diff --git a/backend/app/gateway/app.py b/backend/app/gateway/app.py
index 2bc2332f5..80de83bcc 100644
--- a/backend/app/gateway/app.py
+++ b/backend/app/gateway/app.py
@@ -145,9 +145,14 @@ async def _migrate_orphaned_threads(store, admin_user_id: str) -> int:
 async def lifespan(app: FastAPI) -> AsyncGenerator[None, None]:
     """Application lifespan handler."""
 
-    # Load config and check necessary environment variables at startup
+    # Load config and check necessary environment variables at startup.
+    # Phase 2: explicit-passing primitive. app.state.config is the single source
+    # of truth for FastAPI request handlers via Depends(get_config). AppConfig.init()
+    # is still invoked for backward compatibility with legacy AppConfig.current()
+    # callers that haven't been migrated yet.
     try:
-        AppConfig.current()
+        app.state.config = AppConfig.from_file()
+        AppConfig.init(app.state.config)
         logger.info("Configuration loaded successfully")
     except Exception as e:
         error_msg = f"Failed to load configuration during gateway startup: {e}"
diff --git a/backend/app/gateway/deps.py b/backend/app/gateway/deps.py
index 54b92dc3a..ad6f950c5 100644
--- a/backend/app/gateway/deps.py
+++ b/backend/app/gateway/deps.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
 from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException, Request
 
+from deerflow.config.app_config import AppConfig
 from deerflow.runtime import RunContext, RunManager
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
@@ -22,6 +23,21 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from deerflow.persistence.thread_meta.base import ThreadMetaStore
 
 
+def get_config(request: Request) -> AppConfig:
+    """FastAPI dependency returning the app-scoped ``AppConfig``.
+
+    Prefer this over ``AppConfig.current()`` in new code. Reads from
+    ``request.app.state.config`` which is set at startup (``app.py``
+    lifespan) and swapped on config reload (``routers/mcp.py``,
+    ``routers/skills.py``). Phase 2 of the config refactor migrates all
+    router-level ``AppConfig.current()`` callers to this dependency.
+    """
+    cfg = getattr(request.app.state, "config", None)
+    if cfg is None:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=503, detail="Configuration not available")
+    return cfg
+
+
 @asynccontextmanager
 async def langgraph_runtime(app: FastAPI) -> AsyncGenerator[None, None]:
     """Bootstrap and tear down all LangGraph runtime singletons.
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_gateway_deps_config.py b/backend/tests/test_gateway_deps_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a3a1d1007
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/test_gateway_deps_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+"""Tests for the FastAPI get_config dependency.
+
+Phase 2 step 1: introduces the new explicit-config primitive that
+resolves ``AppConfig`` from ``request.app.state.config``. This coexists
+with the existing ``AppConfig.current()`` process-global during the
+migration; it becomes the sole mechanism after Phase 2 task P2-10.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from fastapi import Depends, FastAPI
+from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+
+from app.gateway.deps import get_config
+from deerflow.config.app_config import AppConfig
+from deerflow.config.sandbox_config import SandboxConfig
+
+
+def test_get_config_returns_app_state_config():
+    """get_config returns the AppConfig stored on app.state.config."""
+    app = FastAPI()
+    cfg = AppConfig(sandbox=SandboxConfig(use="test"))
+    app.state.config = cfg
+
+    @app.get("/probe")
+    def probe(c: AppConfig = Depends(get_config)):
+        # Identity check: FastAPI must hand us the exact object from app.state
+        return {"same_identity": c is cfg, "log_level": c.log_level}
+
+    client = TestClient(app)
+    response = client.get("/probe")
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    body = response.json()
+    assert body["same_identity"] is True
+    assert body["log_level"] == "info"
+
+
+def test_get_config_reads_updated_app_state():
+    """When app.state.config is swapped (config reload), get_config sees the new value."""
+    app = FastAPI()
+    original = AppConfig(sandbox=SandboxConfig(use="test"), log_level="info")
+    replacement = original.model_copy(update={"log_level": "debug"})
+
+    app.state.config = original
+
+    @app.get("/log-level")
+    def log_level(c: AppConfig = Depends(get_config)):
+        return {"level": c.log_level}
+
+    client = TestClient(app)
+    assert client.get("/log-level").json() == {"level": "info"}
+
+    # Simulate config reload (PUT /mcp/config, etc.)
+    app.state.config = replacement
+    assert client.get("/log-level").json() == {"level": "debug"}