diff --git a/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.grafanacloud.yaml b/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.grafanacloud.yaml
index 5fe6957c72..2a717213b0 100644
--- a/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.grafanacloud.yaml
+++ b/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.grafanacloud.yaml
@@ -123,6 +123,15 @@ processors:
           - set(attributes["service_instance_id"], resource.attributes["service.instance.id"])
           - set(attributes["deployment_environment"], resource.attributes["deployment.environment"])
           - set(attributes["xrpl_network_type"], resource.attributes["xrpl.network.type"])
+  # Copy the per-node id from the resource onto every span so TraceQL can
+  # filter by node (span.service_instance_id). The name matches the metric
+  # label written by transform/cloudlabels, so the dashboards' $node variable
+  # applies to both signals.
+  transform/spanidentity:
+    trace_statements:
+      - context: span
+        statements:
+          - set(attributes["service_instance_id"], resource.attributes["service.instance.id"])
 
 connectors:
   spanmetrics:
@@ -256,9 +265,20 @@ service:
       exporters: [spanmetrics]
     # Trace-STORAGE branch: 0.5% probabilistic tail sampling before Tempo
     # and Grafana Cloud, so stored trace volume is ~1/200 of ingested spans.
+    # transform/spanidentity runs after tail_sampling so only retained spans
+    # pay for the copy. traces/metrics does not need it: spanmetrics already
+    # groups by the service.instance.id resource attribute
+    # (resource_metrics_key_attributes).
     traces/store:
       receivers: [otlp]
-      processors: [tail_sampling, resource/tier, resource/stripsdk, batch]
+      processors:
+        [
+          tail_sampling,
+          resource/tier,
+          resource/stripsdk,
+          transform/spanidentity,
+          batch,
+        ]
       exporters: [otlp/tempo, otlphttp/grafanacloud]
     # The local Prometheus scrape promotes tier/instance resource attrs to
     # labels via resource_to_telemetry_conversion; Grafana Cloud (OTLP) does
diff --git a/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.yaml b/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.yaml
index f595c43855..b5cd059fe5 100644
--- a/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.yaml
+++ b/docker/telemetry/otel-collector-config.yaml
@@ -124,6 +124,14 @@ processors:
         action: hash
       - key: pathfind_dest_account
         action: hash
+  # Copy the per-node id from the resource onto every span so TraceQL can
+  # filter by node (span.service_instance_id), matching the service_instance_id
+  # metric label the dashboards' $node variable already uses.
+  transform/spanidentity:
+    trace_statements:
+      - context: span
+        statements:
+          - set(attributes["service_instance_id"], resource.attributes["service.instance.id"])
 
 connectors:
   spanmetrics:
@@ -241,7 +249,14 @@ service:
   pipelines:
     traces:
       receivers: [otlp]
-      processors: [resource/tier, resource/stripsdk, attributes/hash, batch]
+      processors:
+        [
+          resource/tier,
+          resource/stripsdk,
+          attributes/hash,
+          transform/spanidentity,
+          batch,
+        ]
       exporters: [debug, otlp/tempo, spanmetrics]
     metrics:
       receivers: [otlp, spanmetrics]
diff --git a/docs/telemetry-runbook.md b/docs/telemetry-runbook.md
index 8f9d473529..a8c7b38808 100644
--- a/docs/telemetry-runbook.md
+++ b/docs/telemetry-runbook.md
@@ -146,6 +146,16 @@ curl -s http://localhost:5015 -d '{"method":"server_info"}' |
 | `tls_client_cert`          | (empty)                           | Client cert (PEM) for mutual TLS; empty = one-way TLS        |
 | `tls_client_key`           | (empty)                           | Private key (PEM) for `tls_client_cert`                      |
 
+> **`service_instance_id` reaches traces as a span attribute too.** xrpld sends
+> it as the `service.instance.id` resource attribute; the collector's
+> `transform/spanidentity` processor copies it onto every span as
+> `service_instance_id`, so TraceQL can filter per node
+> (`{span.service_instance_id="validator-0"}`) with the same value the `$node`
+> dashboard variable uses for metrics. Spans recorded before that processor was
+> added do not carry it, and a TraceQL regex does **not** match a missing
+> attribute — so a `$node` filter on a trace panel returns nothing for older
+> data.
+
 > **`consensus_trace_strategy` is not validated.** The parser copies the raw
 > string through (`TelemetryConfig.cpp:155-156`) and the only equality test in
 > the code is `strategy == "attribute"` (`RCLConsensus.cpp:1296`). Any other