diff --git a/src/fgai/dashboard.py b/src/fgai/dashboard.py
index 6a2188e..93fa091 100644
--- a/src/fgai/dashboard.py
+++ b/src/fgai/dashboard.py
@@ -226,6 +226,21 @@ function table(rows, columns, id = '') {
   return `<div class="table-wrap"><table><thead><tr>${head}</tr></thead><tbody>${body}</tbody></table></div>`;
 }
 function capability(label, state, detail) { return `<span class="capability ${state}">${esc(label)}: ${esc(detail)}</span>`; }
+function mcpCapability(mcp, configuration, pollRunningSeconds=0) {
+  if (configuration.log_source !== 'graylog_mcp') return {state: 'warn', detail: 'not selected'};
+  const status = String(mcp.status || 'checking');
+  if (status === 'connected') return {state: 'on', detail: 'connected'};
+  if (status === 'partial') return {state: 'warn', detail: 'partial'};
+  if (status === 'refreshing') {
+    const previous = String(mcp.previous_status || '');
+    if (['connected', 'partial'].includes(previous) || Number(mcp.previous_events_fetched || mcp.events_fetched || 0) > 0 || Number(mcp.previous_aggregate_events || mcp.aggregate_events || 0) > 0) {
+      const suffix = pollRunningSeconds ? `polling ${pollRunningSeconds}s` : 'polling';
+      return {state: 'on', detail: previous === 'partial' ? `partial, ${suffix}` : `connected, ${suffix}`};
+    }
+    return {state: 'warn', detail: 'starting poll'};
+  }
+  return {state: 'warn', detail: status};
+}
 function actionItem(severity, title, detail, action) {
   return `<div class="action-item ${esc(severity)}"><strong>${esc(title)}</strong><div>${esc(detail)}</div><div class="muted">Next: ${esc(action)}</div></div>`;
 }
@@ -560,11 +575,12 @@ async function refresh() {
   ].join('');
   const llm = data.llm_assessment || {};
   const llmEnabled = Boolean(llm.enabled || configuration.llm_enabled);
+  const mcpBadge = mcpCapability(mcp, configuration, pollRunningSeconds);
   document.getElementById('capabilities').innerHTML = [
     capability('Baseline', baseline.enabled ? 'on' : 'warn', baseline.enabled ? `${baseline.sources_ready || 0} sources ready` : 'disabled'),
     capability('Ollama', llmEnabled && llm.status !== 'error' ? 'on' : 'warn', llmEnabled ? (llm.status || 'starting') : 'disabled'),
     capability('Threat Intel', threat.enabled && threat.configured ? 'on' : 'warn', threat.enabled ? `${threat.provider || 'unknown'}${threat.configured ? '' : ', key missing'}` : 'disabled'),
-    capability('Graylog MCP', mcp.status === 'connected' ? 'on' : 'warn', configuration.log_source === 'graylog_mcp' ? (mcp.status || 'checking') : 'not selected')
+    capability('Graylog MCP', mcpBadge.state, mcpBadge.detail)
   ].join('');
   document.getElementById('liveStatus').innerHTML = [
     data.stale ? `<span class="sev-high">Showing cached dashboard data because live MCP fetch failed.</span>` : '',
diff --git a/tests/test_dashboard.py b/tests/test_dashboard.py
index 2241386..2ee06d2 100644
--- a/tests/test_dashboard.py
+++ b/tests/test_dashboard.py
@@ -49,6 +49,10 @@ class DashboardTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn("function renderCorrelationExplorer", HTML)
         self.assertIn("correlationHitboxes", HTML)
 
+    def test_dashboard_shows_refreshing_mcp_as_polling_badge(self):
+        self.assertIn("function mcpCapability", HTML)
+        self.assertIn("connected, ${suffix}", HTML)
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()