diff --git a/src/engine.rs b/src/engine.rs
index 4e3cf94..e24911f 100644
--- a/src/engine.rs
+++ b/src/engine.rs
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ use crate::http::models::{
 use crate::secrets::{EncryptedCatalogBackend, SecretManager, ENCRYPTED_PROVIDER_TYPE};
 use crate::source::Source;
 use crate::storage::{FilesystemStorage, StorageManager};
+use crate::thirdparty::LiquidCacheClientBuilder;
 use anyhow::Result;
 use chrono::Utc;
 use datafusion::arrow::datatypes::Schema;
@@ -23,7 +24,6 @@ use datafusion::execution::SessionStateBuilder;
 use datafusion::prelude::*;
 use datafusion_tracing::{instrument_with_info_spans, InstrumentationOptions};
 use instrumented_object_store::instrument_object_store;
-use liquid_cache_client::LiquidCacheClientBuilder;
 use object_store::ObjectStore;
 use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
@@ -2725,15 +2725,6 @@ type LiquidCacheConfig = (String, Vec<ObjectStoreConfig>);
 ///
 /// This function creates a SessionContext with tracing instrumentation:
 ///
-/// **Without liquid-cache:**
-/// 1. Object stores are wrapped with `instrument_object_store()` for I/O tracing
-/// 2. DataFusion operators get spans via `datafusion-tracing`
-///
-/// **With liquid-cache:**
-/// Uses `LiquidCacheClientBuilder` to create the context. Object stores are registered
-/// with the builder (for the liquid-cache server), not locally instrumented since
-/// data fetching happens on the server side.
-///
 /// ## Arguments
 ///
 /// * `object_stores` - Pre-built object stores to wrap with instrumentation (non-liquid-cache path)
@@ -2747,7 +2738,14 @@ fn build_instrumented_context(
     if let Some((server_address, store_configs)) = liquid_cache_config {
         info!(server = %server_address, "Building liquid-cache session context");
 
-        let mut liquid_cache_builder = LiquidCacheClientBuilder::new(&server_address);
+        // Object store instrumentation is skipped here: actual I/O happens on the
+        // liquid-cache server, so client-side object store wrappers see no traffic.
+        let mut liquid_cache_builder = LiquidCacheClientBuilder::new(&server_address)
+            .with_session_state_mapper(|builder| {
+                builder.with_physical_optimizer_rule(
+                    instrument_with_info_spans!(options: InstrumentationOptions::default()),
+                )
+            });
 
         // Register object stores with liquid-cache builder (server needs these configs)
         for (url, options) in store_configs {
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index ae9599d..43f0827 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ pub mod secrets;
 pub mod source;
 pub mod storage;
 pub mod telemetry;
+pub mod thirdparty;
 
 pub use engine::{QueryResponse, RuntimeEngine, RuntimeEngineBuilder};
 pub use source::Source;
diff --git a/src/thirdparty/liquid_cache_client_builder.rs b/src/thirdparty/liquid_cache_client_builder.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e042ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/thirdparty/liquid_cache_client_builder.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+use datafusion::error::{DataFusionError, Result};
+use datafusion::execution::object_store::ObjectStoreUrl;
+use datafusion::execution::runtime_env::RuntimeEnv;
+use datafusion::execution::SessionStateBuilder;
+use datafusion::prelude::*;
+use liquid_cache_client::PushdownOptimizer;
+
+type SessionStateMapper = Box<dyn FnOnce(SessionStateBuilder) -> SessionStateBuilder + Send>;
+
+// Local rewrite of `liquid_cache_client::LiquidCacheClientBuilder` to support
+// object store and session state instrumentation hooks. Remove this once the
+// upstream library exposes these extension points.
+pub struct LiquidCacheClientBuilder {
+    object_stores: Vec<(ObjectStoreUrl, HashMap<String, String>)>,
+    cache_server: String,
+    session_state_mapper: Option<SessionStateMapper>,
+}
+
+impl LiquidCacheClientBuilder {
+    /// Create a new builder for LiquidCache client state.
+    pub fn new(cache_server: impl AsRef<str>) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            object_stores: vec![],
+            cache_server: cache_server.as_ref().to_string(),
+            session_state_mapper: None,
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Add an object store to the builder.
+    /// Checkout <https://docs.rs/object_store/latest/object_store/fn.parse_url_opts.html> for available options.
+    pub fn with_object_store(
+        mut self,
+        url: ObjectStoreUrl,
+        object_store_options: Option<HashMap<String, String>>,
+    ) -> Self {
+        self.object_stores
+            .push((url, object_store_options.unwrap_or_default()));
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Set a mapper function that transforms the `SessionStateBuilder` after the default
+    /// configuration and optimizer rules have been applied.
+    ///
+    /// This is useful for adding additional physical optimizer rules (e.g., tracing instrumentation).
+    pub fn with_session_state_mapper(
+        mut self,
+        f: impl FnOnce(SessionStateBuilder) -> SessionStateBuilder + Send + 'static,
+    ) -> Self {
+        self.session_state_mapper = Some(Box::new(f));
+        self
+    }
+
+    /// Build the [SessionContext].
+    pub fn build(self, config: SessionConfig) -> Result<SessionContext> {
+        let mut session_config = config;
+        session_config
+            .options_mut()
+            .execution
+            .parquet
+            .pushdown_filters = true;
+        session_config
+            .options_mut()
+            .execution
+            .parquet
+            .schema_force_view_types = false;
+        session_config
+            .options_mut()
+            .execution
+            .parquet
+            .binary_as_string = true;
+        session_config.options_mut().execution.batch_size = 8192 * 2;
+
+        let runtime_env = Arc::new(RuntimeEnv::default());
+
+        // Register object stores
+        for (object_store_url, options) in &self.object_stores {
+            let (object_store, _path) =
+                object_store::parse_url_opts(object_store_url.as_ref(), options.clone())
+                    .map_err(|e| DataFusionError::External(Box::new(e)))?;
+            runtime_env.register_object_store(object_store_url.as_ref(), Arc::new(object_store));
+        }
+
+        let mut state_builder = SessionStateBuilder::new()
+            .with_config(session_config)
+            .with_runtime_env(runtime_env)
+            .with_default_features()
+            .with_physical_optimizer_rule(Arc::new(PushdownOptimizer::new(
+                self.cache_server.clone(),
+                self.object_stores.clone(),
+            )));
+
+        if let Some(mapper) = self.session_state_mapper {
+            state_builder = mapper(state_builder);
+        }
+
+        Ok(SessionContext::new_with_state(state_builder.build()))
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/thirdparty/mod.rs b/src/thirdparty/mod.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..032d9f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/thirdparty/mod.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+mod liquid_cache_client_builder;
+
+pub use liquid_cache_client_builder::LiquidCacheClientBuilder;