diff --git a/crates/automation/src/batch.rs b/crates/automation/src/batch.rs
index dd5ca6aec0..f650e565b7 100644
--- a/crates/automation/src/batch.rs
+++ b/crates/automation/src/batch.rs
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ impl Automation {
         let recipe = Recipe::parse(self, args)?;
         let recursive = args.opt_bool("recursive")?.unwrap_or(false);
         let stop = args.opt_bool("stop_on_error")?.unwrap_or(false);
+        let dry_run = args.opt_bool("dry_run")?.unwrap_or(false);
         let paths = args.strs("paths")?;
         if paths.is_empty() || paths.len() > 1000 {
             return Err(Args::wrong("paths", "1 to 1000 files or folders"));
@@ -211,11 +212,41 @@ impl Automation {
         let mut files = discovery.skipped;
         let (mut completed, mut failed_count) = (0, 0);
         let mut stopped = false;
+        let mut planned_outputs: HashSet<PathBuf> = HashSet::new();
         for (path, relative) in discovery.files {
             if stopped || !recipe.accepts(&path) {
                 files.push(json!({"path":path.to_string_lossy(),"status":"skipped","reason":if stopped {"stopped after error"} else {"unsupported input extension"}}));
                 continue;
             }
+            if dry_run {
+                let planned: Result<PathBuf> = (|| {
+                    let target = out.join(&relative).with_extension("pdf");
+                    let target = self.resolve(target.to_str().ok_or_else(|| failed("output path is not UTF-8"))?, true)?;
+                    if !target.starts_with(&out) {
+                        return Err(failed("output path leaves out_dir"));
+                    }
+                    let dir = target.parent().ok_or_else(|| failed("output has no parent"))?;
+                    let stem = target.file_stem().ok_or_else(|| failed("output has no stem"))?.to_string_lossy().into_owned();
+                    for n in 1..=10_000 {
+                        let candidate = if n == 1 { target.clone() } else { dir.join(format!("{stem} ({n}).pdf")) };
+                        if candidate.symlink_metadata().is_ok() || planned_outputs.contains(&candidate) {
+                            continue;
+                        }
+                        planned_outputs.insert(candidate.clone());
+                        return Ok(candidate);
+                    }
+                    Err(failed("all 10000 output names are occupied"))
+                })();
+                match planned {
+                    Ok(target) => files.push(json!({"path":path.to_string_lossy(),"status":"planned","output":target.to_string_lossy().replace('\\', "/"),"steps":recipe.steps})),
+                    Err(e) => {
+                        failed_count += 1;
+                        files.push(json!({"path":path.to_string_lossy(),"status":"error","error":e.to_string()}));
+                        stopped = stop;
+                    }
+                }
+                continue;
+            }
             // Recheck confinement and links before reading a discovered file.
             let result: Result<_> = std::panic::catch_unwind(std::panic::AssertUnwindSafe(|| {
                 let current = self.resolve(path.to_str().ok_or_else(|| failed("input path is not UTF-8"))?, false)?;
@@ -244,8 +275,8 @@ impl Automation {
                 }
             }
         }
-        let skipped = files.len().saturating_sub(completed + failed_count);
-        Ok(json!({"completed":completed,"failed":failed_count,"skipped":skipped,"stopped":stopped,"files":files}))
+        let skipped = files.iter().filter(|file| file["status"] == "skipped").count();
+        Ok(json!({"dry_run":dry_run,"completed":completed,"failed":failed_count,"skipped":skipped,"stopped":stopped,"files":files}))
     }
 }
 
@@ -279,4 +310,20 @@ mod tests {
         discovery.visited = 0;
         assert!(discovery.walk(Path::new("absent"), Path::new(""), Path::new("output"), true, MAX_DEPTH + 1).unwrap_err().to_string().contains("64"));
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn doc_batch_dry_run_lists_outputs_without_writing() {
+        let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        std::fs::create_dir(dir.path().join("input")).unwrap();
+        let pdf = Session::new().create_from_text("Doc", "Hello").unwrap();
+        std::fs::write(dir.path().join("input/a.pdf"), &*pdf).unwrap();
+        let auto = Automation::new().with_root(dir.path()).unwrap();
+        let report = auto.doc_batch(&Args(&json!({"paths":["input"],"steps":["optimize"],"out_dir":"out","dry_run":true}))).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(report["dry_run"], true, "{report}");
+        assert_eq!(report["completed"], 0, "{report}");
+        assert_eq!(report["failed"], 0, "{report}");
+        assert_eq!(report["files"][0]["status"], "planned", "{report}");
+        assert!(report["files"][0]["output"].as_str().unwrap().ends_with("out/a.pdf"), "{report}");
+        assert!(!dir.path().join("out").exists());
+    }
 }
diff --git a/crates/automation/src/tools.rs b/crates/automation/src/tools.rs
index 84354f51d7..674b00f329 100644
--- a/crates/automation/src/tools.rs
+++ b/crates/automation/src/tools.rs
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ pub fn tools() -> Vec<ToolDef> {
                 "paths": {"type":"array","items":{"type":"string"},"minItems":1,"maxItems":1000},
                 "out_dir": {"type":"string"},
                 "steps": {"type":"array","items":{"type":"string","enum":["convert","ocr","optimize"]},"minItems":1,"maxItems":3,"uniqueItems":true},
-                "recursive": {"type":"boolean"}, "stop_on_error": {"type":"boolean"},
+                "recursive": {"type":"boolean"}, "stop_on_error": {"type":"boolean"}, "dry_run": {"type":"boolean"},
                 "ppi": {"type":"number","minimum":9,"maximum":1600},
                 "quality": {"type":"integer","minimum":1,"maximum":100},
                 "dpi": {"type":"number","minimum":72,"maximum":600},
diff --git a/crates/automation/tests/it/batch.rs b/crates/automation/tests/it/batch.rs
index af5e0c1272..8b7650fd3f 100644
--- a/crates/automation/tests/it/batch.rs
+++ b/crates/automation/tests/it/batch.rs
@@ -238,3 +238,61 @@ fn mcp_batch_errors_keep_the_structured_per_file_report() {
     assert_eq!(report["result"]["isError"], true, "{report}");
     assert_eq!(report["result"]["structuredContent"]["failed"], 1);
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn dry_run_planned_files_are_not_counted_as_skipped() {
+    let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    std::fs::create_dir_all(dir.path().join("input/sub")).unwrap();
+    std::fs::create_dir_all(dir.path().join("out")).unwrap();
+    let original = pdf();
+    std::fs::write(dir.path().join("input/a.pdf"), &original).unwrap();
+    std::fs::write(dir.path().join("input/sub/a.pdf"), &original).unwrap();
+    std::fs::write(dir.path().join("out/a.pdf"), b"precious").unwrap();
+    let mut auto = Automation::new().with_root(dir.path()).unwrap();
+    let report = result(&mut auto, json!({"paths":["input","input/sub"],"steps":["optimize"],"out_dir":"out","dry_run":true}));
+    assert_eq!(report["dry_run"], true, "{report}");
+    assert_eq!(report["completed"], 0, "{report}");
+    assert_eq!(report["failed"], 0, "{report}");
+    assert_eq!(report["skipped"], 0, "planned files are not skipped: {report}");
+    let files = report["files"].as_array().unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(files.len(), 2, "{report}");
+    assert!(files.iter().all(|file| file["status"] == "planned"), "{report}");
+    assert!(files.iter().all(|file| file["steps"] == json!(["optimize"])), "planned files list the ordered steps: {report}");
+    assert!(files[0]["output"].as_str().unwrap().ends_with("out/a (2).pdf"), "existing output gets the publish collision name: {report}");
+    assert!(files[1]["output"].as_str().unwrap().ends_with("out/a (3).pdf"), "later planned files reserve their names: {report}");
+    assert_eq!(std::fs::read(dir.path().join("out/a.pdf")).unwrap(), b"precious");
+    assert!(!dir.path().join("out/a (2).pdf").exists(), "dry run writes nothing: {report}");
+    #[cfg(unix)]
+    {
+        // An output subfolder that resolves outside out_dir is a per-file error:
+        // it counts as failed, honors stop_on_error, and later files are skipped.
+        for outside_root in [false, true] {
+            let dir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+            let outside = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+            std::fs::create_dir_all(dir.path().join("input/sub")).unwrap();
+            std::fs::create_dir_all(dir.path().join("out")).unwrap();
+            std::fs::write(dir.path().join("input/a.pdf"), pdf()).unwrap();
+            std::fs::write(dir.path().join("input/sub/page.pdf"), pdf()).unwrap();
+            std::fs::write(dir.path().join("input/z.pdf"), pdf()).unwrap();
+            let target = if outside_root { outside.path().to_path_buf() } else { dir.path().join("outside") };
+            if !outside_root {
+                std::fs::create_dir(&target).unwrap();
+            }
+            std::os::unix::fs::symlink(&target, dir.path().join("out/sub")).unwrap();
+            let mut auto = Automation::new().with_root(dir.path()).unwrap();
+            let report = result(
+                &mut auto,
+                json!({"paths":["input"],"steps":["optimize"],"out_dir":"out","recursive":true,"dry_run":true,"stop_on_error":true}),
+            );
+            assert_eq!(report["failed"], 1, "preview target failure is per-file: {report}");
+            assert_eq!(report["stopped"], true, "{report}");
+            assert_eq!(report["skipped"], 1, "only the unprocessed file is skipped: {report}");
+            let files = report["files"].as_array().unwrap();
+            assert_eq!(files.len(), 3, "{report}");
+            assert_eq!(files[0]["status"], "planned", "{report}");
+            assert_eq!(files[1]["status"], "error", "{report}");
+            assert_eq!(files[2]["status"], "skipped", "stop_on_error leaves later files unplanned: {report}");
+            assert!(!dir.path().join("out/a.pdf").exists(), "dry run writes nothing: {report}");
+        }
+    }
+}