diff --git a/tests/test_serve.py b/tests/test_serve.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99ca0c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_serve.py
@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+"""Tests for the prediction server (runtime/serve.py).
+
+Exercises the real request handler over a live socket: /health, /predict,
+/predict_batch and the error paths. The server is started on an ephemeral
+port (127.0.0.1:0) in a background thread and shut down cleanly after the
+module's tests run, so nothing leaks between test files.
+"""
+
+import json
+import threading
+from http.server import HTTPServer
+from pathlib import Path
+from urllib.error import HTTPError
+from urllib.request import Request, urlopen
+
+import numpy as np
+import pytest
+import sys
+
+sys.path.insert(0, str(Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "src"))
+
+import tracer
+from tracer.runtime import serve as serve_mod
+from tracer.policy.artifacts import load_manifest
+from tracer.runtime.router import Router
+
+
+# ── Fixtures ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def _make_traces(tmpdir, n=240, dim=16, n_classes=3, noise=0.05):
+    """Synthetic, well-separated traces so fit() deploys a surrogate."""
+    rng = np.random.RandomState(0)
+    centers = rng.randn(n_classes, dim) * 4
+    labels_int = rng.randint(0, n_classes, size=n)
+    X = centers[labels_int] + rng.randn(n, dim) * 0.6
+    names = [f"cls_{i}" for i in range(n_classes)]
+    teacher = [names[i] for i in labels_int]
+    for i in range(n):
+        if rng.random() < noise:
+            teacher[i] = names[rng.randint(0, n_classes)]
+    path = Path(tmpdir) / "traces.jsonl"
+    with path.open("w") as f:
+        for i in range(n):
+            f.write(json.dumps({"input": f"text {i}", "teacher": teacher[i],
+                                "id": str(i)}) + "\n")
+    return path, X.astype(np.float32)
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
+def fitted_artifact(tmp_path_factory):
+    tmpdir = tmp_path_factory.mktemp("serve_artifact")
+    traces_path, X = _make_traces(tmpdir)
+    artifact_dir = Path(tmpdir) / ".tracer"
+    result = tracer.fit(traces_path, artifact_dir, embeddings=X,
+                        config=tracer.FitConfig(verbose=False))
+    assert result.manifest.selected_method is not None, \
+        "test fixture expected a deployable policy"
+    return artifact_dir, X
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
+def server(fitted_artifact):
+    artifact_dir, _ = fitted_artifact
+    # Wire the handler exactly as serve() does, but keep the server handle so we
+    # can bind an ephemeral port and shut down cleanly.
+    serve_mod._manifest = load_manifest(artifact_dir / "manifest.json")
+    serve_mod._router = Router.load(artifact_dir)
+    httpd = HTTPServer(("127.0.0.1", 0), serve_mod._Handler)
+    port = httpd.server_address[1]
+    thread = threading.Thread(target=httpd.serve_forever, daemon=True)
+    thread.start()
+    yield f"http://127.0.0.1:{port}"
+    httpd.shutdown()
+    thread.join(timeout=5)
+    httpd.server_close()
+
+
+# ── Helpers ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def _get(base, path):
+    with urlopen(f"{base}{path}", timeout=5) as resp:
+        return resp.status, json.loads(resp.read())
+
+
+def _post(base, path, payload):
+    req = Request(f"{base}{path}", data=json.dumps(payload).encode(),
+                  headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"}, method="POST")
+    try:
+        with urlopen(req, timeout=5) as resp:
+            return resp.status, json.loads(resp.read())
+    except HTTPError as e:
+        return e.code, json.loads(e.read())
+
+
+# ── /health ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def test_health(server, fitted_artifact):
+    status, body = _get(server, "/health")
+    assert status == 200
+    assert body["status"] == "ok"
+    assert body["method"]  # a deployed method name
+    assert body["n_labels"] == 3
+    assert 0.0 <= body["coverage"] <= 1.0
+
+
+# ── /predict ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def test_predict_returns_routing_decision(server, fitted_artifact):
+    _, X = fitted_artifact
+    status, body = _post(server, "/predict", {"embedding": X[0].tolist()})
+    assert status == 200
+    assert body["decision"] in ("handled", "deferred")
+    assert "label" in body and "accept_score" in body and "stage" in body
+
+
+def test_predict_missing_field_is_400(server):
+    status, body = _post(server, "/predict", {"not_embedding": [1, 2, 3]})
+    assert status == 400
+    assert "embedding" in body["error"]
+
+
+def test_predict_wrong_dim_is_500(server, fitted_artifact):
+    # Router raises a dimension-mismatch ValueError, surfaced as a 500.
+    status, body = _post(server, "/predict", {"embedding": [0.1, 0.2, 0.3]})
+    assert status == 500
+    assert "dimension" in body["error"].lower()
+
+
+# ── /predict_batch ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def test_predict_batch(server, fitted_artifact):
+    _, X = fitted_artifact
+    batch = X[:5].tolist()
+    status, body = _post(server, "/predict_batch", {"embeddings": batch})
+    assert status == 200
+    assert len(body["labels"]) == 5
+    assert len(body["decisions"]) == 5
+    assert len(body["handled"]) == 5
+    assert all(d in ("handled", "deferred") for d in body["decisions"])
+
+
+def test_predict_batch_missing_field_is_400(server):
+    status, body = _post(server, "/predict_batch", {"wrong": []})
+    assert status == 400
+    assert "embeddings" in body["error"]
+
+
+# ── Routing / unknown paths ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+def test_unknown_get_path_is_404(server):
+    try:
+        _get(server, "/nope")
+        assert False, "expected 404"
+    except HTTPError as e:
+        assert e.code == 404
+        body = json.loads(e.read())
+        assert "endpoints" in body
+
+
+def test_unknown_post_path_is_404(server):
+    status, body = _post(server, "/nope", {"x": 1})
+    assert status == 404