diff --git a/quickwit/quickwit-query/src/elastic_query_dsl/terms_query.rs b/quickwit/quickwit-query/src/elastic_query_dsl/terms_query.rs
index 48b65e4dd29..c3d7e9d8b92 100644
--- a/quickwit/quickwit-query/src/elastic_query_dsl/terms_query.rs
+++ b/quickwit/quickwit-query/src/elastic_query_dsl/terms_query.rs
@@ -13,8 +13,10 @@
 // limitations under the License.
 
 use std::collections::{BTreeSet, HashMap};
+use std::sync::LazyLock;
 
 use serde::Deserialize;
+use tracing::error;
 
 use crate::elastic_query_dsl::one_field_map::OneFieldMap;
 use crate::elastic_query_dsl::{ConvertibleToQueryAst, ElasticQueryDslInner};
@@ -85,8 +87,29 @@ impl TryFrom<TermsQueryForSerialization> for TermsQuery {
     }
 }
 
+/// Maximum number of terms allowed in a `terms` query.
+/// Large term sets generate a SQL condition that grows linearly with the number of values,
+/// which can cause PostgreSQL to OOM while parsing/planning the query.
+/// Can be overridden via the `QW_MAX_TERMS_QUERY_SIZE` environment variable.
+static MAX_TERMS_QUERY_SIZE: LazyLock<usize> =
+    LazyLock::new(|| quickwit_common::get_from_env("QW_MAX_TERMS_QUERY_SIZE", 100usize, false));
+
 impl ConvertibleToQueryAst for TermsQuery {
     fn convert_to_query_ast(self) -> anyhow::Result<QueryAst> {
+        let max_terms = *MAX_TERMS_QUERY_SIZE;
+        if self.values.len() > max_terms {
+            error!(
+                field = self.field,
+                nb_values = self.values.len(),
+                "terms query exceeds maximum allowed values"
+            );
+            anyhow::bail!(
+                "terms query on field `{}` contains {} values, which exceeds the maximum allowed \
+                 ({max_terms})",
+                self.field,
+                self.values.len()
+            );
+        }
         let mut terms_per_field = HashMap::new();
         let values_set: BTreeSet<String> = self.values.into_iter().collect();
         terms_per_field.insert(self.field, values_set);
@@ -135,6 +158,18 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(&terms_query.values[..], &["1".to_string(), "2".to_string()]);
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn test_terms_query_too_many_values() {
+        let values: Vec<String> = (0..=*MAX_TERMS_QUERY_SIZE).map(|i| i.to_string()).collect();
+        let terms_query = TermsQuery {
+            boost: None,
+            field: "my_field".to_string(),
+            values,
+        };
+        let err = terms_query.convert_to_query_ast().unwrap_err();
+        assert!(err.to_string().contains("exceeds the maximum allowed"));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_terms_query_single_term_boost() {
         let terms_query_json = r#"{ "user.id": ["hello", "happy"], "boost": 2 }"#;