diff --git a/cmd/sdrd/pipeline_runtime.go b/cmd/sdrd/pipeline_runtime.go
index 3779a04..c72918c 100644
--- a/cmd/sdrd/pipeline_runtime.go
+++ b/cmd/sdrd/pipeline_runtime.go
@@ -231,9 +231,15 @@ func (rt *dspRuntime) buildSurveillanceResult(art *spectrumArtifacts) pipeline.S
 
 func (rt *dspRuntime) buildRefinementInput(surv pipeline.SurveillanceResult) pipeline.RefinementInput {
 	policy := pipeline.PolicyFromConfig(rt.cfg)
+	plan := pipeline.BuildRefinementPlan(surv.Candidates, policy)
+	scheduled := append([]pipeline.ScheduledCandidate(nil), surv.Scheduled...)
+	if len(scheduled) == 0 && len(plan.Selected) > 0 {
+		scheduled = append([]pipeline.ScheduledCandidate(nil), plan.Selected...)
+	}
 	input := pipeline.RefinementInput{
 		Candidates: append([]pipeline.Candidate(nil), surv.Candidates...),
-		Scheduled:  append([]pipeline.ScheduledCandidate(nil), surv.Scheduled...),
+		Scheduled:  scheduled,
+		Plan:       plan,
 		SampleRate: rt.cfg.SampleRate,
 		FFTSize:    rt.cfg.FFTSize,
 		CenterHz:   rt.cfg.CenterHz,
diff --git a/internal/pipeline/phases.go b/internal/pipeline/phases.go
index 2fcc9f9..2fc1d3e 100644
--- a/internal/pipeline/phases.go
+++ b/internal/pipeline/phases.go
@@ -11,9 +11,19 @@ type SurveillanceResult struct {
 	Thresholds []float64            `json:"thresholds,omitempty"`
 }
 
+type RefinementPlan struct {
+	TotalCandidates   int                  `json:"total_candidates"`
+	MinCandidateSNRDb float64              `json:"min_candidate_snr_db"`
+	Budget            int                  `json:"budget"`
+	DroppedBySNR      int                  `json:"dropped_by_snr"`
+	DroppedByBudget   int                  `json:"dropped_by_budget"`
+	Selected          []ScheduledCandidate `json:"selected,omitempty"`
+}
+
 type RefinementInput struct {
 	Candidates []Candidate          `json:"candidates,omitempty"`
 	Scheduled  []ScheduledCandidate `json:"scheduled,omitempty"`
+	Plan       RefinementPlan       `json:"plan,omitempty"`
 	SampleRate int                  `json:"sample_rate"`
 	FFTSize    int                  `json:"fft_size"`
 	CenterHz   float64              `json:"center_hz"`
diff --git a/internal/pipeline/phases_test.go b/internal/pipeline/phases_test.go
index 44cf9f8..2c45c45 100644
--- a/internal/pipeline/phases_test.go
+++ b/internal/pipeline/phases_test.go
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ func TestRefinementInputCarriesScheduledCandidates(t *testing.T) {
 	res := RefinementInput{
 		Candidates: []Candidate{{ID: 2}},
 		Scheduled:  []ScheduledCandidate{{Candidate: Candidate{ID: 2}, Priority: 4}},
+		Plan: RefinementPlan{
+			TotalCandidates: 1,
+			Budget:          4,
+		},
 		SampleRate: 2048000,
 		FFTSize:    2048,
 		CenterHz:   7.1e6,
@@ -42,4 +46,7 @@ func TestRefinementInputCarriesScheduledCandidates(t *testing.T) {
 	if res.SampleRate != 2048000 || res.FFTSize != 2048 || res.CenterHz != 7.1e6 {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected refinement input fields: %+v", res)
 	}
+	if res.Plan.TotalCandidates != 1 || res.Plan.Budget != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected refinement plan fields: %+v", res.Plan)
+	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/pipeline/scheduler.go b/internal/pipeline/scheduler.go
index dc7f14e..9a57ca5 100644
--- a/internal/pipeline/scheduler.go
+++ b/internal/pipeline/scheduler.go
@@ -7,16 +7,22 @@ type ScheduledCandidate struct {
 	Priority  float64   `json:"priority"`
 }
 
-// ScheduleCandidates picks the most valuable candidates for costly local refinement.
+// BuildRefinementPlan scores and budgets candidates for costly local refinement.
 // Current heuristic is intentionally simple and deterministic; later phases can add
 // richer scoring (novelty, persistence, profile-aware band priorities, decoder value).
-func ScheduleCandidates(candidates []Candidate, policy Policy) []ScheduledCandidate {
+func BuildRefinementPlan(candidates []Candidate, policy Policy) RefinementPlan {
+	plan := RefinementPlan{
+		TotalCandidates:   len(candidates),
+		MinCandidateSNRDb: policy.MinCandidateSNRDb,
+		Budget:            policy.MaxRefinementJobs,
+	}
 	if len(candidates) == 0 {
-		return nil
+		return plan
 	}
-	out := make([]ScheduledCandidate, 0, len(candidates))
+	scored := make([]ScheduledCandidate, 0, len(candidates))
 	for _, c := range candidates {
 		if c.SNRDb < policy.MinCandidateSNRDb {
+			plan.DroppedBySNR++
 			continue
 		}
 		priority := c.SNRDb + CandidatePriorityBoost(policy, c.Hint)
@@ -26,19 +32,25 @@ func ScheduleCandidates(candidates []Candidate, policy Policy) []ScheduledCandid
 		if c.PeakDb > 0 {
 			priority += c.PeakDb / 20.0
 		}
-		out = append(out, ScheduledCandidate{Candidate: c, Priority: priority})
+		scored = append(scored, ScheduledCandidate{Candidate: c, Priority: priority})
 	}
-	sort.Slice(out, func(i, j int) bool {
-		if out[i].Priority == out[j].Priority {
-			return out[i].Candidate.CenterHz < out[j].Candidate.CenterHz
+	sort.Slice(scored, func(i, j int) bool {
+		if scored[i].Priority == scored[j].Priority {
+			return scored[i].Candidate.CenterHz < scored[j].Candidate.CenterHz
 		}
-		return out[i].Priority > out[j].Priority
+		return scored[i].Priority > scored[j].Priority
 	})
 	limit := policy.MaxRefinementJobs
-	if limit <= 0 || limit > len(out) {
-		limit = len(out)
+	if limit <= 0 || limit > len(scored) {
+		limit = len(scored)
 	}
-	return out[:limit]
+	plan.Selected = scored[:limit]
+	plan.DroppedByBudget = len(scored) - len(plan.Selected)
+	return plan
+}
+
+func ScheduleCandidates(candidates []Candidate, policy Policy) []ScheduledCandidate {
+	return BuildRefinementPlan(candidates, policy).Selected
 }
 
 func minFloat64(a, b float64) float64 {
diff --git a/internal/pipeline/scheduler_test.go b/internal/pipeline/scheduler_test.go
index 452293f..5fdef5a 100644
--- a/internal/pipeline/scheduler_test.go
+++ b/internal/pipeline/scheduler_test.go
@@ -22,6 +22,28 @@ func TestScheduleCandidates(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestBuildRefinementPlanTracksDrops(t *testing.T) {
+	policy := Policy{MaxRefinementJobs: 1, MinCandidateSNRDb: 10}
+	cands := []Candidate{
+		{ID: 1, CenterHz: 100, SNRDb: 4, BandwidthHz: 10000, PeakDb: 1},
+		{ID: 2, CenterHz: 200, SNRDb: 12, BandwidthHz: 50000, PeakDb: 3},
+		{ID: 3, CenterHz: 300, SNRDb: 11, BandwidthHz: 25000, PeakDb: 2},
+	}
+	plan := BuildRefinementPlan(cands, policy)
+	if plan.TotalCandidates != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected total candidates 3, got %d", plan.TotalCandidates)
+	}
+	if plan.DroppedBySNR != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 dropped by SNR, got %d", plan.DroppedBySNR)
+	}
+	if plan.DroppedByBudget != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected 1 dropped by budget, got %d", plan.DroppedByBudget)
+	}
+	if len(plan.Selected) != 1 || plan.Selected[0].Candidate.ID != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected plan selection: %+v", plan.Selected)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestScheduleCandidatesPriorityBoost(t *testing.T) {
 	policy := Policy{MaxRefinementJobs: 1, MinCandidateSNRDb: 0, SignalPriorities: []string{"digital"}}
 	got := ScheduleCandidates([]Candidate{