diff --git a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/ByteRange.java b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/ByteRange.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e1bfd717c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/ByteRange.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2026 The NoSQLBench Authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package io.nosqlbench.vectordata;
+
+/// A half-open byte range `[start, end)` within a facet's payload.
+public record ByteRange(long start, long end) {
+    /// Bytes spanned by this range.
+    public long length() { return Math.max(0, end - start); }
+    @Override public String toString() { return "[" + start + ".." + end + ")"; }
+}
diff --git a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/CacheStats.java b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/CacheStats.java
index d6ef37e12..9a3bd7124 100644
--- a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/CacheStats.java
+++ b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/CacheStats.java
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@
  */
 package io.nosqlbench.vectordata;
 
-/** Immutable observation of a reader's backing cache. */
-public record CacheStats(AccessMode accessMode, long totalBytes, long cachedBytes,
+/// Immutable observation of a reader's backing cache. `chunkSize` is
+/// the transfer-chunk size in bytes — `0` for local storage, which has
+/// no chunks — so consumers can map byte offsets to chunk ordinals
+/// (e.g. for chunk-aligned sampling or prefetch).
+public record CacheStats(AccessMode accessMode, long totalBytes, long cachedBytes, long chunkSize,
                          long hits, long misses, boolean complete) { }
diff --git a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/RangeFill.java b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/RangeFill.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ba9d2d637
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/RangeFill.java
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2026 The NoSQLBench Authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package io.nosqlbench.vectordata;
+
+/// What fetching a byte range would actually cost, at chunk
+/// granularity. The unit of fetch is a chunk, not a byte, so a range's
+/// real cost is rarely the range's length: a 4 KiB window against 8 MiB
+/// chunks is 8 MiB, and a window whose chunks are already resident is
+/// free. Both facts have to be visible *before* the fetch, or a caller
+/// cannot tell an incremental warm-up from a full download.
+///
+/// `firstChunk` and `lastChunk` are inclusive; `alignedStart` and
+/// `alignedEnd` are the byte range the fetch actually spans once
+/// widened to chunk boundaries — always a superset of what was asked
+/// for.
+public record RangeFill(int firstChunk, int lastChunk, long chunkSize, int chunks, int chunksResident,
+                        long alignedStart, long alignedEnd) {
+
+    /// Chunks that still have to be fetched.
+    public int chunksToFetch() { return Math.max(0, chunks - chunksResident); }
+
+    /// Bytes that will cross the network, at chunk granularity.
+    public long bytesToFetch() { return chunksToFetch() * chunkSize; }
+
+    /// Bytes fetched beyond the requested range because chunks are the
+    /// granularity. This is the number that tells a caller its
+    /// scattered single-record prefetches are really a full download.
+    public long overfetchBytes(long requestedStart, long requestedEnd) {
+        long requested = Math.max(0, requestedEnd - requestedStart);
+        long spanned = Math.max(0, alignedEnd - alignedStart);
+        return Math.max(0, spanned - requested);
+    }
+
+    /// Whether every chunk covering the range is already resident.
+    public boolean isResident() { return chunksResident >= chunks; }
+}
diff --git a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/ByteStorage.java b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/ByteStorage.java
index 8fba6ad3f..06c939e6d 100644
--- a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/ByteStorage.java
+++ b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/ByteStorage.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package io.nosqlbench.vectordata.internal;
 
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.CacheStats;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.PrebufferProgress;
+import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.RangeFill;
 
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 
@@ -25,6 +26,20 @@ public interface ByteStorage extends AutoCloseable {
     long size();
     ByteBuffer read(long offset, int length);
     void prebuffer(PrebufferProgress progress);
+    /// Drives only the chunks covering `[byteStart, byteEnd)` to
+    /// resident state, reporting bytes resident within the covered
+    /// span against the span's total. Local storage reports the span
+    /// as immediately complete.
+    void prebufferRange(long byteStart, long byteEnd, PrebufferProgress progress);
+    /// Chunk-level residency for a byte range, or `null` when the
+    /// storage has no chunks — local storage is always fully resident
+    /// and a range question about it has no meaning beyond "yes".
+    /// Callers should treat `null` as "free".
+    RangeFill rangeFill(long byteStart, long byteEnd);
+    /// Whether a sub-range of this storage can be fetched without
+    /// fetching the rest. Local storage is trivially range-capable; a
+    /// remote source that cannot service byte ranges is not.
+    boolean rangeCapable();
     boolean isComplete();
     CacheStats stats();
     @Override default void close() { }
diff --git a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/MappedStorage.java b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/MappedStorage.java
index 792288842..d81febec1 100644
--- a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/MappedStorage.java
+++ b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/MappedStorage.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package io.nosqlbench.vectordata.internal;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.AccessMode;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.CacheStats;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.PrebufferProgress;
+import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.RangeFill;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.VectorDataException;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
@@ -54,7 +55,13 @@ public final class MappedStorage implements ByteStorage {
             throw new VectorDataException("Byte range outside source: offset=" + offset + ", length=" + length + ", size=" + size);
     }
     @Override public void prebuffer(PrebufferProgress progress) { progress.onProgress(size, size); }
+    @Override public void prebufferRange(long byteStart, long byteEnd, PrebufferProgress progress) {
+        long length = Math.max(0, Math.min(byteEnd, size) - byteStart);
+        progress.onProgress(length, length);
+    }
+    @Override public RangeFill rangeFill(long byteStart, long byteEnd) { return null; }
+    @Override public boolean rangeCapable() { return true; }
     @Override public boolean isComplete() { return true; }
-    @Override public CacheStats stats() { return new CacheStats(AccessMode.LOCAL, size, size, 0, 0, true); }
+    @Override public CacheStats stats() { return new CacheStats(AccessMode.LOCAL, size, size, 0, 0, 0, true); }
     @Override public void close() { try { channel.close(); } catch (IOException ignored) { } }
 }
diff --git a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/RemoteStorage.java b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/RemoteStorage.java
index 5ec3a8ff1..29f39f7a2 100644
--- a/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/RemoteStorage.java
+++ b/nb-vectordata/src/main/java/io/nosqlbench/vectordata/internal/RemoteStorage.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.AccessMode;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.CacheStats;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.IntegrityException;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.PrebufferProgress;
+import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.RangeFill;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.VectorDataException;
 import io.nosqlbench.vectordata.VectorDataSettings;
 
@@ -149,11 +150,40 @@ public final class RemoteStorage implements ByteStorage {
     @Override public void prebuffer(PrebufferProgress progress) {
         for (int i = 0; i < chunks(); i++) { ensure(i, i); progress.onProgress(Math.min(size, (long) present.cardinality() * chunkSize), size); }
     }
+    @Override public void prebufferRange(long byteStart, long byteEnd, PrebufferProgress progress) {
+        long end = Math.min(byteEnd, size);
+        if (byteStart < 0 || byteStart >= end) { progress.onProgress(0, 0); return; }
+        int first = Math.toIntExact(byteStart / chunkSize);
+        int last = Math.toIntExact((end - 1) / chunkSize);
+        long rangeBytes = Math.min(size, (last + 1L) * chunkSize) - (long) first * chunkSize;
+        synchronized (lock) {
+            long done = 0;
+            for (int chunk = first; chunk <= last; chunk++) {
+                if (present.get(chunk)) hits.incrementAndGet(); else fetch(chunk);
+                done += chunkLength(chunk);
+                progress.onProgress(done, rangeBytes);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    @Override public RangeFill rangeFill(long byteStart, long byteEnd) {
+        if (size == 0 || byteEnd <= byteStart || byteStart < 0 || byteStart >= size) return null;
+        long end = Math.min(byteEnd, size);
+        int first = Math.toIntExact(byteStart / chunkSize);
+        int last = Math.toIntExact(Math.min((end - 1) / chunkSize, chunks() - 1L));
+        if (first > last) return null;
+        int resident = 0;
+        synchronized (lock) { for (int chunk = first; chunk <= last; chunk++) if (present.get(chunk)) resident++; }
+        long alignedStart = (long) first * chunkSize;
+        long alignedEnd = Math.min((last + 1L) * chunkSize, size);
+        return new RangeFill(first, last, chunkSize, last - first + 1, resident, alignedStart, alignedEnd);
+    }
+    @Override public boolean rangeCapable() { return ranges; }
+    private long chunkLength(int chunk) { return Math.min(chunkSize, size - (long) chunk * chunkSize); }
     @Override public boolean isComplete() { return complete; }
     @Override public CacheStats stats() {
         long cached = Math.min(size, (long) present.cardinality() * chunkSize);
         AccessMode mode = reference == null ? (ranges ? AccessMode.MERKLE_CHUNKED : AccessMode.FULL_TRANSFER) : AccessMode.MERKLE_HASHED;
-        return new CacheStats(mode, size, cached, hits.get(), misses.get(), complete);
+        return new CacheStats(mode, size, cached, chunkSize, hits.get(), misses.get(), complete);
     }
     private int chunks() { return size == 0 ? 0 : Math.toIntExact((size + chunkSize - 1) / chunkSize); }
     private void checkBounds(long offset, int length) {