diff --git a/docs/hardening-wireframe-a-guide-to-production-resilience.md b/docs/hardening-wireframe-a-guide-to-production-resilience.md
index 9b9acc46..7f41c0f4 100644
--- a/docs/hardening-wireframe-a-guide-to-production-resilience.md
+++ b/docs/hardening-wireframe-a-guide-to-production-resilience.md
@@ -165,6 +165,14 @@ Initialization) pattern for safety.
 Connection tasks are wrapped with `catch_unwind` to log and discard panics.
 Each panicking connection is isolated so it cannot terminate the entire server.
 
+Each occurrence also increments the `wireframe_connection_panics_total`
+counter, enabling alerts on unexpected spikes. The counter intentionally omits
+peer address labels to limit cardinality and protect personally identifiable
+information. Operators can chart `rate(wireframe_connection_panics_total[5m])`
+in Prometheus and create Grafana panels to visualize instability. To emit this
+metric, enable the `metrics` Cargo feature and install a recorder such as
+`metrics_exporter_prometheus`, which exposes an HTTP endpoint for scraping.
+
 ### 3.2 Leak-Proof Registries with `Weak`/`Arc`
 
 A global `SessionRegistry` that stores `PushHandle`s to active connections is a
diff --git a/src/metrics.rs b/src/metrics.rs
index e756f8d1..6c688d92 100644
--- a/src/metrics.rs
+++ b/src/metrics.rs
@@ -24,6 +24,14 @@ pub const CONNECTIONS_ACTIVE: &str = "wireframe_connections_active";
 pub const FRAMES_PROCESSED: &str = "wireframe_frames_processed_total";
 /// Name of the counter tracking error occurrences.
 pub const ERRORS_TOTAL: &str = "wireframe_errors_total";
+/// Name of the counter tracking connection panics.
+///
+/// ```text
+/// # HELP wireframe_connection_panics_total Count of panicking connection tasks.
+/// # TYPE wireframe_connection_panics_total counter
+/// wireframe_connection_panics_total 1
+/// ```
+pub const CONNECTION_PANICS: &str = "wireframe_connection_panics_total";
 
 /// Direction of frame processing.
 #[derive(Clone, Copy)]
@@ -79,3 +87,25 @@ pub fn inc_handler_errors() { counter!(ERRORS_TOTAL, "kind" => "handler").increm
 
 #[cfg(not(feature = "metrics"))]
 pub fn inc_handler_errors() {}
+
+/// Record a panicking connection task.
+///
+/// # Examples
+///
+/// ```no_run
+/// use std::panic::catch_unwind;
+///
+/// use wireframe::metrics;
+///
+/// let res = catch_unwind(|| {
+///     panic!("boom");
+/// });
+/// if res.is_err() {
+///     metrics::inc_connection_panics();
+/// }
+/// ```
+#[cfg(feature = "metrics")]
+pub fn inc_connection_panics() { counter!(CONNECTION_PANICS).increment(1); }
+
+#[cfg(not(feature = "metrics"))]
+pub fn inc_connection_panics() {}
diff --git a/src/server/connection.rs b/src/server/connection.rs
index 95def829..503640d8 100644
--- a/src/server/connection.rs
+++ b/src/server/connection.rs
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ pub(super) fn spawn_connection_task<F, T>(
         .catch_unwind();
 
         if let Err(panic) = fut.await {
+            crate::metrics::inc_connection_panics();
             let panic_msg = panic
                 .downcast_ref::<&str>()
                 .copied()
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ async fn process_stream<F, T>(
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
+    use metrics_util::debugging::{DebugValue, DebuggingRecorder};
     use rstest::rstest;
     use tokio::{
         net::{TcpListener, TcpStream},
@@ -210,4 +212,50 @@ mod tests {
                 .ok_or_else(|| "panic log not found".to_string())
         });
     }
+
+    /// Panics increment the connection panic counter.
+    #[rstest]
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn connection_panic_metric_increments(
+        factory: impl Fn() -> WireframeApp + Send + Sync + Clone + 'static,
+    ) {
+        let recorder = DebuggingRecorder::new();
+        let snapshotter = recorder.snapshotter();
+        recorder.install().expect("recorder install");
+
+        let app_factory = move || {
+            factory()
+                .on_connection_setup(|| async { panic!("boom") })
+                .unwrap()
+        };
+        let tracker = TaskTracker::new();
+        let listener = TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+        let addr = listener.local_addr().unwrap();
+
+        let task = tokio::spawn({
+            let tracker = tracker.clone();
+            let app_factory = app_factory;
+            async move {
+                let (stream, _) = listener.accept().await.unwrap();
+                spawn_connection_task::<_, ()>(stream, app_factory, None, None, &tracker);
+                tracker.close();
+                tracker.wait().await;
+            }
+        });
+
+        let client = TcpStream::connect(addr).await.unwrap();
+        client.writable().await.unwrap();
+        client.try_write(&[0; 8]).unwrap();
+        drop(client);
+
+        task.await.unwrap();
+        tokio::task::yield_now().await;
+
+        let metrics = snapshotter.snapshot().into_vec();
+        let found = metrics.iter().any(|(k, _, _, v)| {
+            k.key().name() == crate::metrics::CONNECTION_PANICS
+                && matches!(v, DebugValue::Counter(c) if *c > 0)
+        });
+        assert!(found, "connection panic metric not recorded");
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/metrics.rs b/tests/metrics.rs
index c246cff2..684f0bce 100644
--- a/tests/metrics.rs
+++ b/tests/metrics.rs
@@ -61,3 +61,23 @@ fn error_metric_increments() {
     });
     assert!(found, "error metric not recorded");
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn connection_panic_metric_increments() {
+    let (snapshotter, recorder) = debugging_recorder_setup();
+    metrics::with_local_recorder(&recorder, || {
+        wireframe::metrics::inc_connection_panics();
+    });
+
+    let metrics = snapshotter.snapshot().into_vec();
+    let count = metrics
+        .iter()
+        .find_map(|(k, _, _, v)| {
+            (k.key().name() == wireframe::metrics::CONNECTION_PANICS).then_some(match v {
+                DebugValue::Counter(c) => *c,
+                _ => 0,
+            })
+        })
+        .unwrap_or(0);
+    assert_eq!(1, count, "panic metric not recorded");
+}