diff --git a/IMPLEMENTATION.md b/IMPLEMENTATION.md
index 3619bf9..445683f 100644
--- a/IMPLEMENTATION.md
+++ b/IMPLEMENTATION.md
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ Each type lives in `src/FrameProcessor/Domain/`. Tests in `tests/FrameProcessor.
 
 ## Phase 7 — URL-fetch ingestion
 
-### [ ] 7.1 `IImageUrlFetcher`
+### [x] 7.1 `IImageUrlFetcher`
 - Constructor takes `HttpClient` (via `IHttpClientFactory`) configured with `UrlFetch.TimeoutSeconds` and `MaxRedirects`.
 - `Task<Stream> FetchAsync(Uri, CancellationToken)` — streams response, aborts if content exceeds `MaxBytes`.
 - Throws a typed exception (`ImageFetchException`) for timeout / non-2xx / too-large / redirect-loop.
diff --git a/src/FrameProcessor/Program.cs b/src/FrameProcessor/Program.cs
index e0712a3..7afac52 100644
--- a/src/FrameProcessor/Program.cs
+++ b/src/FrameProcessor/Program.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ using FrameProcessor.Configuration;
 using FrameProcessor.ImagePipeline;
 using FrameProcessor.Mqtt;
 using FrameProcessor.Storage;
+using FrameProcessor.UrlFetch;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
 
 var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
 
@@ -42,6 +44,21 @@ builder.Services.AddSingleton<ImageStore>();
 builder.Services.AddSingleton<MqttPublisher>();
 builder.Services.AddHostedService(sp => sp.GetRequiredService<MqttPublisher>());
 
+builder.Services.AddHttpClient<IImageUrlFetcher, ImageUrlFetcher>((sp, client) =>
+{
+    var opts = sp.GetRequiredService<IOptions<UrlFetchOptions>>().Value;
+    client.Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(opts.TimeoutSeconds);
+})
+.ConfigurePrimaryHttpMessageHandler(sp =>
+{
+    var opts = sp.GetRequiredService<IOptions<UrlFetchOptions>>().Value;
+    return new HttpClientHandler
+    {
+        AllowAutoRedirect = true,
+        MaxAutomaticRedirections = opts.MaxRedirects,
+    };
+});
+
 var app = builder.Build();
 
 // Eagerly resolve FramesRegistry so an invalid frames.json fails startup fast.
diff --git a/src/FrameProcessor/UrlFetch/IImageUrlFetcher.cs b/src/FrameProcessor/UrlFetch/IImageUrlFetcher.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..85f40c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/FrameProcessor/UrlFetch/IImageUrlFetcher.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+namespace FrameProcessor.UrlFetch;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Fetches a remote image into an in-memory stream for the URL-ingestion endpoint
+/// (SPEC.md §4.2). Enforces the guardrails from SPEC.md §8 — max response size,
+/// timeout, and max redirect hops — surfacing failures as <see cref="ImageFetchException"/>
+/// so callers can map them to <c>502 Bad Gateway</c>.
+/// </summary>
+public interface IImageUrlFetcher
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Fetch the image at <paramref name="uri"/>. The returned stream is positioned
+    /// at zero and owned by the caller.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <exception cref="ImageFetchException">
+    /// Timeout, non-2xx status, response exceeding the configured maximum, or
+    /// excessive redirect hops.
+    /// </exception>
+    Task<Stream> FetchAsync(Uri uri, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
+}
diff --git a/src/FrameProcessor/UrlFetch/ImageFetchException.cs b/src/FrameProcessor/UrlFetch/ImageFetchException.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0a58ea1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/FrameProcessor/UrlFetch/ImageFetchException.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+namespace FrameProcessor.UrlFetch;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Thrown by <see cref="IImageUrlFetcher"/> when a remote image fetch fails in a way
+/// the caller should surface as <c>502 Bad Gateway</c> per SPEC.md §4.2 — timeout,
+/// non-2xx status, response exceeding <c>UrlFetch.MaxBytes</c>, or redirect-loop /
+/// excess redirect hops.
+/// </summary>
+public sealed class ImageFetchException : Exception
+{
+    public ImageFetchException(string message) : base(message)
+    {
+    }
+
+    public ImageFetchException(string message, Exception innerException) : base(message, innerException)
+    {
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/FrameProcessor/UrlFetch/ImageUrlFetcher.cs b/src/FrameProcessor/UrlFetch/ImageUrlFetcher.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..55a8d92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/FrameProcessor/UrlFetch/ImageUrlFetcher.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+using FrameProcessor.Configuration;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+
+namespace FrameProcessor.UrlFetch;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// <see cref="IImageUrlFetcher"/> implementation backed by an <see cref="HttpClient"/>
+/// from <see cref="IHttpClientFactory"/>. The client is configured with
+/// <see cref="UrlFetchOptions.TimeoutSeconds"/>; redirect-hop enforcement lives on the
+/// primary message handler (see <c>Program.cs</c>).
+/// </summary>
+public sealed class ImageUrlFetcher : IImageUrlFetcher
+{
+    private const int CopyBufferSize = 81_920;
+
+    private readonly HttpClient _httpClient;
+    private readonly IOptions<UrlFetchOptions> _options;
+
+    public ImageUrlFetcher(HttpClient httpClient, IOptions<UrlFetchOptions> options)
+    {
+        _httpClient = httpClient;
+        _options = options;
+    }
+
+    public async Task<Stream> FetchAsync(Uri uri, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        HttpResponseMessage response;
+        try
+        {
+            response = await _httpClient
+                .GetAsync(uri, HttpCompletionOption.ResponseHeadersRead, cancellationToken)
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (TaskCanceledException ex) when (!cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
+        {
+            throw new ImageFetchException($"Timed out fetching {uri}", ex);
+        }
+        catch (HttpRequestException ex)
+        {
+            // HttpClient surfaces redirect-limit overflows here as well as transport errors.
+            throw new ImageFetchException($"Request to {uri} failed: {ex.Message}", ex);
+        }
+
+        using (response)
+        {
+            if (!response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
+            {
+                throw new ImageFetchException(
+                    $"Request to {uri} returned HTTP {(int)response.StatusCode}");
+            }
+
+            var maxBytes = _options.Value.MaxBytes;
+            if (response.Content.Headers.ContentLength is long advertised && advertised > maxBytes)
+            {
+                throw new ImageFetchException(
+                    $"Response Content-Length {advertised} exceeds maximum {maxBytes} bytes");
+            }
+
+            await using var source = await response.Content
+                .ReadAsStreamAsync(cancellationToken)
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            var buffer = new MemoryStream();
+            var chunk = new byte[CopyBufferSize];
+            long total = 0;
+            int read;
+            while ((read = await source.ReadAsync(chunk.AsMemory(0, chunk.Length), cancellationToken)
+                .ConfigureAwait(false)) > 0)
+            {
+                total += read;
+                if (total > maxBytes)
+                {
+                    buffer.Dispose();
+                    throw new ImageFetchException(
+                        $"Response exceeded maximum size of {maxBytes} bytes");
+                }
+                buffer.Write(chunk, 0, read);
+            }
+
+            buffer.Position = 0;
+            return buffer;
+        }
+    }
+}