diff --git a/hub/internal/server/digest_fold_strip_test.go b/hub/internal/server/digest_fold_strip_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0854a639
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hub/internal/server/digest_fold_strip_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+package server
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"reflect"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// TestFoldStripsBodiesWithoutChangingDigest pins #118 §3: the fold loaders
+// strip the large display bodies (text/content/message/…) server-side, and
+// doing so must NOT change the computed digest — the fold only reads small
+// structured keys. The brute==incremental tests can't catch a wrongly-dropped
+// field (both paths share the same projection and would break identically), so
+// this compares the stripped-from-DB digest against the full-payload reference.
+func TestFoldStripsBodiesWithoutChangingDigest(t *testing.T) {
+	s, _ := newA2ATestServer(t)
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	v, memEvents := loadDigestVector(t)
+	// Reference digest: the canonical vector folded with FULL in-memory payloads.
+	wantD, _ := computeAgentDigest("a", v.TeamID, memEvents)
+
+	agentID := seedAgentRow(t, s, defaultTeamID, "stripper", "claude-code")
+	ew := evWForTeam(t, s, defaultTeamID)
+	big := strings.Repeat("x", 50000) // simulate an accumulated-transcript body
+	for _, e := range v.Events {
+		p := map[string]any{}
+		for k, val := range e.Payload {
+			p[k] = val
+		}
+		// Heavy bodies that must be stripped. None is read by the fold, so a
+		// correct strip leaves the digest identical to the reference above.
+		p["text"] = big
+		p["content"] = big
+		p["message"] = big
+		pj, _ := json.Marshal(p)
+		if _, err := ew.Exec(
+			`INSERT INTO agent_events (id, agent_id, seq, ts, kind, producer, payload_json)
+			 VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)`,
+			"e-"+itoaInt(int(e.Seq)), agentID, e.Seq, e.TS, e.Kind, e.Producer, string(pj),
+		); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("insert event seq=%d: %v", e.Seq, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	er, err := s.eventsReader(defaultTeamID)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("eventsReader: %v", err)
+	}
+	got, err := loadFoldEvents(ctx, er, agentID)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("loadFoldEvents: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(got) != len(v.Events) {
+		t.Fatalf("loaded %d events, want %d", len(got), len(v.Events))
+	}
+
+	// The bodies must actually be gone — guards against json_remove silently
+	// no-op'ing (e.g. a JSON1 regression), which would defeat the optimization.
+	for _, fe := range got {
+		for _, k := range []string{"text", "content", "message"} {
+			if _, ok := fe.Payload[k]; ok {
+				t.Fatalf("seq=%d: %q body not stripped", fe.Seq, k)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	gotD, _ := computeAgentDigest("a", v.TeamID, got)
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(digestJSON(gotD), digestJSON(wantD)) {
+		t.Errorf("stripped digest != full-payload digest\n got: %+v\nwant: %+v",
+			digestJSON(gotD), digestJSON(wantD))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/hub/internal/server/digest_store.go b/hub/internal/server/digest_store.go
index cec18ca3..d219083a 100644
--- a/hub/internal/server/digest_store.go
+++ b/hub/internal/server/digest_store.go
@@ -446,10 +446,30 @@ func (s *Server) backfillAgentDigest(ctx context.Context, agentID, teamID string
 	return d, nil
 }
 
+// foldEventCols is the agent_events projection every fold loader shares. The
+// payload is shrunk server-side: the fold (brute + incremental) only reads small
+// structured keys — tokens, cost_usd, by_model, tool ids/names, status,
+// is_error, type, turn_id — and never the large display bodies (#118 §1). So
+// json_remove strips those bodies before the row crosses into Go, cutting the
+// bulk of the payload I/O + json.Unmarshal cost the text-heavy events carry (a
+// single `text` event can hold the run's whole accumulated transcript).
+//
+// SQLite silently ignores json_remove paths that don't exist, so listing a body
+// field an event lacks is a no-op — and removing a field the fold doesn't read
+// can never change the digest (the equivalence is pinned by
+// TestFoldStripsBodiesWithoutChangingDigest). json_valid guards a NULL/malformed
+// payload through untouched; scanFoldEvents already tolerates a non-JSON blob.
+const foldEventCols = `seq, session_ordinal, kind, ts, producer, session_id,
+	CASE WHEN json_valid(payload_json)
+	     THEN json_remove(payload_json,
+	            '$.text', '$.content', '$.message', '$.delta', '$.output',
+	            '$.thinking', '$.thought', '$.reasoning')
+	     ELSE payload_json END AS payload_json`
+
 // loadFoldEvents reads an agent's full ordered event log as foldEvents.
 func loadFoldEvents(ctx context.Context, q digestStore, agentID string) ([]foldEvent, error) {
 	return scanFoldEvents(q.QueryContext(ctx, `
-		SELECT seq, session_ordinal, kind, ts, producer, session_id, payload_json
+		SELECT `+foldEventCols+`
 		  FROM agent_events WHERE agent_id = ? ORDER BY seq ASC`, agentID))
 }
 
@@ -457,7 +477,7 @@ func loadFoldEvents(ctx context.Context, q digestStore, agentID string) ([]foldE
 // in-tx prefix backfill of a pre-existing agent.
 func loadFoldEventsBefore(ctx context.Context, q digestStore, agentID string, beforeSeq int64) ([]foldEvent, error) {
 	return scanFoldEvents(q.QueryContext(ctx, `
-		SELECT seq, session_ordinal, kind, ts, producer, session_id, payload_json
+		SELECT `+foldEventCols+`
 		  FROM agent_events WHERE agent_id = ? AND seq < ? ORDER BY seq ASC`, agentID, beforeSeq))
 }
 
@@ -465,7 +485,7 @@ func loadFoldEventsBefore(ctx context.Context, q digestStore, agentID string, be
 // deferred-fold worker still has to fold past the digest watermark.
 func loadFoldEventsAfter(ctx context.Context, q digestStore, agentID string, afterSeq int64) ([]foldEvent, error) {
 	return scanFoldEvents(q.QueryContext(ctx, `
-		SELECT seq, session_ordinal, kind, ts, producer, session_id, payload_json
+		SELECT `+foldEventCols+`
 		  FROM agent_events WHERE agent_id = ? AND seq > ? ORDER BY seq ASC`, agentID, afterSeq))
 }