diff --git a/nix/host-modules/swarm-required-services.nix b/nix/host-modules/swarm-required-services.nix
index 480ce56e..68180f70 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/swarm-required-services.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/swarm-required-services.nix
@@ -71,4 +71,18 @@ in
     victoriametrics.enable = lib.mkDefault swarmCfg.enableRequiredServices;
     grafana.enable = lib.mkDefault swarmCfg.enableRequiredServices;
   };
+
+  # The collector that feeds the pair above. Missed for the same reason
+  # `nats.enable` was above (found while investigating why grafana showed
+  # nothing on a swarm-services host): `otel.nix` predates this file's
+  # last revisit, so its absence here was omission, not intent — a
+  # swarm-services host otherwise gets victoriametrics + grafana running
+  # with nothing feeding them until an operator flips `otel.enable` by
+  # hand. `services.hyperhive.otel` (note: no `swarm.` prefix, this is the
+  # existing per-hive option from ./otel.nix, not a new swarm-scoped one)
+  # already treats a co-located `swarm.victoriametrics.enable` as a
+  # complete destination with no `endpoint` required (see that module's
+  # own history), so this default is self-sufficient on exactly the host
+  # it fires on.
+  config.services.hyperhive.otel.enable = lib.mkDefault swarmCfg.enableRequiredServices;
 }