diff --git a/internal/metrics/metrics.go b/internal/metrics/metrics.go
index 1b52024..9d719e5 100644
--- a/internal/metrics/metrics.go
+++ b/internal/metrics/metrics.go
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ type Metric struct {
 
 // Labels list of tags
 func (m *Metric) Labels() []string {
-	if m.Tags == nil || len(m.Tags) == 0 || m.Tags[0] == nil || len(m.Tags[0]) == 0 {
+	if len(m.Tags) == 0 || len(m.Tags[0]) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
 	labels := make([]string, 0, len(m.Tags[0]))
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ func (m *Metric) Labels() []string {
 }
 
 func (m *Metric) tagValues() *patternkey.PatterKeys {
-	if m.Tags == nil || len(m.Tags) == 0 || m.Tags[0] == nil || len(m.Tags[0]) == 0 {
+	if len(m.Tags) == 0 || len(m.Tags[0]) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
 	vals := make([]string, 0, len(m.Tags[0]))
diff --git a/storage/ncstreams/stream.go b/storage/ncstreams/stream.go
index 17c79d6..f7309c2 100644
--- a/storage/ncstreams/stream.go
+++ b/storage/ncstreams/stream.go
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ func newStream(pub nc.Publisher, conf *stream.Config) (eventstream.Streamer, err
 	}
 	for _, target := range preConfig.Targets {
 		var fields map[string]any
-		if target.Fields != nil && len(target.Fields) > 0 {
+		if len(target.Fields) > 0 {
 			fields = target.Fields
 		}
 		template, err := newMessageTemplate(fields, target.Where)