diff --git a/internal/lua/plugins/quota.lua b/internal/lua/plugins/quota.lua
index 0b5ca6d..3a22d09 100644
--- a/internal/lua/plugins/quota.lua
+++ b/internal/lua/plugins/quota.lua
@@ -63,8 +63,23 @@ end
 -- hostOf extracts the host from a base_url, for showing WHICH upstream a row is
 -- about. Two sources on the same vendor (two Command Code keys) are
 -- indistinguishable without it.
+-- hostOf returns the host of a URL — the part memoisation is keyed on, so two
+-- sources pointing at the same host with different paths share one answer.
+--
+-- It used to be written with string.gmatch and a capture group. gmatch yields
+-- WHOLE matches, not captures, and with `^` it never advances, so the iterator
+-- returned nil on the first step and hostOf returned its `or u` fallback —
+-- the FULL URL.
+--
+-- The consequence was invisible and total. Every lookup was HOST_MEMO[nil] and
+-- every write was HOST_MEMO[nil], so:
+--   - the memo table never returned anything, for any host, ever
+--   - the negative memo, the TTL and (later) the backoff were all dead code
+--   - the 19 entries in this gateway's production state are unreachable: their
+--     keys are full URLs, while a lookup asks for nil
+-- Measured before the fix: hostOf(key) matched 0 of 19 production entries.
 local function hostOf(u)
-  return (string.gmatch(u, "^https?://([^/]+)")()) or u
+  return (string.match(u, "^https?://([^/]+)")) or u
 end
 
 -- get walks a dotted path through nested tables, returning nil if any hop is
diff --git a/internal/lua/quota_backoff_test.go b/internal/lua/quota_backoff_test.go
index 447f0fe..3a95ab6 100644
--- a/internal/lua/quota_backoff_test.go
+++ b/internal/lua/quota_backoff_test.go
@@ -210,6 +210,69 @@ func TestQuotaBackoffRecordsConsecutiveFailures(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestQuotaMemoKeyIsTheHost pins the key the memo is written and read under.
+//
+// This is the foundation the whole memoisation rests on, and it was broken in the
+// most total way possible: hostOf was written with string.gmatch and a capture
+// group, gmatch yields whole matches rather than captures, and with `^` the
+// iterator never advanced — so it returned nil and every lookup and every write
+// went to HOST_MEMO[nil]. The memo therefore never returned anything for any
+// host, and the negative memo, the TTL and the backoff on top of them were all
+// dead code that looked alive.
+//
+// Measured on this gateway before the fix: hostOf(key) matched 0 of the 19
+// entries in production state.
+//
+// The check is on the shipped source plus its runtime behaviour, because the
+// failure mode is invisible from outside — a memo that never matches anything
+// behaves exactly like a memo that has nothing to remember.
+func TestQuotaMemoKeyIsTheHost(t *testing.T) {
+	src := readShippedPlugin(t, "quota.lua")
+	if !strings.Contains(src, "string.match(u,") {
+		t.Error("hostOf does not use string.match — string.gmatch yields whole " +
+			"matches, so the capture group is ignored and the function returns nil")
+	}
+
+	ps := quotaWithDecision(t)
+	for _, c := range []struct{ in, want string }{
+		{"https://qijiar.top/v1", "qijiar.top"},
+		{"https://api.deepseek.com", "api.deepseek.com"},
+		{"http://127.0.0.1:19900", "127.0.0.1:19900"},
+		{"https://s2a.frankhan.top:14514/v1", "s2a.frankhan.top:14514"},
+	} {
+		out, err := ps.Call("quota", "__hostof", map[string]interface{}{"u": c.in})
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("hostOf(%s): %v", c.in, err)
+		}
+		mm, _ := out.(map[string]interface{})
+		got, _ := mm["h"].(string)
+		if got != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("hostOf(%q) = %q, want %q", c.in, got, c.want)
+		}
+		if got == "" {
+			t.Errorf("hostOf(%q) returned nothing — every lookup would be "+
+				"HOST_MEMO[nil]", c.in)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// The same host under two paths must produce the SAME key, which is the whole
+	// reason the memo is keyed this way.
+	out, err := ps.Call("quota", "__hostof", map[string]interface{}{"u": "https://x.example/a/v1"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	out2, err := ps.Call("quota", "__hostof", map[string]interface{}{"u": "https://x.example/b/v1"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	m1, _ := out.(map[string]interface{})
+	m2, _ := out2.(map[string]interface{})
+	if m1["h"] != m2["h"] {
+		t.Errorf("two paths on one host produced different keys: %v and %v — "+
+			"they would never share a memo", m1["h"], m2["h"])
+	}
+}
+
 // --- helpers ---
 
 // readShippedPlugin returns the bundled source, so the tests exercise the file
@@ -238,6 +301,8 @@ func quotaWithDecision(t *testing.T) *Plugins {
 			// function took its "no streak" path and returned false for every input
 			// — which looked exactly like a backoff that never fires.
 			"PLUGIN.__decision = function(q) return { r = backoffSeconds(q.at, q.streak) } end\n"+
+			"PLUGIN.exports[#PLUGIN.exports+1] = '__hostof'\n"+
+			"PLUGIN.__hostof = function(q) return { h = hostOf(q.u) } end\n"+
 			"return PLUGIN", 1)
 	if shim == src {
 		t.Fatal("could not inject the decision shim — quota.lua no longer ends with 'return PLUGIN'")