diff --git a/crates/localllm-cli/src/main.rs b/crates/localllm-cli/src/main.rs
index 7d7e050..549b3e7 100644
--- a/crates/localllm-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/localllm-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ struct Cli {
     #[arg(long, global = true, default_value = "http://127.0.0.1:8080")]
     server: String,
 
+    #[arg(long, global = true, default_value_t = false)]
+    dry_run: bool,
+
     #[arg(long, global = true)]
     api_key: Option<String>,
 
@@ -291,10 +294,18 @@ enum ExecutionPreview {
 
 fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let cli = Cli::parse();
-    println!("CLI scaffold ready for {}", render_command_summary(&cli));
+    if cli.dry_run {
+        println!("{}", render_execution_preview(&cli));
+    } else {
+        println!("CLI scaffold ready for {}", render_command_summary(&cli));
+    }
     Ok(())
 }
 
+fn render_execution_preview(cli: &Cli) -> String {
+    format!("DRY RUN {}", render_command_summary(cli))
+}
+
 fn render_command_summary(cli: &Cli) -> String {
     format!(
         "command={} server={} format={} models_dir={}",
@@ -608,8 +619,8 @@ fn bench_command_summary(command: &BenchCommand) -> String {
 mod tests {
     use super::{
         execution_contract, execution_preview, execution_stub, plan_command,
-        render_command_summary, AuthMode, Cli, CommandPlan, Commands, ExecutionContract,
-        ExecutionPreview, ExecutionStub,
+        render_command_summary, render_execution_preview, AuthMode, Cli, CommandPlan, Commands,
+        ExecutionContract, ExecutionPreview, ExecutionStub,
     };
     use clap::Parser;
 
@@ -1350,4 +1361,129 @@ mod tests {
             }
         );
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[ignore = "autoresearch benchmark"]
+    fn cli_surface_status_dry_run_text_renders_full_health_request() {
+        let cli = Cli::try_parse_from([
+            "localllm",
+            "--dry-run",
+            "--server",
+            "http://127.0.0.1:9999",
+            "--api-key",
+            "secret",
+            "status",
+        ])
+        .unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            render_execution_preview(&cli),
+            "DRY RUN GET http://127.0.0.1:9999/health api_key_present=true"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[ignore = "autoresearch benchmark"]
+    fn cli_surface_status_dry_run_json_renders_method_url() {
+        let cli = Cli::try_parse_from([
+            "localllm",
+            "--dry-run",
+            "--format",
+            "json",
+            "--server",
+            "http://127.0.0.1:9999",
+            "--api-key",
+            "secret",
+            "status",
+        ])
+        .unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            render_execution_preview(&cli),
+            r#"{"kind":"http","method":"GET","url":"http://127.0.0.1:9999/health","api_key_present":true,"body":null}"#
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[ignore = "autoresearch benchmark"]
+    fn cli_surface_models_load_dry_run_text_mentions_alias_effect() {
+        let cli = Cli::try_parse_from([
+            "localllm",
+            "--dry-run",
+            "--models-dir",
+            "D:/models",
+            "models",
+            "load",
+            "qwen.gguf",
+            "--alias",
+            "qwen-coder",
+        ])
+        .unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            render_execution_preview(&cli),
+            "DRY RUN load_model target=D:/models effect=load model=qwen.gguf alias=qwen-coder"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[ignore = "autoresearch benchmark"]
+    fn cli_surface_auth_enable_dry_run_text_mentions_mode() {
+        let cli = Cli::try_parse_from([
+            "localllm",
+            "--dry-run",
+            "auth",
+            "enable",
+            "--mode",
+            "local-only",
+            "--api-key",
+            "secret",
+        ])
+        .unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            render_execution_preview(&cli),
+            "DRY RUN configure_auth target=auth effect=set mode=local-only has_api_key=true"
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[ignore = "autoresearch benchmark"]
+    fn cli_surface_bench_dry_run_json_preserves_payload() {
+        let cli = Cli::try_parse_from([
+            "localllm",
+            "--dry-run",
+            "--format",
+            "json",
+            "--server",
+            "http://127.0.0.1:9999",
+            "--api-key",
+            "secret",
+            "bench",
+            "throughput",
+            "--samples",
+            "5",
+            "--prompt-tokens",
+            "512",
+            "--completion-tokens",
+            "64",
+        ])
+        .unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            render_execution_preview(&cli),
+            r#"{"kind":"http","method":"POST","url":"http://127.0.0.1:9999/v1/chat/completions","api_key_present":true,"body":"samples=5 prompt_tokens=512 completion_tokens=64 stream=false"}"#
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[ignore = "autoresearch benchmark"]
+    fn cli_surface_logs_dry_run_text_mentions_tail_effect() {
+        let cli = Cli::try_parse_from(["localllm", "--dry-run", "logs", "--lines", "50"]).unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            render_execution_preview(&cli),
+            "DRY RUN tail_logs target=logs effect=tail last 50 lines"
+        );
+    }
 }