diff --git a/nix/host-modules/swarm-otel.nix b/nix/host-modules/swarm-otel.nix
index fddaf4c7..51993a92 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/swarm-otel.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/swarm-otel.nix
@@ -852,8 +852,26 @@ in
                   # wrong path and a nonsense path all answer 400. Only its log
                   # distinguishes them — the real route complains about the
                   # encoding, everything else says "unsupported path requested".
+                  # 🔑 THE TWO QUERY PARAMETERS ARE NOT TUNING — without the
+                  # first one this pipeline fills the store with records that
+                  # cannot be searched by message text, which is the only
+                  # reason to collect logs at all.
+                  #
+                  # The journald receiver leaves the OTLP *body* empty and
+                  # carries the entry as a map of journal fields, so the store
+                  # has no message to index and writes the literal placeholder
+                  # `missing _msg field` into `_msg` on EVERY record. Nothing
+                  # errors: ingest returns 200, the data is all present, and a
+                  # plain search for a line that is sitting right there returns
+                  # nothing. `_msg_field` tells the store which field carries
+                  # the message. Measured, both with and without.
+                  #
+                  # `_stream_fields` is the difference between one enormous
+                  # stream for the whole host and one per unit per machine —
+                  # both low-cardinality, and both fields journald sets itself.
                   "otlphttp/victorialogs".logs_endpoint =
-                    "http://127.0.0.1:${toString vlCfg.port}/insert/opentelemetry/v1/logs";
+                    "http://127.0.0.1:${toString vlCfg.port}/insert/opentelemetry/v1/logs"
+                    + "?_msg_field=MESSAGE&_stream_fields=_HOSTNAME,_SYSTEMD_UNIT";
                 };
 
               # Moves this collector's self-metrics off the built-in