diff --git a/swarm-controller/src/main.rs b/swarm-controller/src/main.rs
index 20a7c509..3d8bd633 100644
--- a/swarm-controller/src/main.rs
+++ b/swarm-controller/src/main.rs
@@ -65,24 +65,12 @@ enum SwarmNodeKind {
     /// Seed `repo` with `agent.nix` + `flake.nix`. See
     /// `forge::Client::seed_agent_config`.
     ///
-    /// `hive` is the **address** this agent's creation was aimed at — the
-    /// hive a deploy message gets sent to over the queue — and not a
-    /// property of the agent. Seeding does not use it: it rides on the
-    /// graph because that is the only thing carrying the operator's choice
-    /// forward from the API boundary, where it was checked against the
-    /// roster once. The node that routes on it is the deploy node in the
-    /// deploy-coordination work; until that lands the field is carried and
-    /// rendered, not acted on.
-    ///
-    /// Carrying the validated value rather than re-reading the roster at
-    /// node time is deliberate — the roster is loaded at startup, and a
-    /// node that looked it up again would be answering a question the
-    /// operator already answered.
-    InitAgentConfigRepo {
-        repo: String,
-        agent: String,
-        hive: String,
-    },
+    /// Deliberately carries no hive: seeding a config repo is the same
+    /// work whichever hive the agent is bound for, and an agent's config
+    /// states nothing about where it runs. The hive is an address the
+    /// swarm routes a deploy message to — it belongs on the node that
+    /// sends that message, not on this one.
+    InitAgentConfigRepo { repo: String, agent: String },
 }
 
 impl hive_jobq_wire::WireNode for SwarmNodeKind {
@@ -103,16 +91,13 @@ impl hive_jobq_wire::WireNode for SwarmNodeKind {
             SwarmNodeKind::CreateRepo { repo } => {
                 serde_json::json!({ "repo": repo })
             }
-            SwarmNodeKind::AddRepoMember { repo, agent } => {
+            // Same rendering, and that is not a coincidence to be split
+            // apart later: both nodes act on one repo for one agent, and
+            // `label()` is what tells a viewer which of the two it is.
+            SwarmNodeKind::AddRepoMember { repo, agent }
+            | SwarmNodeKind::InitAgentConfigRepo { repo, agent } => {
                 serde_json::json!({ "repo": repo, "agent": agent })
             }
-            // Rendered with `hive` because it is the one place the graph
-            // states where this creation was aimed — nothing persists it,
-            // so a viewer watching the job is the only reader there is
-            // until the deploy node routes on it.
-            SwarmNodeKind::InitAgentConfigRepo { repo, agent, hive } => {
-                serde_json::json!({ "repo": repo, "agent": agent, "hive": hive })
-            }
         }
     }
 }
@@ -191,10 +176,7 @@ async fn run_swarm_node(
                 Err(e) => Outcome::Failed(format!("{e:#}")),
             },
         },
-        // `hive` is deliberately not destructured: seeding writes no hive
-        // into the agent's config, so this node carries the address without
-        // consuming it. See the variant's doc.
-        SwarmNodeKind::InitAgentConfigRepo { repo, agent, .. } => match deps.forge {
+        SwarmNodeKind::InitAgentConfigRepo { repo, agent } => match deps.forge {
             None => Outcome::Failed(
                 "no forge configured on this host (SWARM_CONTROLLER_FORGE_URL / \
                  SWARM_CONTROLLER_FORGE_TOKEN_FILE unset)"
@@ -591,6 +573,13 @@ async fn get_hives_status(
 /// would have been the friendlier migration and would have left every
 /// creation in the state this endpoint exists to avoid — one nothing can
 /// address.
+///
+/// Validated here and carried no further: none of the nodes this endpoint
+/// queues talks to a hive, so none of them needs the address. It reaches
+/// its consumer when the node that *sends* a deploy message exists, and
+/// that node takes it from this field. Settling the request shape now is
+/// the point — it is the breaking half, and doing it once is cheaper for
+/// every caller than doing it again later.
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, Deserialize, ToSchema)]
 struct CreateAgentRequest {
     name: String,
@@ -701,7 +690,7 @@ async fn create_agent(
                 })
                 .after_ok(create_repo);
             let _init_config = b
-                .node(SwarmNodeKind::InitAgentConfigRepo { repo, agent, hive })
+                .node(SwarmNodeKind::InitAgentConfigRepo { repo, agent })
                 .after_ok(create_repo);
             vec![create_identity.guid()]
         })