diff --git a/scripts/telemetry_adoption_report.py b/scripts/telemetry_adoption_report.py
index 1f7fb21b7e..322f2c8091 100644
--- a/scripts/telemetry_adoption_report.py
+++ b/scripts/telemetry_adoption_report.py
@@ -1138,6 +1138,8 @@ def fetch_rows_local(db_path: str, since_days: int) -> dict[str, Any]:
 
 
 def fetch_rows_remote(ssh_host: str, db_path: str, since_days: int) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    # Streams JSON-lines (db_stats header, then one row per line) so the remote
+    # process never holds the full result set — the license droplet has 1GB RAM.
     remote_script = """
 import json
 import sqlite3
@@ -1161,11 +1163,9 @@ rows_sql = (
 )
 try:
     db_stats = dict(conn.execute(db_stats_sql).fetchone())
-    rows = [
-        dict(row)
-        for row in conn.execute(rows_sql, (since_days,)).fetchall()
-    ]
-    print(json.dumps({"db_stats": db_stats, "rows": rows}))
+    print(json.dumps({"db_stats": db_stats}))
+    for row in conn.execute(rows_sql, (since_days,)):
+        print(json.dumps(dict(row)))
 finally:
     conn.close()
 """
@@ -1176,7 +1176,12 @@ finally:
         capture_output=True,
         check=True,
     )
-    return json.loads(result.stdout)
+    lines = (line for line in result.stdout.splitlines() if line.strip())
+    try:
+        header = json.loads(next(lines))
+    except StopIteration:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"empty response from remote telemetry fetch on {ssh_host}") from None
+    return {"db_stats": header["db_stats"], "rows": [json.loads(line) for line in lines]}
 
 
 def counter_entries(counter: Counter[str], key_name: str) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
diff --git a/scripts/tests/test_telemetry_adoption_report.py b/scripts/tests/test_telemetry_adoption_report.py
index 05f0837bcd..8dba193028 100644
--- a/scripts/tests/test_telemetry_adoption_report.py
+++ b/scripts/tests/test_telemetry_adoption_report.py
@@ -5,8 +5,11 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
 from pathlib import Path
+import json
+import subprocess
 import sys
 import unittest
+from unittest import mock
 
 
 SCRIPT_DIR = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
@@ -26,6 +29,26 @@ class TelemetryAdoptionReportTest(unittest.TestCase):
             "6.0.0-rc.1+git.45.gabcdef",
         )
 
+    def test_fetch_rows_remote_parses_json_lines_stream(self) -> None:
+        db_stats = {"latest_ping": "2026-07-17 00:00:00", "total_rows": 2, "total_distinct_installs": 2}
+        rows = [
+            {"install_id": "a", "received_at": "2026-07-17 00:00:00"},
+            {"install_id": "b", "received_at": "2026-07-16 00:00:00"},
+        ]
+        stdout = "\n".join([json.dumps({"db_stats": db_stats}), *(json.dumps(row) for row in rows), ""])
+        completed = subprocess.CompletedProcess(args=[], returncode=0, stdout=stdout, stderr="")
+        with mock.patch.object(report.subprocess, "run", return_value=completed) as run_mock:
+            result = report.fetch_rows_remote("pulse-license", "/opt/licenses.sqlite", 30)
+        self.assertEqual(result, {"db_stats": db_stats, "rows": rows})
+        remote_script = run_mock.call_args.kwargs["input"]
+        self.assertNotIn("fetchall", remote_script)
+
+    def test_fetch_rows_remote_rejects_empty_response(self) -> None:
+        completed = subprocess.CompletedProcess(args=[], returncode=0, stdout="\n", stderr="")
+        with mock.patch.object(report.subprocess, "run", return_value=completed):
+            with self.assertRaisesRegex(RuntimeError, "empty response"):
+                report.fetch_rows_remote("pulse-license", "/opt/licenses.sqlite", 30)
+
     def test_classify_reported_version_requires_real_published_tag(self) -> None:
         identity = report.classify_reported_version(
             "v6.0.0-rc.2",