diff --git a/.changeset/mean-tomatoes-beg.md b/.changeset/mean-tomatoes-beg.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..eefedfed0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/mean-tomatoes-beg.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@farcaster/hubble": patch
+---
+
+fix: direct peering data needs to be processed by the worker due to obscure node behavior
diff --git a/apps/hubble/src/cli.ts b/apps/hubble/src/cli.ts
index 9f407285e7..9252c95811 100644
--- a/apps/hubble/src/cli.ts
+++ b/apps/hubble/src/cli.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 import { FarcasterNetwork, farcasterNetworkFromJSON } from "@farcaster/hub-nodejs";
-import { peerIdFromString } from "@libp2p/peer-id";
 import { Ed25519PeerId, PeerId, RSAPeerId, Secp256k1PeerId } from "@libp2p/interface";
 import { createEd25519PeerId, createFromProtobuf, exportToProtobuf } from "@libp2p/peer-id-factory";
-import { AddrInfo } from "@chainsafe/libp2p-gossipsub/types";
 import { Command } from "commander";
 import fs, { existsSync } from "fs";
 import { mkdir, readFile, writeFile } from "fs/promises";
@@ -481,32 +479,7 @@ app
       );
     }
 
-    const directPeers = ((cliOptions.directPeers ?? hubConfig.directPeers ?? []) as string[])
-      .map((a) => parseAddress(a))
-      .map((a) => {
-        if (a.isErr()) {
-          logger.warn(
-            { errorCode: a.error.errCode, message: a.error.message },
-            "Couldn't parse direct peer address, ignoring",
-          );
-        } else if (a.value.getPeerId()) {
-          logger.warn(
-            { errorCode: "unavailable", message: "peer id missing from direct peer" },
-            "Direct peer missing peer id, ignoring",
-          );
-        }
-
-        return a;
-      })
-      .filter((a) => a.isOk() && a.value.getPeerId())
-      .map((a) => a._unsafeUnwrap())
-      .map((a) => {
-        return {
-          id: peerIdFromString(a.getPeerId() ?? ""),
-          addrs: [a],
-        } as AddrInfo;
-      });
-
+    const directPeers = (cliOptions.directPeers ?? hubConfig.directPeers ?? []) as string[];
     const rebuildSyncTrie = cliOptions.rebuildSyncTrie ?? hubConfig.rebuildSyncTrie ?? false;
     const profileSync = cliOptions.profileSync ?? hubConfig.profileSync ?? false;
 
diff --git a/apps/hubble/src/hubble.ts b/apps/hubble/src/hubble.ts
index 77dda369fc..c4fbf4fc2e 100644
--- a/apps/hubble/src/hubble.ts
+++ b/apps/hubble/src/hubble.ts
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ export interface HubOptions {
   pruneEventsJobCron?: string;
 
   /** A list of addresses the node directly peers with, provided in MultiAddr format */
-  directPeers?: AddrInfo[];
+  directPeers?: string[];
 
   /** If set, snapshot sync is disabled */
   disableSnapshotSync?: boolean;
diff --git a/apps/hubble/src/network/p2p/gossipNode.ts b/apps/hubble/src/network/p2p/gossipNode.ts
index 60b9f6f789..bd886df060 100644
--- a/apps/hubble/src/network/p2p/gossipNode.ts
+++ b/apps/hubble/src/network/p2p/gossipNode.ts
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ export interface NodeOptions {
   /** A list of peerIds that are not allowed to connect to this node */
   deniedPeerIdStrs?: string[] | undefined;
   /** A list of addresses the node directly peers with, provided in MultiAddr format */
-  directPeers?: AddrInfo[] | undefined;
+  directPeers?: string[] | undefined;
   /** Override peer scoring. Useful for tests */
   scoreThresholds?: Partial<PeerScoreThresholds>;
   /** A list of PeerIds that will bypass application-specific peer scoring and return the cap. */
diff --git a/apps/hubble/src/network/p2p/gossipNodeWorker.ts b/apps/hubble/src/network/p2p/gossipNodeWorker.ts
index 6cb344757c..8861118e5c 100644
--- a/apps/hubble/src/network/p2p/gossipNodeWorker.ts
+++ b/apps/hubble/src/network/p2p/gossipNodeWorker.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { parentPort, workerData } from "worker_threads";
-import { peerIdFromBytes } from "@libp2p/peer-id";
+import { peerIdFromBytes, peerIdFromString } from "@libp2p/peer-id";
+import { AddrInfo } from "@chainsafe/libp2p-gossipsub/types";
 import { autoNAT } from "@libp2p/autonat";
 import { identify } from "@libp2p/identify";
 import { ping } from "@libp2p/ping";
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ import {
   Message,
   toFarcasterTime,
 } from "@farcaster/hub-nodejs";
-import { addressInfoFromParts, checkNodeAddrs, ipMultiAddrStrFromAddressInfo } from "../../utils/p2p.js";
+import { addressInfoFromParts, checkNodeAddrs, ipMultiAddrStrFromAddressInfo, parseAddress } from "../../utils/p2p.js";
 import { createLibp2p, Libp2p } from "libp2p";
 import { err, ok, Result, ResultAsync } from "neverthrow";
 import { GossipSub, gossipsub, GossipsubEvents } from "@chainsafe/libp2p-gossipsub";
@@ -159,11 +160,37 @@ export class LibP2PNode {
       ? parseInt(process.env["GOSSIPSUB_SOCKET_TIMEOUT"])
       : 30000;
 
+    const directPeers = options.directPeers
+      ?.map((a) => parseAddress(a))
+      .map((a) => {
+        if (a.isErr()) {
+          logger.warn(
+            { errorCode: a.error.errCode, message: a.error.message },
+            "Couldn't parse direct peer address, ignoring",
+          );
+        } else if (!a.value.getPeerId()) {
+          logger.warn(
+            { errorCode: "unavailable", message: "peer id missing from direct peer" },
+            "Direct peer missing peer id, ignoring",
+          );
+        }
+
+        return a;
+      })
+      .filter((a) => a.isOk() && a.value.getPeerId())
+      .map((a) => a._unsafeUnwrap())
+      .map((a) => {
+        return {
+          id: peerIdFromString(a.getPeerId() ?? ""),
+          addrs: [a],
+        } as AddrInfo;
+      });
+
     const gossip = gossipsub({
       allowPublishToZeroTopicPeers: true,
       asyncValidation: true, // Do not forward messages until we've merged it (prevents forwarding known bad messages)
       canRelayMessage: true,
-      directPeers: options.directPeers || [],
+      directPeers: directPeers || [],
       emitSelf: false,
       fallbackToFloodsub: fallbackToFloodsub,
       floodPublish: floodPublish,