diff --git a/pkg/metricstore/lineprotocol.go b/pkg/metricstore/lineprotocol.go
index 21f036ed..d7b96b91 100644
--- a/pkg/metricstore/lineprotocol.go
+++ b/pkg/metricstore/lineprotocol.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
 	cclog "github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-lib/v2/ccLogger"
@@ -53,7 +54,7 @@ func ReceiveNats(ms *MemoryStore,
 	}
 
 	var wg sync.WaitGroup
-	msgs := make(chan []byte, workers*2)
+	msgs := make(chan []byte, max(workers*256, 8192))
 
 	for _, sc := range *Keys.Subscriptions {
 		clusterTag := sc.ClusterTag
@@ -123,6 +124,10 @@ func reorder(buf, prefix []byte) []byte {
 	}
 }
 
+// walDropped counts WAL messages dropped due to a full channel.
+// Logged periodically; not critical since binary snapshots capture the data.
+var walDropped atomic.Int64
+
 // decodeState holds the per-call scratch buffers used by DecodeLine.
 // Instances are recycled via decodeStatePool to avoid repeated allocations
 // during high-throughput ingestion.
@@ -348,7 +353,7 @@ func DecodeLine(dec *lineprotocol.Decoder,
 		time := t.Unix()
 
 		if Keys.Checkpoints.FileFormat == "wal" {
-			WALMessages <- &WALMessage{
+			msg := &WALMessage{
 				MetricName: string(st.metricBuf),
 				Cluster:    cluster,
 				Node:       host,
@@ -356,6 +361,15 @@ func DecodeLine(dec *lineprotocol.Decoder,
 				Value:      metric.Value,
 				Timestamp:  time,
 			}
+			select {
+			case WALMessages <- msg:
+			default:
+				// WAL channel full — metric is written to memory store but not WAL.
+				// Next binary snapshot will capture it.
+				if dropped := walDropped.Add(1); dropped%10000 == 1 {
+					cclog.Warnf("[METRICSTORE]> WAL channel full, dropped %d messages (data safe in memory, next snapshot will capture)", dropped)
+				}
+			}
 		}
 
 		if err := ms.WriteToLevel(lvl, st.selector, time, []Metric{metric}); err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/metricstore/metricstore.go b/pkg/metricstore/metricstore.go
index 84dad72b..cd74f481 100644
--- a/pkg/metricstore/metricstore.go
+++ b/pkg/metricstore/metricstore.go
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ func Init(rawConfig json.RawMessage, metrics map[string]MetricConfig, wg *sync.W
 	shutdownFuncMu.Unlock()
 
 	if Keys.Subscriptions != nil {
-		err = ReceiveNats(ms, 1, ctx)
+		err = ReceiveNats(ms, Keys.NumWorkers, ctx)
 		if err != nil {
 			cclog.Fatal(err)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/metricstore/walCheckpoint.go b/pkg/metricstore/walCheckpoint.go
index e8a6586f..2131331e 100644
--- a/pkg/metricstore/walCheckpoint.go
+++ b/pkg/metricstore/walCheckpoint.go
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ const (
 
 // WALMessages is the channel for sending metric writes to the WAL staging goroutine.
 // Buffered to allow burst writes without blocking the metric ingestion path.
-var WALMessages = make(chan *WALMessage, 4096)
+var WALMessages = make(chan *WALMessage, 65536)
 
 // walRotateCh is used by the checkpoint goroutine to request WAL file rotation
 // (close, delete, reopen) after a binary snapshot has been written.
@@ -226,6 +226,28 @@ func WALStaging(wg *sync.WaitGroup, ctx context.Context) {
 					return
 				}
 				processMsg(msg)
+
+				// Drain up to 256 more messages without blocking to batch writes.
+				for range 256 {
+					select {
+					case msg, ok := <-WALMessages:
+						if !ok {
+							return
+						}
+						processMsg(msg)
+					case req := <-walRotateCh:
+						processRotate(req)
+					default:
+						goto flushed
+					}
+				}
+			flushed:
+				// Flush all buffered writers after processing the batch.
+				for _, ws := range hostFiles {
+					if ws.f != nil {
+						ws.w.Flush()
+					}
+				}
 			case req := <-walRotateCh:
 				processRotate(req)
 			}