diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index f531643..afb020a 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+# Set to true to enable debug logging and SQL echo
+DEBUG=false
+
 # OpenAI-compatible API configuration
 LLM_BASE_URL=http://localhost:11434/v1
 LLM_MODEL=llama
diff --git a/backend/app.py b/backend/app.py
index 2c3b60c..3b7bb91 100644
--- a/backend/app.py
+++ b/backend/app.py
@@ -21,18 +21,34 @@ from backend.routes.users import router as users_router
 logger = logging.getLogger("agent_alpha")
 
 
-def _configure_logging() -> None:
+def _configure_logging(*, debug: bool = False) -> None:
     """Configure standard logging to match FastAPI/uvicorn's log format."""
     handler = logging.StreamHandler()
     handler.setFormatter(DefaultFormatter("%(levelprefix)s %(message)s"))
-    logging.getLogger("agent_alpha").addHandler(handler)
-    logging.getLogger("agent_alpha").setLevel(logging.INFO)
-    logging.getLogger("agent_alpha").propagate = False
+    logger = logging.getLogger("agent_alpha")
+    logger.addHandler(handler)
+    logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG if debug else logging.INFO)
+    logger.propagate = False
 
 
 _configure_logging()
 
 
+def _reconfigure_logging(*, debug: bool) -> None:
+    """Adjust all agent_alpha loggers to the requested level.
+
+    Called at startup so the ``debug`` setting from ``.env`` is reflected
+    even though the module-level logger was configured at import time.
+    """
+    level = logging.DEBUG if debug else logging.INFO
+    for name in ("agent_alpha", "backend", "backend.core", "backend.routes"):
+        logging.getLogger(name).setLevel(level)
+    # Also enable debug for uvicorn when debug mode is on.
+    if debug:
+        logging.getLogger("uvicorn.access").setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+        logging.getLogger("uvicorn.error").setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+
+
 class AppBuilder:
     """Builds and configures the FastAPI application with DI wiring.
 
@@ -78,6 +94,9 @@ class AppBuilder:
     @asynccontextmanager
     async def _lifespan(self, _app: FastAPI):
         """Startup / shutdown lifecycle."""
+        # Apply debug log level from settings (may override module-level default).
+        _reconfigure_logging(debug=self._settings.debug)
+
         logger.info("Agent Alpha backend starting")
 
         # Create database tables if they don't exist.
diff --git a/backend/core/agent.py b/backend/core/agent.py
index cbbfdbd..4f37890 100644
--- a/backend/core/agent.py
+++ b/backend/core/agent.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 import logfire
 from pydantic_ai import Agent
 from pydantic_ai.capabilities import MCP, Thinking, ToolSearch, WebSearch
-from pydantic_ai.models.openai import OpenAIModel
+from pydantic_ai.models.openai import OpenAIResponsesModel
 from pydantic_ai.providers.openai import OpenAIProvider
 from pydantic_ai_harness import CodeMode
 
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ class AgentService:
     def __init__(self, settings: Settings) -> None:
         self._settings = settings
         self._agent: Agent | None = None
-        self._model: OpenAIModel | None = None
+        self._model: OpenAIResponsesModel | None = None
 
     # ── Lifecycle ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class AgentService:
             except Exception:
                 pass  # Logfire is optional — don't crash if it fails
 
-        self._model = OpenAIModel(
+        self._model = OpenAIResponsesModel(
             self._settings.llm_model,
             provider=OpenAIProvider(
                 base_url=self._settings.llm_base_url,
diff --git a/backend/core/config.py b/backend/core/config.py
index ad7ccda..0c1b468 100644
--- a/backend/core/config.py
+++ b/backend/core/config.py
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
         extra="ignore",
     )
 
+    debug: bool = False
+
     llm_base_url: str = "http://localhost:11434/v1"
     llm_model: str = "llama"
     llm_api_key: str = ""
diff --git a/backend/core/database.py b/backend/core/database.py
index 019b6b5..b097127 100644
--- a/backend/core/database.py
+++ b/backend/core/database.py
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ _engine = create_async_engine(
     settings.database_url,
     pool_size=5,
     max_overflow=10,
-    echo=False,
+    echo=settings.debug,
 )
 
 _session_factory = async_sessionmaker(
diff --git a/backend/main.py b/backend/main.py
index a9caad9..c54c8d5 100644
--- a/backend/main.py
+++ b/backend/main.py
@@ -9,12 +9,15 @@ import uvicorn
 
 def main() -> None:
     """Start the Uvicorn development server."""
+    from backend.core.config import settings
+
     uvicorn.run(
         "backend.app:create_app",
         host="0.0.0.0",
         port=8000,
         reload=True,
         factory=True,
+        log_level="debug" if settings.debug else "info",
     )
 
 
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 2a478e1..7f2e542 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ services:
     environment:
       # NOTE: URLs are hardcoded to container service names so that the
       # host .env file (with localhost URLs) does NOT override them.
+      - DEBUG=${DEBUG:-false}
       - LLM_BASE_URL=${LLM_BASE_URL:-http://host.docker.internal:8011/v1}
       - LLM_MODEL=${LLM_MODEL:-llama}
       - DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL:-postgresql+asyncpg://agent_alpha:agent_alpha@postgres:5432/agent_alpha}