diff --git a/docker/telemetry/docker-compose.yml b/docker/telemetry/docker-compose.yml
index faeacedae3..19dde68bee 100644
--- a/docker/telemetry/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker/telemetry/docker-compose.yml
@@ -44,7 +44,14 @@ services:
   # batches them for efficiency, and forwards to Tempo for storage.
   otel-collector:
     image: otel/opentelemetry-collector-contrib:0.158.0
-    command: ["--config=/etc/otel-collector-config.yaml"]
+    # Second --config layers filelog offset persistence on top of the shared
+    # base config; the collector deep-merges them. Only this stack keeps its
+    # logs across restarts, so only this stack needs it.
+    command:
+      [
+        "--config=/etc/otel-collector-config.yaml",
+        "--config=/etc/otel-collector-filestorage.yaml",
+      ]
     ports:
       - "4317:4317" # OTLP gRPC
       - "4318:4318" # OTLP HTTP (traces + native OTel metrics)
@@ -55,6 +62,8 @@ services:
     volumes:
       # Mount collector pipeline config (receivers → processors → exporters)
       - ./otel-collector-config.yaml:/etc/otel-collector-config.yaml:ro
+      # Dev-only overlay: persist filelog read offsets across restarts
+      - ./otel-collector-filestorage.yaml:/etc/otel-collector-filestorage.yaml:ro
       # Mount the xrpld log root for the filelog receiver. The telemetry
       # configs write to docker/telemetry/data/logs/<network>/debug.log, so
       # the default source is the repo-relative ./data/logs — user-owned and
diff --git a/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.yaml b/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.yaml
index 2b65abf475..618eb94d5a 100644
--- a/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.yaml
+++ b/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.yaml
@@ -23,18 +23,6 @@
 extensions:
   health_check:
     endpoint: 0.0.0.0:13133
-  # Persists filelog read offsets so a collector restart resumes where it
-  # stopped instead of re-reading each debug.log from the top. Without this
-  # the receiver keeps offsets in memory only.
-  #
-  # The directory must be writable by the user the collector runs as. The
-  # image ships no writable directory (no /var/lib, no /tmp), so this path
-  # comes from a mounted volume; see the otel-collector service in
-  # docker-compose.yml. Point `directory` somewhere else if a deployment
-  # mounts its state elsewhere.
-  file_storage/filelog:
-    directory: /var/lib/otelcol/file_storage
-    create_directory: true
 
 receivers:
   otlp:
@@ -53,10 +41,12 @@ receivers:
     # skips everything written before the receiver's first poll — so any log
     # line a node emitted before the collector got to it would be lost, and
     # nothing is read at all from a file that has stopped being written to.
-    # Paired with the file_storage extension above so restarting the
-    # collector resumes at the last offset rather than re-ingesting the file.
+    #
+    # Offsets are kept in memory here, so a restarted collector re-reads the
+    # file. Stacks that keep their logs across restarts layer
+    # otel-collector-filestorage.yaml on top to persist them; ephemeral
+    # stacks get a fresh log directory each run and need nothing.
     start_at: beginning
-    storage: file_storage/filelog
     operators:
       # Log format emitted by Logs::format() is:
       #   YYYY-Mmm-DD HH:MM:SS.ffffff UTC <partition>:<severity> [trace_id=... span_id=...] <message>
@@ -201,7 +191,7 @@ exporters:
       enabled: true
 
 service:
-  extensions: [health_check, file_storage/filelog]
+  extensions: [health_check]
   pipelines:
     traces:
       receivers: [otlp]
diff --git a/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-filestorage.yaml b/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-filestorage.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5362431725
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-filestorage.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# Collector overlay that persists filelog read offsets. Applied ONLY by the
+# developer stack (docker/telemetry/docker-compose.yml), as a second --config
+# after otel-collector-config.yaml; the collector deep-merges the two.
+#
+# Why this is an overlay rather than part of the base config: the base config
+# is shared by every stack that runs the collector, including the ephemeral
+# workload-validation stack, which creates a fresh log directory per run and so
+# has nothing to resume from. The extension needs a writable directory, and the
+# collector image runs as 10001:10001 with no writable path of its own, so
+# requiring it in the base config would force every stack to mount a volume
+# just to start. Keeping it here means the base config stays self-sufficient.
+#
+# The developer stack benefits because its log directory and this volume both
+# survive `docker compose down`, so a restart resumes at the last offset
+# instead of re-reading debug.log from the top.
+
+extensions:
+  file_storage/filelog:
+    directory: /var/lib/otelcol/file_storage
+    create_directory: true
+
+receivers:
+  filelog:
+    storage: file_storage/filelog
+
+# Lists are replaced rather than merged, so this must repeat the base entry.
+service:
+  extensions: [health_check, file_storage/filelog]
diff --git a/docs/telemetry-runbook.md b/docs/telemetry-runbook.md
index bc35e8f516..3c615ff614 100644
--- a/docs/telemetry-runbook.md
+++ b/docs/telemetry-runbook.md
@@ -823,6 +823,8 @@ Log files are ingested by the OTel Collector's `filelog` receiver, which tails `
 
 The receiver tails `/var/log/xrpld/*/debug.log` inside the collector container. docker-compose bind-mounts the host log root there; the source defaults to the repo-relative `docker/telemetry/data/logs`, which the telemetry configs write to (`data/logs/<network>/debug.log`) and which needs no root. To tail logs from elsewhere, set `XRPLD_LOG_DIR` before `docker compose up` (the integration test does this to point at its own workdir). The single trailing `*` matches one per-network or per-node subdirectory.
 
+Each file is read from the beginning, because the receiver's own default (`end`) would skip anything a node wrote before the collector's first poll and would never read a log that has stopped being written to. Read offsets are held in memory by default, so a restarted collector re-reads the files it already ingested. The developer stack avoids that by layering `otel-collector-filestorage.yaml` as a second `--config`, which adds a `file_storage` extension that keeps the offsets on a named volume; a one-shot init service prepares that volume, because the collector runs as a non-root user and a fresh Docker volume is owned by root. Ephemeral stacks such as the workload validation harness create a fresh log directory per run, so they have nothing to resume from and deliberately omit the overlay.
+
 ### LogQL Query Examples
 
 ```logql