diff --git a/docs/swarm/README.md b/docs/swarm/README.md
index 2223f395..e67bd379 100644
--- a/docs/swarm/README.md
+++ b/docs/swarm/README.md
@@ -385,9 +385,9 @@ above, plus `HIVE_AGENT_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET_FILE` and
 `HIVE_AGENT_OIDC_CLIENT_ID_FILE`, which point into the unit's own credentials
 directory. The last two come from the delivered credential rather than from
 config — see [`secrets.md`](secrets.md#hive-level--one-of-each-per-hive) for
-how it gets there. A hive with no queue sets none of the four and each agent
-logs that it has none; a half-set environment logs an error and the harness
-keeps serving.
+how it gets there. A hive that hasn't been given the queue's address for its
+agents sets none of the four and each agent logs that it has none; a half-set
+environment logs an error and the harness keeps serving.
 
 ### Swarm-wide forge webhooks
 
diff --git a/docs/swarm/secrets.md b/docs/swarm/secrets.md
index c3dbf43f..afce2a45 100644
--- a/docs/swarm/secrets.md
+++ b/docs/swarm/secrets.md
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ reads them out of its own `$CREDENTIALS_DIRECTORY`, owned by the agent user
 and by nobody else. `hive-c0re` never reads the bytes at any point: it runs as
 `hive-core`, which is the reason a copy wasn't an option either. When the
 files aren't there the daemon forwards nothing and says so in its journal, and
-the harness logs that it has no queue — the same absent-and-legal state, twice,
+the harness logs that it has no queue coordinates — the same absent-and-legal state, twice,
 rather than a container that refuses to start.
 
 ⚠️ **Service↔store mTLS is its own trust domain.** A credential you must
diff --git a/hive-agent/src/swarm_queue.rs b/hive-agent/src/swarm_queue.rs
index da842244..ab93fac7 100644
--- a/hive-agent/src/swarm_queue.rs
+++ b/hive-agent/src/swarm_queue.rs
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ impl QueueEnv {
 enum Resolution {
     /// Everything is here; the agent can reach the queue.
     Configured(Box<QueueConfig>),
-    /// No queue for this agent, and that is a legal state — carries why.
+    /// No queue coordinates for this agent, and that is a legal state — carries why.
     Absent(&'static str),
     /// Some of the environment, not all of it. A deployment bug rather than
     /// an absent integration, so it is reported and then survived.
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ pub fn init() {
             Some(*cfg)
         }
         Resolution::Absent(why) => {
-            tracing::info!(why, "no swarm queue for this agent");
+            tracing::info!(why, "no swarm queue coordinates for this agent");
             None
         }
         Resolution::Partial => {
@@ -219,9 +219,10 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
-    /// A hive with no swarm queue at all. Silence here is correct, and it has
-    /// to be distinguishable from the half-set case below — that distinction
-    /// is the only thing that makes the error branch worth logging.
+    /// A hive that has not been given its queue's coordinates at all. Silence
+    /// here is correct, and it has to be distinguishable from the half-set
+    /// case below — that distinction is the only thing that makes the error
+    /// branch worth logging.
     #[test]
     fn an_empty_environment_is_no_queue_rather_than_an_error() {
         let e = env([None, None, None, None]);
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/host_config.rs b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/host_config.rs
index d90ff22a..09b55c66 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/host_config.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/host_config.rs
@@ -133,8 +133,8 @@ fn bind_child_agent_dirs(child: &str, binds: &mut Vec<BindMount>) {
 /// Env var naming the host directory `swarm-bao-queue-agent.service` lands
 /// this hive's agent queue credential in. Set by the hive-c0re NixOS module
 /// from `deploy.hive-controller.queue.agentCredentialDir`; absent means this
-/// daemon runs outside its unit, which is the same "no queue" answer as an
-/// empty directory.
+/// daemon runs outside its unit, which is the same "no queue credential"
+/// answer as an empty directory.
 const QUEUE_CREDENTIAL_DIR_ENV: &str = "HIVE_C0RE_AGENT_QUEUE_CREDENTIAL_DIR";
 
 /// systemd credential ids the two files arrive under inside the container.
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ fn queue_agent_credentials(agent_name: &str, dir: Option<&Path>) -> Vec<Credenti
     let Some(dir) = dir else {
         tracing::info!(
             %agent_name,
-            "no {QUEUE_CREDENTIAL_DIR_ENV} in this daemon's environment — agent gets no swarm queue"
+            "no {QUEUE_CREDENTIAL_DIR_ENV} in this daemon's environment — agent gets no swarm queue credential"
         );
         return Vec::new();
     };
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ fn queue_agent_credentials(agent_name: &str, dir: Option<&Path>) -> Vec<Credenti
     if !secret.is_file() || !client_id.is_file() {
         tracing::info!(
             %agent_name, dir = %dir.display(),
-            "swarm queue credential not published yet — agent gets no swarm queue"
+            "swarm queue credential not published yet — agent gets no swarm queue credential"
         );
         return Vec::new();
     }
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs b/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs
index 38ca330c..8199a958 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/meta.rs
@@ -732,7 +732,7 @@ const FORWARDED_VARS: &[&str] = &[
 const FORWARDED_VAR_OPTIONS: &[(&str, &str)] = &[
     // Read at build time to decide whether the harness unit declares the
     // queue credential at all — see `nix/agent-modules/queue.nix`. An agent
-    // whose option says no queue and whose env says otherwise logs the
+    // whose option says no queue coordinates and whose env says otherwise logs the
     // partial-config error rather than half-connecting, which is the same
     // failure this map's doc describes and the reason both halves are wired.
     ("HIVE_AGENT_NATS_URL", "hyperhive.queue.natsUrl"),
diff --git a/nix/agent-modules/queue.nix b/nix/agent-modules/queue.nix
index f6095ba6..430c1b7a 100644
--- a/nix/agent-modules/queue.nix
+++ b/nix/agent-modules/queue.nix
@@ -38,10 +38,10 @@ in
         which is the bridge address rather than a loopback one — inside this
         container `127.0.0.1` is the agent itself.
 
-        `null` means this hive has no queue, and the harness then declares no
-        credential and logs that it has none. It is deliberately not defaulted
-        to anything: a guessed address builds fine and talks to the wrong
-        machine.
+        `null` means this hive has not been given the queue's address for its
+        agents, and the harness then declares no credential and logs that it
+        has none. It is deliberately not defaulted to anything: a guessed
+        address builds fine and talks to the wrong machine.
       '';
     };
 
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ in
 
         Set together with {option}`hyperhive.queue.natsUrl` or not at all —
         the harness treats a half-set pair as a deployment bug rather than as
-        "no queue".
+        "no queue coordinates".
       '';
     };
   };
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/swarm.nix b/nix/host-modules/swarm.nix
index 3c8dda75..123c2748 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/swarm.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/swarm.nix
@@ -611,7 +611,8 @@ in
       interface alone. ⚠️ Never a loopback address — inside an agent's network
       namespace `127.0.0.1` is the agent, not this host.
 
-      Null means this hive's agents have no queue. Together with
+      Null means this hive's agents have not been given the queue's address.
+      Together with
       {option}`services.hyperhive.swarm.statusPublish.tokenEndpoint` it is
       what decides whether the harness is handed queue coordinates at all; a
       hive whose queue is elsewhere names the address its containers route to.
diff --git a/nix/module-eval.nix b/nix/module-eval.nix
index 95b5fe4c..4cc04261 100644
--- a/nix/module-eval.nix
+++ b/nix/module-eval.nix
@@ -1278,7 +1278,8 @@ let
     }
     {
       # The agents mint against the swarm's IdP, the same endpoint the hive's
-      # own client uses — a hive-local guess would be a token no queue accepts.
+      # own client uses — a hive-local guess would produce a token the queue
+      # would not accept.
       name = "the agents' token endpoint is the swarm IdP's";
       ok =
         let
@@ -1289,8 +1290,9 @@ let
     }
     {
       # The absence arm, and what makes the two above able to fail: a hive
-      # with no queue must forward neither coordinate, because half a pair
-      # reaches the harness as a partial configuration rather than as none.
+      # with no queue address must forward neither coordinate, because half a
+      # pair reaches the harness as a partial configuration rather than as
+      # none.
       name = "a hive with no swarm queue forwards no agent queue coordinates";
       ok =
         let
@@ -1321,9 +1323,10 @@ let
         && e.HIVE_AGENT_OIDC_CLIENT_ID_FILE == "%d/hive-queue-agent-client-id";
     }
     {
-      # An agent built before its hive had a queue. It must declare nothing
-      # rather than name a credential that never arrives — and the harness
-      # then reports "no queue" instead of a half-set environment.
+      # An agent built before its hive was handed the queue's address. It
+      # must declare nothing rather than name a credential that never
+      # arrives — and the harness then reports "no queue coordinates"
+      # instead of a half-set environment.
       name = "an agent with no queue coordinates declares no credential";
       ok =
         let