diff --git a/codex-rs/state/src/log_db.rs b/codex-rs/state/src/log_db.rs
index 6024d6bda..71d2afbc0 100644
--- a/codex-rs/state/src/log_db.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/state/src/log_db.rs
@@ -189,6 +189,17 @@ where
 
     fn on_event(&self, event: &Event<'_>, ctx: tracing_subscriber::layer::Context<'_, S>) {
         let metadata = event.metadata();
+        // The SDK emits DEBUG timer meta-events every second per process; these
+        // were over 30% of retained logs in measured high-fanout Codex environments.
+        if metadata.target() == "opentelemetry_sdk"
+            && matches!(
+                *metadata.level(),
+                tracing::Level::TRACE | tracing::Level::DEBUG
+            )
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
         let mut visitor = MessageVisitor::default();
         event.record(&mut visitor);
         let thread_id = visitor
@@ -451,6 +462,10 @@ impl Visit for MessageVisitor {
     }
 }
 
+#[cfg(test)]
+#[path = "log_db_filter_tests.rs"]
+mod filter_tests;
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use std::io;
diff --git a/codex-rs/state/src/log_db_filter_tests.rs b/codex-rs/state/src/log_db_filter_tests.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36ee27aba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/codex-rs/state/src/log_db_filter_tests.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+use pretty_assertions::assert_eq;
+use tracing_subscriber::filter::Targets;
+use tracing_subscriber::layer::SubscriberExt;
+use tracing_subscriber::util::SubscriberInitExt;
+use uuid::Uuid;
+
+use super::*;
+
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn sqlite_sink_drops_low_level_opentelemetry_sdk_logs() {
+    let codex_home =
+        std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("codex-state-log-db-filter-{}", Uuid::new_v4()));
+    let runtime = StateRuntime::init(codex_home.clone(), "test-provider".to_string())
+        .await
+        .expect("initialize runtime");
+    let layer = start(runtime.clone());
+
+    let guard = tracing_subscriber::registry()
+        .with(
+            layer
+                .clone()
+                .with_filter(Targets::new().with_default(tracing::Level::TRACE)),
+        )
+        .set_default();
+
+    tracing::trace!(target: "opentelemetry_sdk", "dropped-trace");
+    tracing::debug!(target: "opentelemetry_sdk", "dropped-debug");
+    tracing::info!(target: "opentelemetry_sdk", "retained-info");
+    tracing::trace!(target: "codex_state", "retained-trace");
+
+    layer.flush().await;
+    drop(guard);
+
+    let logs = runtime
+        .query_logs(&crate::LogQuery::default())
+        .await
+        .expect("query logs after flush");
+    assert_eq!(
+        logs.iter()
+            .map(|row| (
+                row.level.as_str(),
+                row.target.as_str(),
+                row.message.as_deref()
+            ))
+            .collect::<Vec<_>>(),
+        vec![
+            ("INFO", "opentelemetry_sdk", Some("retained-info")),
+            ("TRACE", "codex_state", Some("retained-trace")),
+        ]
+    );
+
+    let _ = tokio::fs::remove_dir_all(codex_home).await;
+}