diff --git a/cloud/apps/relay/src/credential-cleanup-sweep-postgres.test.ts b/cloud/apps/relay/src/credential-cleanup-sweep-postgres.test.ts
index aa720a67b2d..45f38326d3a 100644
--- a/cloud/apps/relay/src/credential-cleanup-sweep-postgres.test.ts
+++ b/cloud/apps/relay/src/credential-cleanup-sweep-postgres.test.ts
@@ -120,10 +120,11 @@ describePostgres('credential cleanup against PostgreSQL', () => {
     expect(expiry).toContain('relay_invites_sweep_expiry')
   })
 
-  it('plans the live-basis sweep off an index rather than the 1.5 GB heap', async () => {
+  it('plans the basis sweep off the composite index rather than the 1.5 GB heap', async () => {
     // The shape that made this the most expensive statement in the sweep: 20,000 settled bases to
-    // 50 live ones, so the composite (active, deadline) index spans 400x the rows the sweep wants.
-    // Which index serves it is the planner's call, the same as for the two invite sweeps below.
+    // 50 live ones. A partial index on active = 1 looks like the answer to that ratio and is not:
+    // a basis is inserted active and flipped to 0, so it accumulates the same dead entries, and
+    // the planner picks the composite index anyway. See the schema comment beside it.
     await database.query(
       `INSERT INTO relay_connection_bases
        (basis_conn_id, user_id, relay_host_id, relay_device_id, owning_control_generation,
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ describePostgres('credential cleanup against PostgreSQL', () => {
     )
 
     expect(sweep).not.toContain('Seq Scan on relay_connection_bases')
-    expect(sweep).toMatch(/using relay_connection_bases_(active|live)_deadline/)
+    expect(sweep).toContain('using relay_connection_bases_active_deadline')
   })
 
   it('plans the drained basis reaper off the composite index, not the heap', async () => {
diff --git a/cloud/apps/relay/src/database.ts b/cloud/apps/relay/src/database.ts
index a62bb35798f..972f3ce2aa1 100644
--- a/cloud/apps/relay/src/database.ts
+++ b/cloud/apps/relay/src/database.ts
@@ -172,16 +172,14 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS relay_connection_bases (
 -- accumulate unboundedly. Unindexed it seq-scans millions of rows every cycle
 -- and holds the maintenance transaction open long enough to time out
 -- assignment lock waits.
+-- Why not a partial index on active = 1: a basis is inserted active and flipped to 0, so each
+-- deactivation leaves a dead entry in that index too. Measured on production-shaped history it
+-- carries the same dead entries as this one, the planner picks this one in every state, and it
+-- costs ~65 bytes of WAL per insert. Bloat here is cured by reaping and vacuum, not by a narrower
+-- index.
 CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS relay_connection_bases_active_deadline
   ON relay_connection_bases(active, deadline);
 
--- schema-deferrable: created out of band, so a boot that cannot take the lock must retry
--- Why: the index above spans every row, and inactive bases outnumber live ones by ~6.6M to a few
--- hundred, so the sweep still walked ~283 MB of index to find them. This one holds only the rows
--- the sweep can act on. Keeping both: the composite is also what makes the reaper an index range.
-CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS relay_connection_bases_live_deadline
-  ON relay_connection_bases(deadline) WHERE active = 1;
-
 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS relay_direct_authorizations (
   direct_auth_id TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
   user_id TEXT NOT NULL,
diff --git a/cloud/apps/relay/src/postgres-maintenance-sweep-plans.test.ts b/cloud/apps/relay/src/postgres-maintenance-sweep-plans.test.ts
index de8573a0d6c..a8d0e1e3bf9 100644
--- a/cloud/apps/relay/src/postgres-maintenance-sweep-plans.test.ts
+++ b/cloud/apps/relay/src/postgres-maintenance-sweep-plans.test.ts
@@ -56,9 +56,6 @@ describePostgres('PostgreSQL maintenance sweep plans', () => {
     const plan = result.rows.map((row) => String(row['QUERY PLAN'])).join('\n')
 
     expect(plan).not.toMatch(/Seq Scan on relay_connection_bases/)
-    // Either index keeps the sweep off the table. It used to be the composite one; the partial
-    // relay_connection_bases_live_deadline now wins on cost, because it spans only the live rows
-    // rather than all ~6.6M, and that is the improvement, not a regression in this invariant.
-    expect(plan).toMatch(/relay_connection_bases_(active|live)_deadline/)
+    expect(plan).toMatch(/relay_connection_bases_active_deadline/)
   })
 })
diff --git a/cloud/apps/relay/src/relay-schema-lock-targets.test.ts b/cloud/apps/relay/src/relay-schema-lock-targets.test.ts
index 26348bb7d9c..68a7c6f0216 100644
--- a/cloud/apps/relay/src/relay-schema-lock-targets.test.ts
+++ b/cloud/apps/relay/src/relay-schema-lock-targets.test.ts
@@ -27,12 +27,6 @@ const GOLDEN_LOCK_TAKING: SchemaLockTarget[] = [
   { kind: 'index', table: 'relay_devices', name: 'relay_devices_current_hash', skipWhen: 'present' },
   { kind: 'index', table: 'relay_devices', name: 'relay_devices_grace_hash', skipWhen: 'present' },
   { kind: 'index', table: 'relay_connection_bases', name: 'relay_connection_bases_active_deadline', skipWhen: 'present' },
-  {
-    kind: 'index',
-    table: 'relay_connection_bases',
-    name: 'relay_connection_bases_live_deadline',
-    skipWhen: 'present'
-  },
   {
     kind: 'index',
     table: 'relay_direct_authorizations',
@@ -251,7 +245,6 @@ describe('relay boot-time lock targets', () => {
     expect(deferrable.map((statement) => sqlWithoutComments(statement).replace(/\s+/g, ' '))).toEqual([
       "CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS relay_invites_sweep_expiry ON relay_invites(expires_at) WHERE state IN ('available', 'reserved', 'cooldown')",
       "CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS relay_invites_sweep_reservation ON relay_invites(reservation_expires_at) WHERE state = 'reserved'",
-      'CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS relay_connection_bases_live_deadline ON relay_connection_bases(deadline) WHERE active = 1',
       'CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS relay_direct_authorizations_pending_deadline ON relay_direct_authorizations(deadline) WHERE consumed_at IS NULL',
       'CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS relay_rate_windows_started ON relay_rate_windows(window_started_at)',
       'DROP INDEX IF EXISTS relay_assignment_activity_expiry',
@@ -274,12 +267,6 @@ describe('relay boot-time lock targets', () => {
         name: 'relay_invites_sweep_reservation',
         skipWhen: 'present'
       },
-      {
-        kind: 'index',
-        table: 'relay_connection_bases',
-        name: 'relay_connection_bases_live_deadline',
-        skipWhen: 'present'
-      },
       {
         kind: 'index',
         table: 'relay_direct_authorizations',