diff --git a/cmd/operator/app/thread_chi.go b/cmd/operator/app/thread_chi.go
index c2ac3e326..e1d746eaf 100644
--- a/cmd/operator/app/thread_chi.go
+++ b/cmd/operator/app/thread_chi.go
@@ -18,12 +18,16 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"time"
 
+	meta "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+	k8sLabels "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
 	kubeinformers "k8s.io/client-go/informers"
 
 	log "github.com/altinity/clickhouse-operator/pkg/announcer"
 	"github.com/altinity/clickhouse-operator/pkg/chop"
 	chopinformers "github.com/altinity/clickhouse-operator/pkg/client/informers/externalversions"
 	"github.com/altinity/clickhouse-operator/pkg/controller/chi"
+	chiLabeler "github.com/altinity/clickhouse-operator/pkg/model/chi/tags/labeler"
+	commonLabeler "github.com/altinity/clickhouse-operator/pkg/model/common/tags/labeler"
 )
 
 // Prometheus exporter defaults
@@ -43,6 +47,16 @@ var (
 func init() {
 }
 
+// chopGeneratedObjectsLabelSelector builds a label selector that matches objects generated by the operator.
+// This is the server-side counterpart of the client-side Controller.isTrackedObject() check, which requires
+// Labeler.IsCHOPGeneratedObject(). Both are built out of the same labeler, so that the two can not diverge.
+func chopGeneratedObjectsLabelSelector() string {
+	labeler := chiLabeler.New(nil)
+	return k8sLabels.SelectorFromSet(k8sLabels.Set{
+		labeler.Get(commonLabeler.LabelAppName): labeler.Get(commonLabeler.LabelAppValue),
+	}).String()
+}
+
 var chiController *chi.Controller
 
 // initClickHouse is an entry point of the application
@@ -90,10 +104,20 @@ func initClickHouse(ctx context.Context) {
 	}
 
 	// Create Informers
+	// Kube objects are filtered server-side down to operator-generated objects only. GetInformerNamespace()
+	// falls back to all namespaces as soon as watched namespaces are specified as anything other than a single
+	// literal namespace name, so without this selector the informer caches - and the DeltaFIFO feeding them -
+	// scale with the size of the whole cluster instead of with the number of managed installations.
+	// CHOp custom resource informers below are intentionally left unfiltered.
+	kubeObjectsLabelSelector := chopGeneratedObjectsLabelSelector()
+	log.V(1).F().Info("Kube informers label selector: '%s'", kubeObjectsLabelSelector)
 	kubeInformerFactory := kubeinformers.NewSharedInformerFactoryWithOptions(
 		kubeClient,
 		kubeInformerFactoryResyncPeriod,
 		kubeinformers.WithNamespace(chop.Config().GetInformerNamespace()),
+		kubeinformers.WithTweakListOptions(func(options *meta.ListOptions) {
+			options.LabelSelector = kubeObjectsLabelSelector
+		}),
 	)
 	chopInformerFactory := chopinformers.NewSharedInformerFactoryWithOptions(
 		chopClient,
diff --git a/cmd/operator/app/thread_chi_test.go b/cmd/operator/app/thread_chi_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..db993457d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/operator/app/thread_chi_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package app
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	meta "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+	k8sLabels "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
+
+	chiLabeler "github.com/altinity/clickhouse-operator/pkg/model/chi/tags/labeler"
+)
+
+// The kube informer factory applies chopGeneratedObjectsLabelSelector() server-side. Handlers still apply
+// the client-side Controller.isTrackedObject() check, which requires Labeler.IsCHOPGeneratedObject().
+// If the two ever disagree, the operator silently stops seeing objects it is supposed to reconcile, so
+// pin down both the literal selector and its equivalence to the client-side predicate.
+
+func Test_chopGeneratedObjectsLabelSelector(t *testing.T) {
+	want := "clickhouse.altinity.com/app=chop"
+	if got := chopGeneratedObjectsLabelSelector(); got != want {
+		t.Errorf("chopGeneratedObjectsLabelSelector() = %q, want %q", got, want)
+	}
+}
+
+func Test_chopGeneratedObjectsLabelSelectorMatchesIsCHOPGeneratedObject(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name   string
+		labels map[string]string
+		want   bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:   "operator-generated object",
+			labels: map[string]string{"clickhouse.altinity.com/app": "chop"},
+			want:   true,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "operator-generated object among unrelated labels",
+			labels: map[string]string{
+				"clickhouse.altinity.com/app":  "chop",
+				"clickhouse.altinity.com/chi":  "some-chi",
+				"kubernetes.io/service-name":   "some-svc",
+				"app.kubernetes.io/managed-by": "Helm",
+			},
+			want: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "no labels at all",
+			labels: nil,
+			want:   false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "unrelated labels only",
+			labels: map[string]string{"app": "clickhouse"},
+			want:   false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "right key, wrong value",
+			labels: map[string]string{"clickhouse.altinity.com/app": "not-chop"},
+			want:   false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "bare app label is not enough",
+			labels: map[string]string{"app": "chop"},
+			want:   false,
+		},
+		{
+			// CHK-generated objects carry the clickhouse-keeper API group key, and isTrackedObject()
+			// uses the CHI labeler, so they are not tracked by the CHI controller either way.
+			name:   "keeper-generated object",
+			labels: map[string]string{"clickhouse-keeper.altinity.com/app": "chop"},
+			want:   false,
+		},
+	}
+
+	selector, err := k8sLabels.Parse(chopGeneratedObjectsLabelSelector())
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unable to parse selector: %v", err)
+	}
+	labeler := chiLabeler.New(nil)
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			// Server-side: what the informer factory asks the API server for
+			if got := selector.Matches(k8sLabels.Set(tt.labels)); got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("selector.Matches() = %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
+			}
+			// Client-side: what the event handlers gate on
+			if got := labeler.IsCHOPGeneratedObject(&meta.ObjectMeta{Labels: tt.labels}); got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("IsCHOPGeneratedObject() = %v, want %v", got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}