diff --git a/docs/data-pipeline.md b/docs/data-pipeline.md
index 06c2681..82cb761 100644
--- a/docs/data-pipeline.md
+++ b/docs/data-pipeline.md
@@ -181,9 +181,10 @@ silently drops 13,720 students** (Hanoi +7,275, HCM +6,445). That is what
 
 ## Expected row counts
 
-The databases are written with 1 KiB pages (`PRAGMA page_size` in
+The databases are written with 4 KiB pages (`PRAGMA page_size` in
 `parser/internal/writer/writer.go`) because the browser fetches them a page per
-HTTP request. `CHUNK_BYTES` in `web/src/lib/sqlite.svelte.js` must match.
+HTTP request, and those requests are serial. `CHUNK_BYTES` in
+`web/src/lib/sqlite.svelte.js` must match.
 
 | id | Source rows | Skipped | DB rows |
 | --- | --- | --- | --- |
diff --git a/docs/system-architecture.md b/docs/system-architecture.md
index 96cd913..7834311 100644
--- a/docs/system-architecture.md
+++ b/docs/system-architecture.md
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ total descending.
 | WASM hosting | Bundled with the app | `sql.js-httpvfs` ships its own build; one less third-party runtime dependency |
 | Diacritics search | Pre-computed `ho_ten_ascii`, indexed word by word | `LOWER(REPLACE(...))` at query time defeats the index, and `LIKE '%x%'` reads the whole table |
 | Row count in the footer | Read from `datasets.json` | `COUNT(*)` scans an index — 20 MB over range requests |
-| Page size | 1 KiB, matched by `requestChunkSize` | One HTTP request is one page; a row fetched by seek costs 1 KB rather than 4 KB, for about 5% more file |
+| Page size | 4 KiB, matched by `requestChunkSize` | One HTTP request is one page, and the worker issues them serially over synchronous XHR at ~40 ms each. Request count, not size, is what a search waits on: 390 requests moved 608 KB in 17 s. Four times the page is a quarter of the pages per scan. The 1 KiB both httpvfs libraries suggest optimises bytes per seek instead |
 | SQL safety | Leading-keyword allowlist | `sql.js` is in-memory so writes cannot persist; the allowlist prevents confusion |
 | Row caps | 100 (lookup), 1000 (SQL) | Keeps DOM render sizes reasonable |
 | Routing | SvelteKit file routes, prerendered | Each dataset gets a real HTML file with its own title |
diff --git a/parser/internal/writer/writer.go b/parser/internal/writer/writer.go
index 83ad96c..89230ac 100644
--- a/parser/internal/writer/writer.go
+++ b/parser/internal/writer/writer.go
@@ -46,14 +46,20 @@ func OpenDB(dbPath string) (*sql.DB, error) {
 	// Before the DDL, because a page size cannot change once a table exists —
 	// only the VACUUM in Finish could rewrite it, and only to this same value.
 	//
-	// 1 KiB rather than SQLite's 4 KiB default because the browser reads this
-	// file a page at a time over HTTP: a row fetched by index seek costs one
-	// page, so a search that returns 100 scattered rows transfers 100 KB
-	// instead of 400 KB. It costs about 5% file size, and both sql.js-httpvfs
-	// and sqlite-wasm-http recommend it. web/src/lib/sqlite.svelte.js must
-	// request the same size, and web/src/lib/db-probe.js warns when a published
-	// database disagrees with it.
-	if _, err := db.Exec("PRAGMA page_size = 1024"); err != nil {
+	// SQLite's default, kept because the browser reads this file a page at a
+	// time over HTTP and what costs time is the number of requests, not their
+	// size. The library reads with synchronous XHR, so requests are strictly
+	// serial at about 40 ms each; a name search that made 390 of them took 17
+	// seconds to move 608 KB. Four times the page size is a quarter of the
+	// pages for the same scan, and a shallower b-tree for each seek.
+	//
+	// The 1 KiB both sql.js-httpvfs and sqlite-wasm-http suggest optimises the
+	// other way — fewest bytes per seeked row — which is the wrong trade when
+	// one request costs more than the kilobyte it carries.
+	//
+	// web/src/lib/sqlite.svelte.js must request the same size, and
+	// web/src/lib/db-probe.js warns when a published database disagrees.
+	if _, err := db.Exec("PRAGMA page_size = 4096"); err != nil {
 		db.Close()
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("set page size: %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/web/src/lib/sqlite.svelte.js b/web/src/lib/sqlite.svelte.js
index e6212c4..985c08f 100644
--- a/web/src/lib/sqlite.svelte.js
+++ b/web/src/lib/sqlite.svelte.js
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@ import { probeDatabase } from "./db-probe.js";
 // Must equal the page size the parser writes (PRAGMA page_size in
 // parser/internal/writer/writer.go), so one request is exactly one page. A
 // mismatch makes every logical page read span two requests.
-const CHUNK_BYTES = 1024;
+//
+// Reads are serial — the worker uses synchronous XHR — so the count of
+// requests, not their size, is what a search waits on.
+const CHUNK_BYTES = 4096;
 
 /** Generous for indexed work: a name search costs well under 1 MB. */
 export const SEARCH_BUDGET_BYTES = 25 * 1024 * 1024;