diff --git a/src/V2/Support/ParallelChildGroup.php b/src/V2/Support/ParallelChildGroup.php
index ef5aa2ef..bb2322e5 100644
--- a/src/V2/Support/ParallelChildGroup.php
+++ b/src/V2/Support/ParallelChildGroup.php
@@ -799,7 +799,7 @@ private static function groupCompletedSuccessfully(
             $parentRun->setRelation('historyEvents', $parentRun->historyEvents() ->lockForUpdate() ->get());
         }
 
-        $activitiesBySequence = collect(RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($parentRun))
+        $activitiesBySequence = collect(RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($parentRun, decodePayloads: false))
             ->filter(static fn (array $activity): bool => is_int($activity['sequence'] ?? null))
             ->keyBy(static fn (array $activity): string => (string) $activity['sequence']);
         $timersBySequence = collect(RunTimerView::timersForRun($parentRun))
diff --git a/src/V2/Support/RunActivityView.php b/src/V2/Support/RunActivityView.php
index e45412cd..c286f5a2 100644
--- a/src/V2/Support/RunActivityView.php
+++ b/src/V2/Support/RunActivityView.php
@@ -27,12 +27,16 @@ final class RunActivityView
     /**
      * Typed history is the default authority. Callers rendering bounded
      * projection-backed views may disable it to avoid loading durable history.
+     * Metadata-only callers can omit payload fields without fetching external objects.
      *
      * @return list<array<string, mixed>>
      */
-    public static function activitiesForRun(WorkflowRun $run, bool $useDurableHistory = true): array
-    {
-        return self::activityStates($run, $useDurableHistory);
+    public static function activitiesForRun(
+        WorkflowRun $run,
+        bool $useDurableHistory = true,
+        bool $decodePayloads = true,
+    ): array {
+        return self::activityStates($run, $useDurableHistory, $decodePayloads);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -108,8 +112,11 @@ public static function isDiagnosticOnly(array $activity): bool
     /**
      * @return list<array<string, mixed>>
      */
-    private static function activityStates(WorkflowRun $run, bool $useDurableHistory = true): array
-    {
+    private static function activityStates(
+        WorkflowRun $run,
+        bool $useDurableHistory = true,
+        bool $decodePayloads = true,
+    ): array {
         $relations = ['activityExecutions.attempts'];
 
         if ($useDurableHistory) {
@@ -182,6 +189,7 @@ private static function activityStates(WorkflowRun $run, bool $useDurableHistory
                 $run,
                 $execution,
                 $attemptsByActivityId[$activityId] ?? [],
+                $decodePayloads,
             );
         }
 
@@ -235,6 +243,7 @@ private static function presentActivity(
         WorkflowRun $run,
         ?ActivityExecution $execution = null,
         array $attemptStates = [],
+        bool $decodePayloads = true,
     ): array {
         $attempts = self::presentAttempts($state, $execution, $attemptStates);
         $latestAttempt = $attempts === []
@@ -291,13 +300,15 @@ private static function presentActivity(
             'created_at' => $state['created_at'] ?? null,
             'started_at' => $state['started_at'] ?? ($latestAttempt['started_at'] ?? null),
             'closed_at' => self::activityClosedAt($status, $state, $latestAttempt),
-            'arguments' => self::publicTypedValue($state['arguments'] ?? null, $payloadCodec, $namespace, []),
-            'result' => self::publicTypedValue(
-                $unsupportedReason === null ? ($state['result'] ?? null) : null,
-                $payloadCodec,
-                $namespace,
-                null,
-            ),
+            ...($decodePayloads ? [
+                'arguments' => self::publicTypedValue($state['arguments'] ?? null, $payloadCodec, $namespace, []),
+                'result' => self::publicTypedValue(
+                    $unsupportedReason === null ? ($state['result'] ?? null) : null,
+                    $payloadCodec,
+                    $namespace,
+                    null,
+                ),
+            ] : []),
             'attempts' => $attempts,
         ];
     }
diff --git a/src/V2/Support/RunSummaryProjector.php b/src/V2/Support/RunSummaryProjector.php
index 175f68fb..26dd7161 100644
--- a/src/V2/Support/RunSummaryProjector.php
+++ b/src/V2/Support/RunSummaryProjector.php
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public static function project(WorkflowRun $run): WorkflowRunSummary
             : CurrentRunResolver::forInstance($run->instance);
 
         $isTerminal = $run->status->isTerminal();
-        $activities = RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($run);
+        $activities = RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($run, decodePayloads: false);
         $timers = RunTimerView::timersForRun($run);
 
         $openActivity = $isTerminal
diff --git a/src/V2/Support/RunTaskView.php b/src/V2/Support/RunTaskView.php
index 1ae5bc2b..b5736dd6 100644
--- a/src/V2/Support/RunTaskView.php
+++ b/src/V2/Support/RunTaskView.php
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ public static function forRun(WorkflowRun $run): array
         $run->loadMissing(['tasks', 'activityExecutions', 'timers', 'historyEvents']);
 
         /** @var Collection<string, array<string, mixed>> $activities */
-        $activities = collect(RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($run))
+        $activities = collect(RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($run, decodePayloads: false))
             ->filter(static fn (array $activity): bool => is_string($activity['id'] ?? null))
             ->keyBy(static fn (array $activity): string => $activity['id']);
         /** @var Collection<string, array<string, mixed>> $timers */
diff --git a/src/V2/Support/RunWaitView.php b/src/V2/Support/RunWaitView.php
index 24b605a2..415793ac 100644
--- a/src/V2/Support/RunWaitView.php
+++ b/src/V2/Support/RunWaitView.php
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ public static function forRun(WorkflowRun $run): array
 
         $waits = [];
 
-        foreach (RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($run) as $activity) {
+        foreach (RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($run, decodePayloads: false) as $activity) {
             if (! is_string($activity['id'] ?? null)) {
                 continue;
             }
diff --git a/tests/Feature/V2/V2ActivityMetadataProjectionTest.php b/tests/Feature/V2/V2ActivityMetadataProjectionTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a416a18d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Feature/V2/V2ActivityMetadataProjectionTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,128 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Tests\Feature\V2;
+
+use Tests\TestCase;
+use Workflow\Serializers\Serializer;
+use Workflow\V2\Contracts\ExternalPayloadStorageDriver;
+use Workflow\V2\Contracts\ExternalPayloadStoragePolicy;
+use Workflow\V2\Enums\HistoryEventType;
+use Workflow\V2\Models\ActivityExecution;
+use Workflow\V2\Models\WorkflowHistoryEvent;
+use Workflow\V2\Models\WorkflowInstance;
+use Workflow\V2\Models\WorkflowRun;
+use Workflow\V2\Support\ActivitySnapshot;
+use Workflow\V2\Support\ExternalPayloads;
+use Workflow\V2\Support\RunActivityView;
+use Workflow\V2\Support\RunSummaryProjector;
+
+final class V2ActivityMetadataProjectionTest extends TestCase
+{
+    public function testColdMetadataProjectionDoesNotReadExternalActivityPayloads(): void
+    {
+        $bytes = Serializer::serializeWithCodec('avro', ['preserved value']);
+        $driver = new class($bytes) implements ExternalPayloadStorageDriver {
+            public int $reads = 0;
+
+            public function __construct(
+                private readonly string $bytes
+            ) {
+            }
+
+            public function put(string $data, string $sha256, string $codec): string
+            {
+                return 'memory://activity-payload';
+            }
+
+            public function get(string $uri): string
+            {
+                $this->reads++;
+
+                return $this->bytes;
+            }
+
+            public function delete(string $uri): void
+            {
+            }
+        };
+        $this->app->instance(ExternalPayloadStoragePolicy::class, new class(
+            $driver
+        ) implements ExternalPayloadStoragePolicy {
+            public function __construct(
+                private readonly ExternalPayloadStorageDriver $driver
+            ) {
+            }
+
+            public function driverFor(?string $namespace): ?ExternalPayloadStorageDriver
+            {
+                return $this->driver;
+            }
+
+            public function thresholdBytesFor(?string $namespace): ?int
+            {
+                return 1;
+            }
+        });
+        $stored = ExternalPayloads::externalize($bytes, 'avro', $driver, 1);
+        $instance = WorkflowInstance::query()->create([
+            'id' => 'metadata-projection',
+            'workflow_class' => 'MetadataWorkflow',
+            'workflow_type' => 'metadata.workflow',
+            'run_count' => 1,
+        ]);
+        $run = WorkflowRun::query()->create([
+            'workflow_instance_id' => $instance->id,
+            'run_number' => 1,
+            'workflow_class' => 'MetadataWorkflow',
+            'workflow_type' => 'metadata.workflow',
+            'status' => 'completed',
+            'namespace' => 'default',
+            'payload_codec' => 'avro',
+            'started_at' => now(),
+            'closed_at' => now(),
+            'last_progress_at' => now(),
+        ]);
+        $instance->forceFill([
+            'current_run_id' => $run->id,
+        ])->save();
+        $activity = ActivityExecution::query()->create([
+            'workflow_run_id' => $run->id,
+            'sequence' => 1,
+            'activity_class' => 'MetadataActivity',
+            'activity_type' => 'metadata.activity',
+            'status' => 'completed',
+            'attempt_count' => 1,
+            'payload_codec' => 'avro',
+            'arguments' => $stored,
+            'result' => $stored,
+            'closed_at' => now(),
+        ]);
+        WorkflowHistoryEvent::record($run, HistoryEventType::ActivityCompleted, [
+            'activity_execution_id' => $activity->id,
+            'activity' => ActivitySnapshot::fromExecution($activity),
+        ]);
+        $runId = $run->id;
+        unset($run, $activity);
+        $run = WorkflowRun::query()->findOrFail($runId);
+
+        $summary = RunSummaryProjector::project($run);
+        $this->assertSame(0, $driver->reads, 'Summary projection must not download activity data.');
+        $this->assertSame('completed', $summary->status);
+
+        $metadata = RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($run->fresh(), decodePayloads: false)[0];
+        $this->assertSame(0, $driver->reads);
+        $this->assertSame(RunActivityView::HISTORY_AUTHORITY_TYPED, $metadata['history_authority']);
+        $this->assertSame('completed', $metadata['status']);
+        $this->assertArrayNotHasKey('arguments', $metadata);
+        $this->assertArrayNotHasKey('result', $metadata);
+
+        $decoded = RunActivityView::activitiesForRun($run->fresh())[0];
+        $this->assertSame(['preserved value'], $decoded['arguments']);
+        $this->assertSame(['preserved value'], $decoded['result']);
+        $this->assertGreaterThan(0, $driver->reads);
+        unset($decoded['arguments'], $decoded['result']);
+        $this->assertSame($metadata, $decoded);
+    }
+}