diff --git a/dogstatsd-http/core/src/main/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/DirectHttpClient.java b/dogstatsd-http/core/src/main/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/DirectHttpClient.java
index 7bb83bc5..886b68d7 100644
--- a/dogstatsd-http/core/src/main/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/DirectHttpClient.java
+++ b/dogstatsd-http/core/src/main/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/DirectHttpClient.java
@@ -8,16 +8,22 @@
 package com.datadoghq.dogstatsd.http;
 
 import com.datadoghq.dogstatsd.Sketch;
+import com.datadoghq.dogstatsd.http.serializer.Metric;
 import com.datadoghq.dogstatsd.http.serializer.PayloadBuilder;
 import com.datadoghq.dogstatsd.http.serializer.PayloadConsumer;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.nio.BufferOverflowException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Objects;
 
 /**
  * Simple Dogstatsd HTTP client for sending pre-aggregated metrics.
  *
+ * <p>A {@code host:} tag is not sent as a tag: it is removed from the tags and submitted as the
+ * host resource of the timeseries.
+ *
  * <p>Not thread safe.
  *
  * <p>Caveat: if the forwarder throws {@code InterruptedException}, the payload in progress is lost.
@@ -30,6 +36,8 @@ public class DirectHttpClient {
     private final Sketch sketchBuffer = new Sketch();
     private final String prefix;
     private static final int defaultInterval = 10;
+    private static final String hostTagPrefix = "host:";
+    private static final String hostResourceType = "host";
 
     /**
      * Creates a builder for a client sending its payloads through the given forwarder.
@@ -127,13 +135,13 @@ public DirectHttpClient build() {
      * @param name the metric name, to which the client prefix is prepended.
      * @param value the gauge value.
      * @param ts the timestamp of the point in seconds since Unix epoch.
-     * @param tags the tags to attach to the point.
+     * @param tags the tags to attach to the point. A {@code host:} tag is not attached as a tag:
+     *     the first one is submitted as the host resource of the timeseries, and any further {@code
+     *     host:} tags are dropped.
      * @throws BufferOverflowException if the encoded metric exceeds the maximum payload size.
      */
     public void gauge(String name, double value, long ts, List<String> tags) {
-        seriesBuilder
-                .gauge(prefixed(name))
-                .setTags(tags)
+        withTagsAndHost(seriesBuilder.gauge(prefixed(name)), tags)
                 .setInterval(defaultInterval)
                 .addPoint(ts, value)
                 .close();
@@ -148,13 +156,13 @@ public void gauge(String name, double value, long ts, List<String> tags) {
      * @param name the metric name, to which the client prefix is prepended.
      * @param value the count accumulated over the interval starting at {@code ts}.
      * @param ts the timestamp of the point in seconds since Unix epoch.
-     * @param tags the tags to attach to the point.
+     * @param tags the tags to attach to the point. A {@code host:} tag is not attached as a tag:
+     *     the first one is submitted as the host resource of the timeseries, and any further {@code
+     *     host:} tags are dropped.
      * @throws BufferOverflowException if the encoded metric exceeds the maximum payload size.
      */
     public void count(String name, double value, long ts, List<String> tags) {
-        seriesBuilder
-                .rate(prefixed(name))
-                .setTags(tags)
+        withTagsAndHost(seriesBuilder.rate(prefixed(name)), tags)
                 .setInterval(defaultInterval)
                 .addPoint(ts, value / defaultInterval)
                 .close();
@@ -167,7 +175,9 @@ public void count(String name, double value, long ts, List<String> tags) {
      * @param values the observations to summarize.
      * @param sampleRate the sampling rate used to collect {@code values}, in {@code (0, 1]}.
      * @param ts the timestamp of the point in seconds since Unix epoch.
-     * @param tags the tags to attach to the point.
+     * @param tags the tags to attach to the point. A {@code host:} tag is not attached as a tag:
+     *     the first one is submitted as the host resource of the timeseries, and any further {@code
+     *     host:} tags are dropped.
      * @throws IllegalArgumentException if {@code sampleRate} is {@code NaN}, not positive, or
      *     greater than 1.
      * @throws BufferOverflowException if the encoded metric exceeds the maximum payload size.
@@ -175,13 +185,61 @@ public void count(String name, double value, long ts, List<String> tags) {
     public void distribution(
             String name, double[] values, double sampleRate, long ts, List<String> tags) {
         sketchBuffer.build(values, sampleRate);
-        sketchesBuilder.sketch(prefixed(name)).setTags(tags).addPoint(ts, sketchBuffer).close();
+        withTagsAndHost(sketchesBuilder.sketch(prefixed(name)), tags)
+                .addPoint(ts, sketchBuffer)
+                .close();
     }
 
     private String prefixed(final String name) {
         return prefix.isEmpty() ? name : prefix + name;
     }
 
+    /** Applies the tags to the metric, extracting the host tag into the host resource. */
+    private static <T extends Metric<T>> T withTagsAndHost(
+            final T metric, final List<String> tags) {
+        final String host = hostTag(tags);
+        return metric.setTags(host == null ? tags : withoutHostTags(tags))
+                .setResources(hostResource(host));
+    }
+
+    /** Returns the value of the first host tag, or null if there is none. */
+    static String hostTag(final List<String> tags) {
+        if (tags == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        for (int i = 0; i < tags.size(); i++) {
+            final String tag = tags.get(i);
+            if (tag.startsWith(hostTagPrefix)) {
+                return tag.substring(hostTagPrefix.length());
+            }
+        }
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /** Returns the tags with every host tag removed, or the tags themselves if there was none. */
+    static List<String> withoutHostTags(final List<String> tags) {
+        if (tags == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        ArrayList<String> rest = null;
+        for (int i = 0; i < tags.size(); i++) {
+            final String tag = tags.get(i);
+            if (tag.startsWith(hostTagPrefix)) {
+                if (rest == null) {
+                    rest = new ArrayList<>(tags.subList(0, i));
+                }
+            } else if (rest != null) {
+                rest.add(tag);
+            }
+        }
+        return rest == null ? tags : rest;
+    }
+
+    /** Returns the host resource pair, or null if there is no host. */
+    static List<String> hostResource(final String host) {
+        return host == null ? null : Arrays.asList(hostResourceType, host);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Completes any in-progress payloads and submits them to the forwarder.
      *
diff --git a/dogstatsd-http/core/src/main/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/serializer/Metric.java b/dogstatsd-http/core/src/main/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/serializer/Metric.java
index ac28a0e1..756b931f 100644
--- a/dogstatsd-http/core/src/main/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/serializer/Metric.java
+++ b/dogstatsd-http/core/src/main/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/serializer/Metric.java
@@ -9,7 +9,15 @@
 
 import java.util.List;
 
-abstract class Metric<T extends Metric<T>> {
+/**
+ * Common settings shared by all timeseries builders.
+ *
+ * <p>Instances are obtained from {@link PayloadBuilder}; this class cannot be subclassed outside of
+ * this package.
+ *
+ * @param <T> the concrete builder type returned by the setters, for chaining.
+ */
+public abstract class Metric<T extends Metric<T>> {
     final PayloadBuilder pb;
 
     final long type;
diff --git a/dogstatsd-http/core/src/test/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/DirectHttpClientTest.java b/dogstatsd-http/core/src/test/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/DirectHttpClientTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ece4b741
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dogstatsd-http/core/src/test/java/com/datadoghq/dogstatsd/http/DirectHttpClientTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,207 @@
+/* Unless explicitly stated otherwise all files in this repository are
+ * licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.
+ *
+ * This product includes software developed at Datadog
+ *  (https://www.datadoghq.com/) Copyright 2026 Datadog, Inc.
+ */
+
+package com.datadoghq.dogstatsd.http;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertArrayEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertSame;
+
+import com.datadoghq.dogstatsd.Sketch;
+import com.datadoghq.dogstatsd.http.serializer.PayloadBuilder;
+import com.datadoghq.dogstatsd.http.serializer.PayloadConsumer;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class DirectHttpClientTest {
+    private static final URI seriesUri = URI.create("series");
+    private static final URI sketchesUri = URI.create("sketches");
+
+    static class TestForwarder implements DirectHttpClient.Forwarder {
+        final ArrayList<URI> uris = new ArrayList<>();
+        final ArrayList<byte[]> payloads = new ArrayList<>();
+
+        @Override
+        public void send(URI uri, byte[] payload) {
+            uris.add(uri);
+            payloads.add(payload);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static PayloadBuilder builderInto(final List<byte[]> payloads) {
+        return new PayloadBuilder(
+                new PayloadConsumer() {
+                    @Override
+                    public void handle(byte[] p) {
+                        payloads.add(p);
+                    }
+                });
+    }
+
+    /** Asserts the client sent exactly one payload to uri, matching the only expected payload. */
+    private static void assertSent(List<byte[]> expected, TestForwarder fwd, URI uri, String what) {
+        assertEquals("expected payloads", 1, expected.size());
+        assertEquals("payloads sent", Collections.singletonList(uri), fwd.uris);
+        assertArrayEquals(what, expected.get(0), fwd.payloads.get(0));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void gaugeSendsHostTagAsResource() {
+        TestForwarder fwd = new TestForwarder();
+        DirectHttpClient client = DirectHttpClient.builder(fwd).prefix("pfx").build();
+        client.gauge("metric", 1.5, 100, Arrays.asList("a:b", "host:h1", "host:h2"));
+        client.flush();
+
+        ArrayList<byte[]> expected = new ArrayList<>();
+        PayloadBuilder b = builderInto(expected);
+        b.gauge("pfx.metric")
+                .setTags(Collections.singletonList("a:b"))
+                .setResources(Arrays.asList("host", "h1"))
+                .setInterval(10)
+                .addPoint(100, 1.5)
+                .close();
+        b.close();
+
+        assertSent(expected, fwd, seriesUri, "gauge");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void countSendsHostTagAsResource() {
+        TestForwarder fwd = new TestForwarder();
+        DirectHttpClient client = DirectHttpClient.builder(fwd).build();
+        client.count("metric", 20, 100, Arrays.asList("host:h1", "a:b"));
+        client.flush();
+
+        ArrayList<byte[]> expected = new ArrayList<>();
+        PayloadBuilder b = builderInto(expected);
+        b.rate("metric")
+                .setTags(Collections.singletonList("a:b"))
+                .setResources(Arrays.asList("host", "h1"))
+                .setInterval(10)
+                .addPoint(100, 2)
+                .close();
+        b.close();
+
+        assertSent(expected, fwd, seriesUri, "count");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void distributionSendsHostTagAsResource() {
+        double[] values = new double[] {1, 2, 2};
+
+        TestForwarder fwd = new TestForwarder();
+        DirectHttpClient client = DirectHttpClient.builder(fwd).build();
+        client.distribution("metric", values, 1.0, 100, Arrays.asList("host:h1", "a:b"));
+        client.flush();
+
+        Sketch sketch = new Sketch();
+        sketch.build(values, 1.0);
+
+        ArrayList<byte[]> expected = new ArrayList<>();
+        PayloadBuilder b = builderInto(expected);
+        b.sketch("metric")
+                .setTags(Collections.singletonList("a:b"))
+                .setResources(Arrays.asList("host", "h1"))
+                .addPoint(100, sketch)
+                .close();
+        b.close();
+
+        assertSent(expected, fwd, sketchesUri, "distribution");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void noHostTagLeavesResourcesUnset() {
+        TestForwarder fwd = new TestForwarder();
+        DirectHttpClient client = DirectHttpClient.builder(fwd).build();
+        client.gauge("metric", 1.5, 100, Arrays.asList("a:b", "hostname:h1"));
+        client.flush();
+
+        ArrayList<byte[]> expected = new ArrayList<>();
+        PayloadBuilder b = builderInto(expected);
+        b.gauge("metric")
+                .setTags(Arrays.asList("a:b", "hostname:h1"))
+                .setInterval(10)
+                .addPoint(100, 1.5)
+                .close();
+        b.close();
+
+        assertSent(expected, fwd, seriesUri, "gauge without host tag");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void emptyHostTagSendsEmptyHostResource() {
+        TestForwarder fwd = new TestForwarder();
+        DirectHttpClient client = DirectHttpClient.builder(fwd).build();
+        client.gauge("metric", 1.5, 100, Arrays.asList("a:b", "host:"));
+        client.flush();
+
+        ArrayList<byte[]> expected = new ArrayList<>();
+        PayloadBuilder b = builderInto(expected);
+        b.gauge("metric")
+                .setTags(Collections.singletonList("a:b"))
+                .setResources(Arrays.asList("host", ""))
+                .setInterval(10)
+                .addPoint(100, 1.5)
+                .close();
+        b.close();
+
+        assertSent(expected, fwd, seriesUri, "gauge with empty host tag");
+
+        // An empty host resource must still be encoded, unlike a metric with no resources at all.
+        ArrayList<byte[]> noResources = new ArrayList<>();
+        PayloadBuilder nb = builderInto(noResources);
+        nb.gauge("metric")
+                .setTags(Collections.singletonList("a:b"))
+                .setInterval(10)
+                .addPoint(100, 1.5)
+                .close();
+        nb.close();
+
+        assertFalse(
+                "empty host resource encodes the same as no resources",
+                Arrays.equals(noResources.get(0), fwd.payloads.get(0)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void hostTagPicksFirstValue() {
+        assertNull(DirectHttpClient.hostTag(null));
+        assertNull(DirectHttpClient.hostTag(Collections.<String>emptyList()));
+        assertNull(DirectHttpClient.hostTag(Arrays.asList("a:b", "hostname:h1", "hos:t")));
+        assertEquals("h1", DirectHttpClient.hostTag(Collections.singletonList("host:h1")));
+        assertEquals("h1", DirectHttpClient.hostTag(Arrays.asList("a:b", "host:h1", "host:h2")));
+        assertEquals("", DirectHttpClient.hostTag(Collections.singletonList("host:")));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void withoutHostTagsRemovesEveryHostTag() {
+        assertNull(DirectHttpClient.withoutHostTags(null));
+
+        List<String> noHost = Arrays.asList("a:b", "hostname:h1");
+        assertSame(noHost, DirectHttpClient.withoutHostTags(noHost));
+
+        assertEquals(
+                Collections.<String>emptyList(),
+                DirectHttpClient.withoutHostTags(Arrays.asList("host:h1", "host:")));
+        assertEquals(
+                Arrays.asList("a:b", "c:d"),
+                DirectHttpClient.withoutHostTags(
+                        Arrays.asList("a:b", "host:h1", "c:d", "host:h2")));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void hostResourceIsATypeNamePair() {
+        assertNull(DirectHttpClient.hostResource(null));
+        assertEquals(Arrays.asList("host", "h1"), DirectHttpClient.hostResource("h1"));
+        assertEquals(Arrays.asList("host", ""), DirectHttpClient.hostResource(""));
+    }
+}