diff --git a/REBUILD.md b/REBUILD.md
index 3c1face..6325b00 100644
--- a/REBUILD.md
+++ b/REBUILD.md
@@ -121,7 +121,9 @@ dropping garbage; 28 TB of compressed overview traffic. Throughput goal:
    cost: a second implementation of lib/headers, lib/release, lib/rules and
    the chunk format, kept identical (check.ts) for as long as both exist.
    Findings, how to run both and how to compare their outputs:
-   `tools/edge-bench-rs/README.md`.
+   `tools/edge-bench-rs/README.md`. Since 2026-10-09 the Rust worker
+   (`edge-node`, same crate) is the one running on homelab: ~8× less CPU
+   per header and 20× less memory than `edge:node` in production.
    Per lease: compressed chunks of 10–50 k lines, in order →
    parse subjects → skip crossposts outside their owner group (of the
    indexed groups in the article's Xref, the one with the lowest priority
diff --git a/config/coordinator.ts b/config/coordinator.ts
index 0928e4c..7faa61a 100644
--- a/config/coordinator.ts
+++ b/config/coordinator.ts
@@ -30,8 +30,13 @@ export default {
   leaseTtlSeconds: env.get('LEASE_TTL_SECONDS', 15 * 60),
   /** NNTP connections the coordinator fetches headers with. */
   nntpConnections: env.get('NNTP_CONNECTIONS', 4),
-  /** A reply with no data for this long fails (old ranges answer slowly). */
-  nntpTimeoutMs: env.get('NNTP_TIMEOUT_MS', 10 * 60 * 1000),
+  /**
+   * A reply with no data for this long fails, and its connection is replaced.
+   * Eweka sometimes stops answering on long-lived connections (all 40 quiet,
+   * a fresh one answers in seconds; LOG.md 2026-10-09 (14)): at 10 minutes
+   * the prefetcher nearly stopped. Data arrives within seconds otherwise.
+   */
+  nntpTimeoutMs: env.get('NNTP_TIMEOUT_MS', 2 * 60 * 1000),
   spool: {
     dir: env.get('SPOOL_DIR', app.tmpPath('spool')),
     /** Ranges kept fetched ahead, per active lease. */
diff --git a/tools/edge-bench-rs/README.md b/tools/edge-bench-rs/README.md
index 5d4fc80..8ec00c5 100644
--- a/tools/edge-bench-rs/README.md
+++ b/tools/edge-bench-rs/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 # edge-bench-rs: the edge worker's indexing in Rust
 
+Since 2026-10-09 this crate is also the production worker: `edge-node`
+(`src/bin/edge-node.rs`) leases ranges from the coordinator and posts
+batches like `node ace edge:node`, with the same indexing as the
+benchmark (`src/lib.rs`). On homelab it indexed 122M headers in 10
+minutes with 0.37 cores and 565 MB, next to the TypeScript workers' 24M
+with 0.61 cores and 11.3 GB (8 threads vs 8 processes): about 8× less
+CPU per header and 20× less memory. See "The worker" below.
+
 A measurement, not a product. It answers whether a Rust edge worker would be
 worth a second implementation of the TypeScript one (`edge:node`, REBUILD.md
 part 2). It ports the path that `edge:bench` replays over a captured range:
@@ -195,3 +203,32 @@ them:
 | `src/codec.rs` | lib/chunks encodeChunk, format v2 |
 | `src/js.rs` | JavaScript semantics, sha1 |
 | `check.ts` | the comparison |
+
+## The worker
+
+```sh
+cargo build --release
+COORDINATOR_URL=http://coordinator:3334 NODE_TOKEN=… ./target/release/edge-node [--threads N] [--batch-articles 500000] [--ranges N] [--max-mbit M]
+```
+
+- **One range per thread** (default one per core): one thread reads the
+  coordinator's stream and inflates a frame ahead, another posts the
+  batches in order (one may wait), the indexer goes on meanwhile.
+- **As `commands/edge_node.ts`:** retries for network trouble and 5xx;
+  409 means the lease is lost (the range stops, isn't given back); a
+  batch once 500k articles or 100k files wait (a picture group's batches
+  went over the server's 256 MB limit); a chunk that doesn't inflate is
+  reported (the coordinator fetches it plain next time); SIGTERM/SIGINT
+  give each range back after its current chunk; `--max-mbit` is the
+  node's download cap, shared by its threads. Plus a heartbeat when no
+  batch went out for a minute.
+- **Wire format:** `src/wire.rs` writes a batch as `toWire` does.
+  `edge-bench-rs --wire` and `check.ts --wire` compare it with the
+  TypeScript's, field by field.
+- **End to end:** both workers indexed the a.b.models capture (spooled
+  as a range) through the web server; what the server stored was the
+  same (releases with every column, chunks, candidates, rule counts,
+  fragments with their JSON).
+- **On homelab:** container `usenet-rebuild-edge-rs` runs
+  `/mnt/bulk/usenet-rebuild/bin/edge-node --threads 8` in
+  node:22-bookworm-slim (the binary needs glibc 2.34+).
diff --git a/tools/probe_chunk.ts b/tools/probe_chunk.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a356498
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/probe_chunk.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/**
+ * One XOVER chunk fetched compressed (with a reply timeout) and plain, timed:
+ * whether a chunk that never finishes compressed is whole without compression.
+ *
+ *   node --env-file=.env --import=@poppinss/ts-exec tools/probe_chunk.ts <group> <from> <to> [timeoutSeconds]
+ */
+import { unzipSync } from 'node:zlib'
+import { XoverClient } from '#lib/nntp/index'
+
+const [group, from, to, timeout] = process.argv.slice(2)
+const env = process.env
+const connect = (compress: boolean, timeoutMs: number) =>
+  XoverClient.connect({ host: env.NNTP_HOST!, port: Number(env.NNTP_PORT ?? 563), user: env.NNTP_USER, password: env.NNTP_PASSWORD, secure: (env.NNTP_SECURE ?? 'true') !== 'false', compress, timeoutMs })
+for (const compress of [true, false]) {
+  const c = await connect(compress, Number(timeout ?? 90) * 1000)
+  await c.group(group)
+  const at = Date.now()
+  try {
+    const raw = await c.xoverRaw(Number(from), Number(to))
+    const lines = unzipSync(raw).toString().split('\r\n').filter((l) => l.includes('\t')).length
+    console.log(`${compress ? 'compressed' : 'plain'}: ${raw.length} bytes, ${lines} lines in ${((Date.now() - at) / 1000).toFixed(1)} s`)
+  } catch (e: any) {
+    console.log(`${compress ? 'compressed' : 'plain'}: ${e.message} after ${((Date.now() - at) / 1000).toFixed(1)} s`)
+  }
+  c.close()
+}