diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8aef4f1..e83f7d2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ One row per connection event ingested from any node.
 | `banner_len` | `INT UNSIGNED` | Length of the banner in bytes |
 | `created_at` | `DATETIME` | Row insertion time |
 
-**Indexes:** `(node_id, occurred_at)` for cursor lookups and per-node queries; `src_ip` and `dst_port` for the top-N aggregations.
+**Indexes:** `(node_id, occurred_at)` for cursor lookups and per-node queries; `occurred_at` for time-window queries, the recent-connections sort, and the purge; `(src_ip, occurred_at)` for the frequent-IP aggregation; `dst_port` for the top-port aggregation.
 
 ---
 
@@ -507,7 +507,7 @@ If you deployed before `last_event_at` was added to the schema, run `setup.php`
 php /var/www/portspoof_concentrator/setup.php
 ```
 
-It will add the missing column and drop the legacy `uq_event` unique key if present. No data is lost.
+It will add the missing column, drop the legacy `uq_event` unique key, and add the `occurred_at` / `(src_ip, occurred_at)` indexes if present. No data is lost.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/schema.sql b/schema.sql
index 8807e43..186b69a 100644
--- a/schema.sql
+++ b/schema.sql
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS connections (
     created_at  DATETIME        NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
     PRIMARY KEY (id),
     KEY idx_node_occurred (node_id, occurred_at),
-    KEY idx_src_ip (src_ip),
+    KEY idx_occurred (occurred_at),
+    KEY idx_src_ip_occ (src_ip, occurred_at),
     KEY idx_dst_port (dst_port),
     CONSTRAINT fk_conn_node FOREIGN KEY (node_id) REFERENCES nodes (id) ON DELETE CASCADE
 ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;
diff --git a/setup.php b/setup.php
index 6dc24d7..8f565cc 100644
--- a/setup.php
+++ b/setup.php
@@ -41,6 +41,43 @@ if ($row > 0) {
     echo "Dropped legacy uq_event unique key.\n";
 }
 
+// Migration: add occurred_at index if upgrading from an older schema.
+// Time-window queries (dashboard, JSON API, purge) full-scanned the table
+// without it, so page loads slowed down as the table grew.
+$row = $pdo->query(
+    "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM information_schema.STATISTICS
+     WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = DATABASE()
+       AND TABLE_NAME   = 'connections'
+       AND INDEX_NAME   = 'idx_occurred'"
+)->fetchColumn();
+if ($row == 0) {
+    $pdo->exec("ALTER TABLE connections ADD KEY idx_occurred (occurred_at)");
+    echo "Added idx_occurred index.\n";
+}
+
+// Migration: replace the standalone src_ip index with (src_ip, occurred_at)
+// so frequent_ips() resolves as a covering index scan.
+$row = $pdo->query(
+    "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM information_schema.STATISTICS
+     WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = DATABASE()
+       AND TABLE_NAME   = 'connections'
+       AND INDEX_NAME   = 'idx_src_ip_occ'"
+)->fetchColumn();
+if ($row == 0) {
+    $pdo->exec("ALTER TABLE connections ADD KEY idx_src_ip_occ (src_ip, occurred_at)");
+    echo "Added idx_src_ip_occ index.\n";
+}
+$row = $pdo->query(
+    "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM information_schema.STATISTICS
+     WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = DATABASE()
+       AND TABLE_NAME   = 'connections'
+       AND INDEX_NAME   = 'idx_src_ip'"
+)->fetchColumn();
+if ($row > 0) {
+    $pdo->exec("ALTER TABLE connections DROP INDEX idx_src_ip");
+    echo "Dropped redundant idx_src_ip index.\n";
+}
+
 // Migration: create settings table and seed default retention if upgrading
 $pdo->exec(
     "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS settings (