 'a', 'cpu' => 5.0, 'memUsed' => 900, 'memPercent' => 9.0, 'diskBytes' => 1, 'net' => 0.0],
+        ['id' => 'b', 'cpu' => 90.0, 'memUsed' => 100, 'memPercent' => 1.0, 'diskBytes' => 9, 'net' => 0.0],
+    ]];
+
+    $component = Livewire::test(TestableMetrics::class);
+    expect(array_column($component->get('topContainers'), 'id')[0])->toBe('b'); // cpu
+
+    // Empty the stub so a re-fetch would change nothing/ break; the re-rank must use cached rows.
+    StubMetricsClient::$containers = [];
+    $component->set('containerMetric', 'memory');
+
+    expect(array_column($component->get('topContainers'), 'id')[0])->toBe('a'); // memory, still ranked
+});
+
 it('cannot see another team’s servers', function () {
     $otherTeam = Team::factory()->create();
     // Reuse the existing key id: the factory's private key is hardcoded, so a second
diff --git a/tests/Unit/Services/SentinelMetricsClientTest.php b/tests/Unit/Services/SentinelMetricsClientTest.php
index 1b1088169e..388f1e780d 100644
--- a/tests/Unit/Services/SentinelMetricsClientTest.php
+++ b/tests/Unit/Services/SentinelMetricsClientTest.php
@@ -104,3 +104,15 @@ it('maps cpu history to [time, value] pairs', function () {
 
     expect($client->history('cpu', 'from'))->toBe([[1000, 10.0], [2000, 20.0]]);
 });
+
+it('downsamples long history series so the chart payload stays small', function () {
+    $rows = [];
+    for ($i = 0; $i < 5000; $i++) {
+        $rows[] = ['time' => $i, 'percent' => (string) ($i % 100)];
+    }
+
+    $client = fakeMetricsClient();
+    $client->bodies = ['/cpu/history' => json_encode($rows)];
+
+    expect(count($client->history('cpu', 'from')))->toBe(300);
+});