diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 146b752..9f216a4 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -35,6 +35,19 @@ services:
       - BOTFIGHTS_CREATOR_PUBKEYS=${BOTFIGHTS_CREATOR_PUBKEYS:-da5e0c1b646bdb13c2300f805b0ca3e5afe5b052c594ce78bac8978d21c3fa39}
       # SQLite database path (defaults to /app/server/data/botfights.db)
       # - DB_PATH=/app/server/data/botfights.db
+      # ── Arena federation (BOT-03) ──
+      # Set on a NODE instance to make it a thin client of a shared canonical
+      # arena: every /api/* request is proxied there instead of touching this
+      # instance's own local SQLite DB. Leave UNSET on the canonical arena
+      # itself (it stays standalone). Any BotFights instance can be a
+      # canonical arena for others — this is not hardcoded to one host; the
+      # Foundation's VPS2 instance is only the well-known default.
+      # - ARENA_UPSTREAM_URL=http://146.59.87.168:9100
+      # Set to 1 ONLY on the canonical arena instance when it sits behind a
+      # reverse proxy (e.g. nginx-proxy-manager) — makes the arena trust
+      # cf-connecting-ip/x-real-ip/x-forwarded-for from the proxy for
+      # per-IP rate limiting. Never set on a node's own proxying instance.
+      # - TRUSTED_PROXY=1
 
 volumes:
   botfights-data:
diff --git a/server/src/middleware/arena-proxy.test.ts b/server/src/middleware/arena-proxy.test.ts
index 1c880b3..c7a8b56 100644
--- a/server/src/middleware/arena-proxy.test.ts
+++ b/server/src/middleware/arena-proxy.test.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,24 @@ upstream.post('/api/echo', async (c) => {
   })
 })
 
+upstream.get('/api/sse', (c) => {
+  const encoder = new TextEncoder()
+  const stream = new ReadableStream({
+    async start(controller) {
+      controller.enqueue(encoder.encode('event: frame\ndata: {"n":1}\n\n'))
+      await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 60))
+      controller.enqueue(encoder.encode('event: frame\ndata: {"n":2}\n\n'))
+      await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 60))
+      controller.enqueue(encoder.encode('event: frame\ndata: {"n":3}\n\n'))
+      controller.close()
+    },
+  })
+  return new Response(stream, {
+    status: 200,
+    headers: { 'content-type': 'text/event-stream' },
+  })
+})
+
 upstream.get('/api/gzip-lie', (c) => {
   // Upstream actually gzip-compresses the body and declares content-encoding
   // for the COMPRESSED bytes. undici transparently decompresses on the
@@ -174,4 +192,68 @@ describe('arenaProxy', () => {
     const body = await res.json() as { ok: boolean }
     expect(body.ok).toBe(true)
   })
+
+  it('streams SSE incrementally through the proxy', async () => {
+    process.env.ARENA_UPSTREAM_URL = upstreamUrl
+    const app = buildProxyingApp()
+
+    const start = Date.now()
+    const res = await app.request('/api/sse')
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200)
+    expect(res.body).not.toBeNull()
+
+    const reader = res.body!.getReader()
+    const decoder = new TextDecoder()
+    let firstFrameAt: number | null = null
+    let buffer = ''
+    let frameCount = 0
+
+    while (true) {
+      const { value, done } = await reader.read()
+      if (done) break
+      buffer += decoder.decode(value, { stream: true })
+      const frames = buffer.split('\n\n').filter((f) => f.includes('event: frame'))
+      if (frames.length > 0 && firstFrameAt === null) {
+        firstFrameAt = Date.now()
+      }
+      frameCount = frames.length
+    }
+
+    expect(frameCount).toBe(3)
+    // The first frame must have arrived well before the full ~120ms stream
+    // finished — proves the proxy piped the stream through instead of
+    // buffering the whole thing before responding.
+    expect(firstFrameAt).not.toBeNull()
+    expect(firstFrameAt! - start).toBeLessThan(100)
+  })
+
+  it('forwards the client address in x-forwarded-for', async () => {
+    process.env.ARENA_UPSTREAM_URL = upstreamUrl
+    const app = buildProxyingApp()
+
+    const res = await app.request('/api/echo', {
+      method: 'POST',
+      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+      body: JSON.stringify({}),
+    })
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200)
+    const body = await res.json() as { xff: string | null }
+    // app.request() drives the Hono app directly (no real Node socket), so the
+    // remoteAddress lookup this proxy relies on may legitimately be
+    // undetermined here — the behavioral contract is that the header is
+    // either forwarded (non-empty) or cleanly absent, never invented/garbage.
+    if (body.xff !== null) {
+      expect(body.xff.length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    }
+  })
+
+  it('answers 502 when the arena is unreachable', async () => {
+    process.env.ARENA_UPSTREAM_URL = 'http://127.0.0.1:1'
+    const app = buildProxyingApp()
+
+    const res = await app.request('/api/bots')
+    expect(res.status).toBe(502)
+    const body = await res.json() as { error: string }
+    expect(body.error).toBeTruthy()
+  })
 })
diff --git a/server/src/middleware/arena-proxy.ts b/server/src/middleware/arena-proxy.ts
index a7492a9..94cbb71 100644
--- a/server/src/middleware/arena-proxy.ts
+++ b/server/src/middleware/arena-proxy.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,15 @@
 import type { Context, Next } from 'hono'
+import { logger } from '../lib/logger.js'
 
 // Requests answered locally even when ARENA_UPSTREAM_URL is set — the manifest
 // health check must never depend on the canonical arena being reachable, or a
 // perfectly healthy node container gets marked unhealthy and restart-looped.
 const LOCAL_BYPASS_PATHS = new Set(['/api/health'])
 
+// SSE fight streams are long-lived by design — never time them out.
+const SSE_STREAM_PATH = /^\/api\/fights\/[^/]+\/stream$/
+const NON_STREAM_TIMEOUT_MS = 30_000
+
 // Headers that must never be copied verbatim between hops (either because
 // they're connection-scoped, or because copying a stale value corrupts the
 // forwarded/returned message — e.g. content-length after undici recomputes
@@ -37,6 +42,18 @@ function copyForwardHeaders(c: Context): Headers {
   // Ask the upstream for an uncompressed body — Node's fetch already handles
   // decoding for us, and forwarding compression bookkeeping is unnecessary.
   headers.set('accept-encoding', 'identity')
+
+  // Forward the originating client IP so the canonical arena's per-IP rate
+  // limiting doesn't collapse an entire node's user base into one bucket.
+  // Skip both headers when the address can't be determined rather than
+  // inventing a value.
+  const remoteAddress = (c.env as Record<string, any> | undefined)?.incoming?.socket?.remoteAddress
+  if (typeof remoteAddress === 'string' && remoteAddress.length > 0) {
+    const existingXff = headers.get('x-forwarded-for')
+    headers.set('x-forwarded-for', existingXff ? `${existingXff}, ${remoteAddress}` : remoteAddress)
+    if (!headers.has('x-real-ip')) headers.set('x-real-ip', remoteAddress)
+  }
+
   return headers
 }
 
@@ -64,8 +81,9 @@ export async function arenaProxy(c: Context, next: Next) {
   const target = buildTargetUrl(upstream, path, search)
   const headers = copyForwardHeaders(c)
   const method = c.req.method
+  const isStream = SSE_STREAM_PATH.test(path)
 
-  const upstreamRes = await fetch(target, {
+  const init: RequestInit = {
     method,
     headers,
     body: method === 'GET' || method === 'HEAD' ? undefined : c.req.raw.body,
@@ -73,7 +91,19 @@ export async function arenaProxy(c: Context, next: Next) {
     // Node's undici fetch requires `duplex` whenever a streamed body is sent.
     // `@types/node` 22.13.14 already includes `duplex` on RequestInit.
     duplex: 'half',
-  })
+  }
+  // SSE fight streams are long-lived by design — exempt from the timeout.
+  if (!isStream) {
+    init.signal = AbortSignal.timeout(NON_STREAM_TIMEOUT_MS)
+  }
+
+  let upstreamRes: Response
+  try {
+    upstreamRes = await fetch(target, init)
+  } catch (err) {
+    logger.error('arena-proxy', `upstream unreachable: ${target.origin}`, err)
+    return c.json({ error: 'Arena unreachable.' }, 502)
+  }
 
   return new Response(upstreamRes.body, {
     status: upstreamRes.status,
diff --git a/server/src/routes/fights.ts b/server/src/routes/fights.ts
index 0ce9460..9235edc 100644
--- a/server/src/routes/fights.ts
+++ b/server/src/routes/fights.ts
@@ -420,6 +420,12 @@ fightsRouter.get('/:id/stream', (c) => {
     return c.json({ error: 'Too many SSE connections' }, 429)
   }
 
+  // nginx (e.g. nginx-proxy-manager fronting the canonical arena) buffers
+  // proxied responses by default, which would hold every SSE frame until the
+  // stream closes. This is the documented opt-out — harmless when no nginx
+  // sits in front of this instance.
+  c.header('X-Accel-Buffering', 'no')
+
   return streamSSE(c, async (stream) => {
     // Track connections
     activeSSECount++