diff --git a/indexer/crawler.go b/indexer/crawler.go
index 7e2656dd..84a1a795 100644
--- a/indexer/crawler.go
+++ b/indexer/crawler.go
@@ -9,22 +9,22 @@ import (
 
 	comatproto "github.com/bluesky-social/indigo/api/atproto"
 	"github.com/bluesky-social/indigo/models"
-
-	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
 )
 
 type CrawlDispatcher struct {
 	// from Crawl()
-	ingest chan *models.ActorInfo
+	ingest chan *crawlWork
 
 	// from AddToCatchupQueue()
 	catchup chan *crawlWork
 
-	// from main loop to fetchWorker()
+	// from mainLoop to fetchWorker()
 	repoSync chan *crawlWork
 
+	// from fetchWorker back to mainLoop
 	complete chan models.Uid
 
+	// maplk is around both todo and inProgress
 	maplk      sync.Mutex
 	todo       map[models.Uid]*crawlWork
 	inProgress map[models.Uid]*crawlWork
@@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ func NewCrawlDispatcher(repoFetcher CrawlRepoFetcher, concurrency int, log *slog
 	}
 
 	out := &CrawlDispatcher{
-		ingest:      make(chan *models.ActorInfo),
-		repoSync:    make(chan *crawlWork),
-		complete:    make(chan models.Uid),
+		ingest:      make(chan *crawlWork),
+		repoSync:    make(chan *crawlWork, concurrency*2),
+		complete:    make(chan models.Uid, concurrency*2),
 		catchup:     make(chan *crawlWork),
 		repoFetcher: repoFetcher,
 		concurrency: concurrency,
@@ -97,46 +97,14 @@ type crawlWork struct {
 }
 
 func (c *CrawlDispatcher) mainLoop() {
-	var nextDispatchedJob *crawlWork
-	var jobsAwaitingDispatch []*crawlWork
-
-	// dispatchQueue represents the repoSync worker channel to which we dispatch crawl work
-	var dispatchQueue chan *crawlWork
-
 	for {
+		var crawlJob *crawlWork = nil
 		select {
-		case actorToCrawl := <-c.ingest:
-			// TODO: max buffer size
-			crawlJob := c.enqueueJobForActor(actorToCrawl)
-			if crawlJob == nil {
-				break
-			}
-
-			if nextDispatchedJob == nil {
-				nextDispatchedJob = crawlJob
-				dispatchQueue = c.repoSync
-			} else {
-				jobsAwaitingDispatch = append(jobsAwaitingDispatch, crawlJob)
-			}
-		case dispatchQueue <- nextDispatchedJob:
-			c.dequeueJob(nextDispatchedJob)
-
-			if len(jobsAwaitingDispatch) > 0 {
-				nextDispatchedJob = jobsAwaitingDispatch[0]
-				jobsAwaitingDispatch = jobsAwaitingDispatch[1:]
-			} else {
-				nextDispatchedJob = nil
-				dispatchQueue = nil
-			}
-		case catchupJob := <-c.catchup:
+		case crawlJob = <-c.ingest:
+		case crawlJob = <-c.catchup:
+			// from AddToCatchupQueue()
 			// CatchupJobs are for processing events that come in while a crawl is in progress
 			// They are lower priority than new crawls so we only add them to the queue if there isn't already a job in progress
-			if nextDispatchedJob == nil {
-				nextDispatchedJob = catchupJob
-				dispatchQueue = c.repoSync
-			} else {
-				jobsAwaitingDispatch = append(jobsAwaitingDispatch, catchupJob)
-			}
 		case uid := <-c.complete:
 			c.maplk.Lock()
 
@@ -153,15 +121,15 @@ func (c *CrawlDispatcher) mainLoop() {
 				job.initScrape = false
 				job.catchup = job.next
 				job.next = nil
-				if nextDispatchedJob == nil {
-					nextDispatchedJob = job
-					dispatchQueue = c.repoSync
-				} else {
-					jobsAwaitingDispatch = append(jobsAwaitingDispatch, job)
-				}
+				crawlJob = job
 			}
 			c.maplk.Unlock()
 		}
+
+		if crawlJob != nil {
+			c.repoSync <- crawlJob
+			c.dequeueJob(crawlJob)
+		}
 	}
 }
 
@@ -229,6 +197,7 @@ func (c *CrawlDispatcher) fetchWorker() {
 	for {
 		select {
 		case job := <-c.repoSync:
+			// TODO: only run one fetchWorker per PDS because FetchAndIndexRepo will Limiter.Wait() to ensure rate limits per-PDS
 			if err := c.repoFetcher.FetchAndIndexRepo(context.TODO(), job); err != nil {
 				c.log.Error("failed to perform repo crawl", "did", job.act.Did, "err", err)
 			}
@@ -244,13 +213,18 @@ func (c *CrawlDispatcher) Crawl(ctx context.Context, ai *models.ActorInfo) error
 		panic("must have pds for user in queue")
 	}
 
+	cw := c.enqueueJobForActor(ai)
+	if cw == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	userCrawlsEnqueued.Inc()
 
-	ctx, span := otel.Tracer("crawler").Start(ctx, "addToCrawler")
-	defer span.End()
+	//ctx, span := otel.Tracer("crawler").Start(ctx, "addToCrawler")
+	//defer span.End()
 
 	select {
-	case c.ingest <- ai:
+	case c.ingest <- cw:
 		return nil
 	case <-ctx.Done():
 		return ctx.Err()