diff --git a/cmd/core-runtime/main.go b/cmd/core-runtime/main.go
index edf07b1..7b4aa34 100644
--- a/cmd/core-runtime/main.go
+++ b/cmd/core-runtime/main.go
@@ -524,6 +524,8 @@ func main() {
 		recentUserHistory, historyErr := interactionRepository.RecentUtterancesForPrincipal(r.Context(), session.PrincipalID, 64)
 		if historyErr != nil {
 			log.Printf("interaction principal history unavailable: %v", historyErr)
+		} else {
+			log.Printf("interaction principal history loaded: %d utterances", len(recentUserHistory))
 		}
 		conversationHistory = append(conversationHistory, recentUserHistory...)
 		if request.ConversationID != "" && interactiondomain.IsRetryRequest(utterance.Content) {