diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/job_queue/mod.rs b/hive-c0re/src/job_queue/mod.rs
index 4e2a7930..843b6d3c 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/job_queue/mod.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/job_queue/mod.rs
@@ -89,22 +89,14 @@ pub struct RunningTransient {
     pub since: DateTime<Utc>,
 }
 
-/// An owned read-view of a DAG container's carried metadata ([`NodeKind::Dag`]).
-/// Derived on read from the container node — the data has a single home (the
-/// node payload); this is not a stored side-table.
-struct DagMeta {
-    source: Source,
-    reason: String,
-    created_at: DateTime<Utc>,
-}
-
 /// The crate scheduler, specialised to this host's node + resource types.
 ///
 /// A **DAG is a single container node** ([`NodeKind::Dag`], `parent = None`)
 /// whose subtree is the DAG's work — so the container's `NodeId` is the DAG id,
 /// its rolled-up state is the DAG state, and there are no grouping side-tables:
-/// membership + meta are graph queries ([`container`] / [`dag_meta`] + the
-/// `hive_jobq::Graph` accessors). One shared crate [`Graph`] holds every DAG.
+/// membership + meta are graph queries ([`container`] + the `hive_jobq::Graph`
+/// accessors, with the meta read straight off the container's payload). One
+/// shared crate [`Graph`] holds every DAG.
 ///
 /// There is deliberately **no wrapper struct and no per-node side map**. The
 /// last map held the `build_logs` row id; that link now lives on the log row
@@ -400,25 +392,6 @@ fn container(sched: &Sched, dag_id: u64) -> Option<NodeId> {
     })
 }
 
-/// The container's carried domain metadata as an owned read-view. The data
-/// lives solely in the [`NodeKind::Dag`] payload — this is a derived read,
-/// not a stored side-table.
-fn dag_meta(sched: &Sched, container: NodeId) -> Option<DagMeta> {
-    let NodeKind::Dag {
-        source,
-        reason,
-        created_at,
-    } = &sched.graph().node(container)?.payload
-    else {
-        return None;
-    };
-    Some(DagMeta {
-        source: *source,
-        reason: reason.clone(),
-        created_at: *created_at,
-    })
-}
-
 /// Project a DAG into its wire [`DagView`]: a near-raw view of the
 /// container's work nodes, with `Done` nodes excluded. Lifecycle
 /// (`state` / `started_at` / `finished_at` / `error`) is read straight
@@ -429,7 +402,17 @@ fn dag_meta(sched: &Sched, container: NodeId) -> Option<DagMeta> {
 /// DAG drops out of the snapshot entirely (a `Failed` one lingers until
 /// aged out).
 fn dag_view(sched: &Sched, container: NodeId) -> Option<DagView> {
-    let meta = dag_meta(sched, container)?;
+    // Read straight off the container's payload: the three fields have a
+    // single home there, so an intermediate owned copy of them was a second
+    // type describing the same data rather than a grouping side-table.
+    let NodeKind::Dag {
+        source,
+        reason,
+        created_at,
+    } = &sched.graph().node(container)?.payload
+    else {
+        return None;
+    };
     let all: Vec<_> = sched.graph().descendants(container).collect();
     // DAG-level timestamps are taken over *all* subtree nodes (including the
     // `Done` ones excluded from the wire) — the client can't derive them
@@ -504,9 +487,9 @@ fn dag_view(sched: &Sched, container: NodeId) -> Option<DagView> {
     let is_terminal = sched.graph().is_settled(container) == Some(true);
     Some(DagView {
         id: container.get(),
-        source: meta.source,
-        reason: meta.reason.clone(),
-        created_at: meta.created_at,
+        source: *source,
+        reason: reason.clone(),
+        created_at: *created_at,
         started_at: started.into_iter().min(),
         finished_at: is_terminal.then(|| finished.into_iter().max()).flatten(),
         nodes,