diff --git a/gateway/run.py b/gateway/run.py
index 81018722c..19f994ed5 100644
--- a/gateway/run.py
+++ b/gateway/run.py
@@ -6186,7 +6186,7 @@ def _start_cron_ticker(stop_event: threading.Event, adapters=None, interval: int
     logger.info("Cron ticker stopped")
 
 
-async def start_gateway(config: Optional[GatewayConfig] = None, replace: bool = False) -> bool:
+async def start_gateway(config: Optional[GatewayConfig] = None, replace: bool = False, verbosity: Optional[int] = 0) -> bool:
     """
     Start the gateway and run until interrupted.
     
@@ -6288,6 +6288,21 @@ async def start_gateway(config: Optional[GatewayConfig] = None, replace: bool =
     logging.getLogger().addHandler(file_handler)
     logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.INFO)
 
+    # Optional stderr handler — level driven by -v/-q flags on the CLI.
+    # verbosity=None (-q/--quiet): no stderr output
+    # verbosity=0    (default):    WARNING and above
+    # verbosity=1    (-v):         INFO and above
+    # verbosity=2+   (-vv/-vvv):   DEBUG
+    if verbosity is not None:
+        _stderr_level = {0: logging.WARNING, 1: logging.INFO}.get(verbosity, logging.DEBUG)
+        _stderr_handler = logging.StreamHandler()
+        _stderr_handler.setLevel(_stderr_level)
+        _stderr_handler.setFormatter(logging.Formatter('%(levelname)s %(name)s: %(message)s'))
+        logging.getLogger().addHandler(_stderr_handler)
+        # Lower root logger level if needed so DEBUG records can reach the handler
+        if _stderr_level < logging.getLogger().level:
+            logging.getLogger().setLevel(_stderr_level)
+
     # Separate errors-only log for easy debugging
     error_handler = RotatingFileHandler(
         log_dir / 'errors.log',
diff --git a/hermes_cli/gateway.py b/hermes_cli/gateway.py
index a88552e2e..b83c22f53 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/gateway.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/gateway.py
@@ -1092,11 +1092,12 @@ def launchd_status(deep: bool = False):
 # Gateway Runner
 # =============================================================================
 
-def run_gateway(verbose: bool = False, replace: bool = False):
+def run_gateway(verbose: int = 0, quiet: bool = False, replace: bool = False):
     """Run the gateway in foreground.
     
     Args:
-        verbose: Enable verbose logging output.
+        verbose: Stderr log verbosity count added on top of default WARNING (0=WARNING, 1=INFO, 2+=DEBUG).
+        quiet: Suppress all stderr log output.
         replace: If True, kill any existing gateway instance before starting.
                  This prevents systemd restart loops when the old process
                  hasn't fully exited yet.
@@ -1115,7 +1116,8 @@ def run_gateway(verbose: bool = False, replace: bool = False):
     
     # Exit with code 1 if gateway fails to connect any platform,
     # so systemd Restart=on-failure will retry on transient errors
-    success = asyncio.run(start_gateway(replace=replace))
+    verbosity = None if quiet else verbose
+    success = asyncio.run(start_gateway(replace=replace, verbosity=verbosity))
     if not success:
         sys.exit(1)
 
@@ -1889,9 +1891,10 @@ def gateway_command(args):
     
     # Default to run if no subcommand
     if subcmd is None or subcmd == "run":
-        verbose = getattr(args, 'verbose', False)
+        verbose = getattr(args, 'verbose', 0)
+        quiet = getattr(args, 'quiet', False)
         replace = getattr(args, 'replace', False)
-        run_gateway(verbose, replace=replace)
+        run_gateway(verbose, quiet=quiet, replace=replace)
         return
 
     if subcmd == "setup":
diff --git a/hermes_cli/main.py b/hermes_cli/main.py
index a420aafcc..3344dae04 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/main.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/main.py
@@ -3857,7 +3857,10 @@ For more help on a command:
     
     # gateway run (default)
     gateway_run = gateway_subparsers.add_parser("run", help="Run gateway in foreground")
-    gateway_run.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", action="store_true")
+    gateway_run.add_argument("-v", "--verbose", action="count", default=0,
+                             help="Increase stderr log verbosity (-v=INFO, -vv=DEBUG)")
+    gateway_run.add_argument("-q", "--quiet", action="store_true",
+                             help="Suppress all stderr log output")
     gateway_run.add_argument("--replace", action="store_true",
                              help="Replace any existing gateway instance (useful for systemd)")