diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5c8dd8f2a4..10ea9bcf94 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ and adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Searches with `path:` or `name:` filters now find matching symbols before unrelated results consume the limit, including typo searches and queries containing only filters.
+
 - In TypeScript, an awaited call with type arguments like `await fetchApi<User>("/me")` or `await api.get<T>(url)` now links to the function it calls. Before, the call was dropped, so typed fetch wrappers looked like they had no callers. (#2586)
 - In React, a component rendered at module scope, in a top-level constant or inside a test's `it(…)` callback, like `createRoot(el).render(<App />)` or `render(<Card />)`, now counts as rendered there, so an app's entry reaches its root component and a component's tests show among its callers. (#2587)
 - In Python, `import a.b as X` written inside a function now links its calls like `X.f()`, as the same import at module level already did. Thanks @Egrn for the report. (#2600)
diff --git a/__tests__/search-query-parser.test.ts b/__tests__/search-query-parser.test.ts
index 8a7767dac3..acba91ae27 100644
--- a/__tests__/search-query-parser.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/search-query-parser.test.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,12 @@
  * `name:` filtering and the fuzzy typo fallback.
  */
 
-import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'vitest';
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+import * as os from 'os';
+import * as path from 'path';
+import CodeGraph from '../src';
+import { ToolHandler } from '../src/mcp/tools';
 import { parseQuery, boundedEditDistance } from '../src/search/query-parser';
 
 describe('parseQuery', () => {
@@ -140,3 +145,110 @@ describe('boundedEditDistance', () => {
     expect(boundedEditDistance('aaaaa', 'bbbbb', 2)).toBe(3);
   });
 });
+
+describe('search hard filters precede candidate limits', () => {
+  let root: string;
+  let cg: CodeGraph;
+  const names = (query: string, limit = 1) => cg.searchNodes(query, { limit, kinds: ['function'] }).map(r => r.node.name);
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    root = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'cg-search-filter-'));
+    const write = (file: string, source: string) => {
+      fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(path.join(root, file)), { recursive: true });
+      fs.writeFileSync(path.join(root, file), source);
+    };
+    const filler = Array.from({ length: 120 }, (_, i) => [
+      `export function authenticate${i}() { return ${i}; }`,
+      `export function aaaNeedle${i}() { return ${i}; }`,
+    ].join('\n'));
+    // Distinct names with the same folded spelling occupy the fuzzy name cap.
+    const variants = Array.from({ length: 64 }, (_, mask) => 'G' + [...'etUser'].map((c, i) =>
+      mask & (1 << i) ? c.toUpperCase() : c.toLowerCase(),
+    ).join(''));
+    write('aaa/noise.ts', filler.join('\n') + '\nexport function authenticate() {}\n'
+      + variants.map(n => `export function ${n}() {}`).join('\n'));
+    write('product/handler.ts', [
+      'export function authenticateUserHandler() {}',
+      'export function zzNeedleHandler() {}',
+      'export function zzzRareHandler() {}',
+      'export function getUser() {}',
+    ].join('\n'));
+    write('Ünicode/handler.ts', 'export function Öffnen() {}');
+    write('percent%/unit_/literal.ts', 'export function percent_name() {}');
+    write('percentA/unitA/decoy.ts', 'export function percentAname() {}');
+    cg = await CodeGraph.init(root, { index: true });
+  });
+
+  afterAll(() => {
+    cg?.close();
+    if (root) fs.rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  it.each([1, 2, 10])('finds a selective FTS path/name hit with limit %i', limit => {
+    expect(cg.getBackend()).toBe('node-sqlite');
+    expect(names('authenticate path:product/', limit)).toEqual(['authenticateUserHandler']);
+    expect(names('authenticate name:UserHandler', limit)).toEqual(['authenticateUserHandler']);
+  });
+
+  it('finds filter-only hits beyond the alphabetically first candidates', () => {
+    expect(names('kind:function name:zzzRareHandler')).toEqual(['zzzRareHandler']);
+    expect(names('kind:function path:product/', 10)).toHaveLength(4);
+  });
+
+  it('filters LIKE fallback before its limit', () => {
+    expect(names('needle path:product/')).toEqual(['zzNeedleHandler']);
+    expect(names('needle name:zzNeedleHandler')).toEqual(['zzNeedleHandler']);
+  });
+
+  it('filters fuzzy definitions before per-name and follow-up caps', () => {
+    expect(names('getUsar path:product/')).toEqual(['getUser']);
+    expect(names('getUsar name:getUser')).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
+  it('preserves Unicode case-insensitive literal substring matching', () => {
+    expect(names('kind:function path:ünicode/ name:öffnen')).toEqual(['Öffnen']);
+  });
+
+  it('treats percent signs and underscores literally', () => {
+    expect(names('kind:function path:percent%/ name:percent_')).toEqual(['percent_name']);
+    expect(names('kind:function path:unit_/', 10)).toEqual(['percent_name']);
+    expect(names('kind:function name:percent_', 10)).toEqual(['percent_name']);
+  });
+
+  it('ORs repeated filters within each family and ANDs the two families', () => {
+    expect(names('kind:function path:product/ path:ünicode/ name:zzzRareHandler name:öffnen', 10).sort())
+      .toEqual(['zzzRareHandler', 'Öffnen'].sort());
+    expect(names('kind:function path:product/ name:öffnen', 10)).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps exact matches first in unfiltered search and avoids supplement leakage', () => {
+    expect(names('authenticate')).toEqual(['authenticate']);
+    expect(names('authenticate path:product/')).toEqual(['authenticateUserHandler']);
+    expect(names('authenticate path:absent/', 100)).toEqual([]);
+    expect(names('authenticate name:NoSuchHandler', 100)).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('skips filtered candidates, rather than unrelated rows, for offset', () => {
+    const all = cg.searchNodes('kind:function path:product/', { limit: 10 });
+    const page = cg.searchNodes('kind:function path:product/', { limit: 1, offset: 1 });
+    expect(page[0]!.node.id).toBe(all[1]!.node.id);
+  });
+
+  it('returns a real MCP match and success-shaped guidance only for an absent filter', async () => {
+    const prior = process.env.CODEGRAPH_MCP_TOOLS;
+    process.env.CODEGRAPH_MCP_TOOLS = 'search';
+    const handler = new ToolHandler(cg);
+    try {
+      const result = await handler.execute('codegraph_search', { query: 'authenticate path:product/', limit: 1 });
+      expect(result.isError).not.toBe(true);
+      expect(JSON.stringify(result.content)).toContain('authenticateUserHandler');
+      const absent = await handler.execute('codegraph_search', { query: 'authenticate path:absent/', limit: 1 });
+      expect(absent.isError).not.toBe(true);
+      expect(JSON.stringify(absent.content)).toContain('No results found');
+    } finally {
+      await handler.closeAll();
+      if (prior === undefined) delete process.env.CODEGRAPH_MCP_TOOLS;
+      else process.env.CODEGRAPH_MCP_TOOLS = prior;
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/db/queries.ts b/src/db/queries.ts
index fe2f73d9e3..ebd0516c2e 100644
--- a/src/db/queries.ts
+++ b/src/db/queries.ts
@@ -247,6 +247,12 @@ function rowToFileRecord(row: FileRow): FileRecord {
   };
 }
 
+interface SearchFieldFilters {
+  /** Lowercased literal substrings, OR within each family and AND across families. */
+  pathFilters?: string[];
+  nameFilters?: string[];
+}
+
 /**
  * Files ranked by edges between two of their own symbols — the input to
  * `getDominantFile`. CROSS JOIN pins the loop order to edges first, then a
@@ -1587,8 +1593,9 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
       parsed.languages.length > 0
         ? Array.from(new Set([...(options.languages ?? []), ...parsed.languages]))
         : options.languages;
-    const pathFilters = parsed.pathFilters;
-    const nameFilters = parsed.nameFilters;
+    const pathFilters = parsed.pathFilters.map(p => p.toLowerCase());
+    const nameFilters = parsed.nameFilters.map(n => n.toLowerCase());
+    const fieldFilters = { pathFilters, nameFilters };
     // The text portion drives FTS/LIKE; if all the user typed was
     // filters (`kind:function`), we still need *some* candidate set,
     // so synthesise an empty-text path that returns everything matching
@@ -1599,16 +1606,14 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
 
     // First try FTS5 with prefix matching (skip if FTS5 not available, #1532)
     let results = text
-      ? (this._fts5Available !== false ? this.searchNodesFTS(text, { kinds, languages, limit, offset }) : [])
-      // Over-fetch by 5× when running filter-only (no text). The
-      // post-scoring path: + name: filters can be very selective, so
-      // a smaller multiplier risks returning fewer than `limit`
-      // results despite the DB having plenty of matches.
-      : this.searchAllByFilters({ kinds, languages, limit: limit * 5 });
+      ? (this._fts5Available !== false ? this.searchNodesFTS(text, { kinds, languages, limit, offset, ...fieldFilters }) : [])
+      // Keep the existing ranking pool, counting only rows that satisfy the
+      // explicit filters so unrelated symbols cannot consume that pool.
+      : this.searchAllByFilters({ kinds, languages, limit: limit * 5, offset, ...fieldFilters });
 
     // If no FTS results, try LIKE-based substring search
     if (results.length === 0 && text.length >= 2) {
-      results = this.searchNodesLike(text, { kinds, languages, limit, offset });
+      results = this.searchNodesLike(text, { kinds, languages, limit, offset, ...fieldFilters });
     }
 
     // Final fuzzy fallback: scan all known names and keep those within
@@ -1616,7 +1621,7 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
     // returned nothing AND there's a text portion long enough to be
     // worth fuzzing (1-char queries would match too much).
     if (results.length === 0 && text.length >= 3) {
-      results = this.searchNodesFuzzy(text, { kinds, languages, limit });
+      results = this.searchNodesFuzzy(text, { kinds, languages, limit, ...fieldFilters });
     }
 
     // Supplement: ensure exact name matches are always candidates.
@@ -1653,8 +1658,7 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
           sql += ` AND language IN (${languages.map(() => '?').join(',')})`;
           params.push(...languages);
         }
-        sql += ' LIMIT 20';
-        const rows = this.db.prepare(sql).all(...params) as NodeRow[];
+        const rows = this.readSearchRows<NodeRow>(sql, params, { limit: 20, ...fieldFilters });
         for (const row of rows) {
           if (!existingIds.has(row.id)) {
             results.push({ node: rowToNode(row), score: maxFtsScore });
@@ -1692,40 +1696,56 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
       }
     }
 
-    // Apply path: + name: filters AFTER scoring. Scoring already uses
-    // path/name as a soft signal; the explicit filters here are a hard
-    // gate. Done last so the FTS limit fetched plenty of candidates to
-    // narrow from.
-    if (pathFilters.length > 0) {
-      const lowered = pathFilters.map((p) => p.toLowerCase());
-      results = results.filter((r) => {
-        const fp = r.node.filePath.toLowerCase();
-        return lowered.some((p) => fp.includes(p));
-      });
+    return results;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Apply hard field filters before a candidate consumes the search budget.
+   * Iteration keeps the selected pool bounded even for a very selective
+   * filter. JavaScript's case folding and literal substring semantics are
+   * preserved: SQLite's lower() only folds ASCII, and LIKE treats %/_ as
+   * wildcards. The unfiltered hot path still uses SQL LIMIT/OFFSET directly.
+   */
+  private readSearchRows<T extends NodeRow>(
+    sql: string,
+    params: (string | number)[],
+    options: SearchOptions & SearchFieldFilters,
+  ): T[] {
+    const { limit = 100, offset = 0, pathFilters = [], nameFilters = [] } = options;
+    if (pathFilters.length === 0 && nameFilters.length === 0) {
+      return this.db.prepare(`${sql} LIMIT ? OFFSET ?`).all(...params, limit, offset) as T[];
     }
-    if (nameFilters.length > 0) {
-      const lowered = nameFilters.map((n) => n.toLowerCase());
-      results = results.filter((r) => {
-        const nm = r.node.name.toLowerCase();
-        return lowered.some((n) => nm.includes(n));
-      });
+    if (limit === 0) return [];
+
+    const rows: T[] = [];
+    let skipped = 0;
+    for (const row of this.db.prepare(sql).iterate(...params) as IterableIterator<T>) {
+      if (!this.matchesSearchFieldFilters(row, options)) continue;
+      if (skipped++ < offset) continue;
+      rows.push(row);
+      if (limit > 0 && rows.length >= limit) break;
     }
+    return rows;
+  }
 
-    return results;
+  private matchesSearchFieldFilters(row: Pick<NodeRow, 'name' | 'file_path'>, filters: SearchFieldFilters): boolean {
+    const { pathFilters = [], nameFilters = [] } = filters;
+    return (pathFilters.length === 0 || pathFilters.some(p => row.file_path.toLowerCase().includes(p)))
+      && (nameFilters.length === 0 || nameFilters.some(n => row.name.toLowerCase().includes(n)));
   }
 
   /**
    * Match-everything path used when the user supplied only field
    * filters (`kind:function lang:typescript`) with no text. Returns
-   * candidates ordered by name; the caller's filter pass narrows to
-   * what was asked for.
+   * candidates ordered by name, applying field filters before the budget.
    */
   private searchAllByFilters(options: {
     kinds?: NodeKind[];
     languages?: Language[];
     limit: number;
-  }): SearchResult[] {
-    const { kinds, languages, limit } = options;
+    offset?: number;
+  } & SearchFieldFilters): SearchResult[] {
+    const { kinds, languages } = options;
     let sql = 'SELECT * FROM nodes WHERE 1=1';
     const params: (string | number)[] = [];
     if (kinds && kinds.length > 0) {
@@ -1736,9 +1756,8 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
       sql += ` AND language IN (${languages.map(() => '?').join(',')})`;
       params.push(...languages);
     }
-    sql += ' ORDER BY name LIMIT ?';
-    params.push(limit);
-    const rows = this.db.prepare(sql).all(...params) as NodeRow[];
+    sql += ' ORDER BY name';
+    const rows = this.readSearchRows<NodeRow>(sql, params, options);
     return rows.map((row) => ({ node: rowToNode(row), score: 1 }));
   }
 
@@ -1752,7 +1771,7 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
    */
   private searchNodesFuzzy(
     text: string,
-    options: { kinds?: NodeKind[]; languages?: Language[]; limit: number }
+    options: { kinds?: NodeKind[]; languages?: Language[]; limit: number } & SearchFieldFilters
   ): SearchResult[] {
     const { kinds, languages, limit } = options;
     const lowered = text.toLowerCase();
@@ -1762,7 +1781,27 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
     // by getAllNodeNames(); even on a 200k-node project the distinct
     // name set is typically O(10k) because most names repeat. The
     // candidate-cap below bounds memory regardless.
-    const allNames = this.getAllNodeNames();
+    let allNames = this.getAllNodeNames();
+    if ((options.pathFilters?.length ?? 0) > 0 || (options.nameFilters?.length ?? 0) > 0) {
+      // Establish scope in one streaming read BEFORE the per-name query cap.
+      // Otherwise many similar names in unrelated files can consume that cap
+      // even though none of their definitions satisfies the hard filters.
+      let sql = 'SELECT DISTINCT name, file_path FROM nodes WHERE 1=1';
+      const params: (string | number)[] = [];
+      if (kinds && kinds.length > 0) {
+        sql += ` AND kind IN (${kinds.map(() => '?').join(',')})`;
+        params.push(...kinds);
+      }
+      if (languages && languages.length > 0) {
+        sql += ` AND language IN (${languages.map(() => '?').join(',')})`;
+        params.push(...languages);
+      }
+      const eligibleNames = new Set<string>();
+      for (const row of this.db.prepare(sql).iterate(...params) as IterableIterator<Pick<NodeRow, 'name' | 'file_path'>>) {
+        if (this.matchesSearchFieldFilters(row, options)) eligibleNames.add(row.name);
+      }
+      allNames = allNames.filter(name => eligibleNames.has(name));
+    }
     const candidates: Array<{ name: string; dist: number }> = [];
     for (const name of allNames) {
       const dist = boundedEditDistance(name.toLowerCase(), lowered, maxDist);
@@ -1792,8 +1831,7 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
         sql += ` AND language IN (${languages.map(() => '?').join(',')})`;
         params.push(...languages);
       }
-      sql += ' LIMIT 5';
-      const rows = this.db.prepare(sql).all(...params) as NodeRow[];
+      const rows = this.readSearchRows<NodeRow>(sql, params, { ...options, limit: 5 });
       for (const row of rows) {
         if (seen.has(row.id)) continue;
         seen.add(row.id);
@@ -1854,8 +1892,8 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
   /**
    * FTS5 search with prefix matching
    */
-  private searchNodesFTS(query: string, options: SearchOptions): SearchResult[] {
-    const { kinds, languages, limit = 100, offset = 0 } = options;
+  private searchNodesFTS(query: string, options: SearchOptions & SearchFieldFilters): SearchResult[] {
+    const { kinds, languages, limit = 100 } = options;
 
     // Add prefix wildcard for better matching (e.g., "auth" matches "AuthService", "authenticate")
     // Escape special FTS5 characters and add prefix wildcard.
@@ -1904,11 +1942,10 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
       params.push(...languages);
     }
 
-    sql += ' ORDER BY score LIMIT ? OFFSET ?';
-    params.push(ftsLimit, offset);
+    sql += ' ORDER BY score';
 
     try {
-      const rows = this.db.prepare(sql).all(...params) as (NodeRow & { score: number })[];
+      const rows = this.readSearchRows<NodeRow & { score: number }>(sql, params, { ...options, limit: ftsLimit });
       return rows.map((row) => ({
         node: rowToNode(row),
         score: Math.abs(row.score), // bm25 returns negative scores
@@ -1923,8 +1960,8 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
    * LIKE-based substring search for cases where FTS doesn't match
    * Useful for camelCase matching (e.g., "signIn" finds "signInWithGoogle")
    */
-  private searchNodesLike(query: string, options: SearchOptions): SearchResult[] {
-    const { kinds, languages, limit = 100, offset = 0 } = options;
+  private searchNodesLike(query: string, options: SearchOptions & SearchFieldFilters): SearchResult[] {
+    const { kinds, languages } = options;
 
     let sql = `
       SELECT nodes.*,
@@ -1968,10 +2005,8 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
       params.push(...languages);
     }
 
-    sql += ' ORDER BY score DESC, length(name) ASC LIMIT ? OFFSET ?';
-    params.push(limit, offset);
-
-    const rows = this.db.prepare(sql).all(...params) as (NodeRow & { score: number })[];
+    sql += ' ORDER BY score DESC, length(name) ASC';
+    const rows = this.readSearchRows<NodeRow & { score: number }>(sql, params, options);
 
     return rows.map((row) => ({
       node: rowToNode(row),