diff --git a/src/shared/git-binary-compatibility.test.ts b/src/shared/git-binary-compatibility.test.ts
index e11fa6ed2c4..b76814f8b83 100644
--- a/src/shared/git-binary-compatibility.test.ts
+++ b/src/shared/git-binary-compatibility.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { execFile } from 'node:child_process'
-import { mkdtemp, readFile, rename, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, readFile, rename, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
 import { promisify } from 'node:util'
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
   isUnsupportedWorktreeListZError
 } from './git-worktree-command-capabilities'
 import { gitCredentialPromptGuardEnv } from './git-credential-prompt-env'
+import { buildGitGrepArgs } from './text-search'
 import { parseGitRemoteFetchUrls } from './git-remote-url-index'
 import { GIT_HISTORY_COMMIT_FORMAT, parseGitHistoryLog } from './git-history-log-parser'
 import {
@@ -566,4 +567,27 @@ describeBinaryCompatibility('real Git binary compatibility', () => {
     expect(item?.subject).toBe('decorated commit')
     expect(item?.references?.map((ref) => ref.id)).toContain('refs/tags/compat-decorated')
   })
+
+  it('excludes and includes a directory subtree through the generated pathspecs', async () => {
+    await mkdir(join(repoPath, 'vendored'), { recursive: true })
+    await writeFile(join(repoPath, 'vendored', 'inner.txt'), 'pathspecneedle\n')
+    await writeFile(join(repoPath, 'kept.txt'), 'pathspecneedle\n')
+    await runGit(['add', '-A'])
+    await runGit(['commit', '-qm', 'pathspec fixture'])
+
+    const listFiles = async (opts: Parameters<typeof buildGitGrepArgs>[1]): Promise<string[]> => {
+      const args = buildGitGrepArgs('pathspecneedle', opts).map((arg) =>
+        arg === '-n' ? '-l' : arg
+      )
+      const { stdout } = await runGit(args)
+      return stdout.split(/[\0\n]/).filter(Boolean)
+    }
+
+    const excluded = await listFiles({ excludePattern: 'vendored' })
+    expect(excluded).toContain('kept.txt')
+    expect(excluded.some((file) => file.startsWith('vendored/'))).toBe(false)
+
+    const included = await listFiles({ includePattern: 'vendored' })
+    expect(included).toEqual(['vendored/inner.txt'])
+  })
 })
diff --git a/src/shared/text-search-glob-patterns.ts b/src/shared/text-search-glob-patterns.ts
index a677f39e8d8..5e1e9487a36 100644
--- a/src/shared/text-search-glob-patterns.ts
+++ b/src/shared/text-search-glob-patterns.ts
@@ -37,3 +37,13 @@ export function toGitGlobPathspec(glob: string, exclude?: boolean): string {
   const pattern = needsRecursive ? `**/${glob}` : glob
   return exclude ? `:(exclude,glob)${pattern}` : `:(glob)${pattern}`
 }
+
+export function toGitGlobPathspecs(glob: string, exclude?: boolean): string[] {
+  const directoryOnly = /\/+$/u.test(glob)
+  const trimmed = glob.replace(/\/+$/, '')
+  if (!trimmed) {
+    return []
+  }
+  const pathspec = toGitGlobPathspec(trimmed, exclude)
+  return directoryOnly ? [`${pathspec}/**`] : [pathspec, `${pathspec}/**`]
+}
diff --git a/src/shared/text-search.test.ts b/src/shared/text-search.test.ts
index 2ecbc53d8b4..b6528daf6e7 100644
--- a/src/shared/text-search.test.ts
+++ b/src/shared/text-search.test.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ import {
   MAX_LINE_CONTENT_LENGTH,
   SEARCH_JSON_STRUCTURE_LIMITS
 } from './text-search'
-import { splitSearchGlobPatterns, toGitGlobPathspec } from './text-search-glob-patterns'
+import { splitSearchGlobPatterns, toGitGlobPathspecs } from './text-search-glob-patterns'
 import { normalizeRelativePath } from './text-search-paths'
 
 describe('normalizeRelativePath', () => {
@@ -239,6 +239,18 @@ describe('buildGitGrepArgs', () => {
     expect(args).toContain(':(exclude,glob)dist/**')
   })
 
+  it('excludes a directory subtree the way rg --glob does', () => {
+    const args = buildGitGrepArgs('q', { excludePattern: 'node_modules' })
+    expect(args).toContain(':(exclude,glob)**/node_modules')
+    expect(args).toContain(':(exclude,glob)**/node_modules/**')
+  })
+
+  it('includes a directory subtree the way rg --glob does', () => {
+    const args = buildGitGrepArgs('q', { includePattern: 'src' })
+    expect(args).toContain(':(glob)**/src')
+    expect(args).toContain(':(glob)**/src/**')
+  })
+
   it('keeps escaped commas inside one generated folder pathspec', () => {
     const args = buildGitGrepArgs('q', { includePattern: 'foo\\,bar/**, *.ts' })
     expect(args).toContain(':(glob)foo\\,bar/**')
@@ -246,11 +258,29 @@ describe('buildGitGrepArgs', () => {
   })
 })
 
-describe('toGitGlobPathspec', () => {
+describe('toGitGlobPathspecs', () => {
   it('wraps bare globs with **/ to match recursively', () => {
-    expect(toGitGlobPathspec('*.ts')).toBe(':(glob)**/*.ts')
-    expect(toGitGlobPathspec('src/*.ts')).toBe(':(glob)src/*.ts')
-    expect(toGitGlobPathspec('*.ts', true)).toBe(':(exclude,glob)**/*.ts')
+    expect(toGitGlobPathspecs('*.ts')).toContain(':(glob)**/*.ts')
+    expect(toGitGlobPathspecs('src/*.ts')).toContain(':(glob)src/*.ts')
+    expect(toGitGlobPathspecs('*.ts', true)).toContain(':(exclude,glob)**/*.ts')
+  })
+
+  it('also covers the subtree so a directory name behaves like rg --glob', () => {
+    expect(toGitGlobPathspecs('node_modules', true)).toEqual([
+      ':(exclude,glob)**/node_modules',
+      ':(exclude,glob)**/node_modules/**'
+    ])
+    expect(toGitGlobPathspecs('src')).toEqual([':(glob)**/src', ':(glob)**/src/**'])
+    expect(toGitGlobPathspecs('build/out')).toEqual([':(glob)build/out', ':(glob)build/out/**'])
+  })
+
+  it('keeps trailing-slash patterns directory-only', () => {
+    expect(toGitGlobPathspecs('node_modules/', true)).toEqual([':(exclude,glob)**/node_modules/**'])
+    expect(toGitGlobPathspecs('src/')).toEqual([':(glob)**/src/**'])
+  })
+
+  it('drops a pattern that is only separators', () => {
+    expect(toGitGlobPathspecs('/')).toEqual([])
   })
 })
 
@@ -321,6 +351,23 @@ describe('ingestGitGrepLine', () => {
     }
   })
 
+  it('does not broaden a separator-only include pattern to the repository', () => {
+    const rootPath = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-search-git-'))
+    try {
+      execFileSync('git', ['init'], { cwd: rootPath, stdio: 'ignore' })
+      writeFileSync(join(rootPath, 'target.ts'), 'needle\n')
+
+      expect(() =>
+        execFileSync('git', buildGitGrepArgs('needle', { includePattern: '/' }), {
+          cwd: rootPath,
+          stdio: 'ignore'
+        })
+      ).toThrow()
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(rootPath, { recursive: true, force: true })
+    }
+  })
+
   it('parses git grep null-delimited line, finds all submatch positions', () => {
     const acc = createAccumulator()
     const re = buildSubmatchRegex('foo', {})
@@ -358,6 +405,23 @@ describe('ingestGitGrepLine', () => {
     expect(f.matches[0]).toMatchObject({ line: 10, column: 1, matchLength: 12 })
   })
 
+  it('does not broaden a separator-only include pattern to the repository', () => {
+    const rootPath = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-search-git-'))
+    try {
+      execFileSync('git', ['init'], { cwd: rootPath, stdio: 'ignore' })
+      writeFileSync(join(rootPath, 'target.ts'), 'needle\n')
+
+      expect(() =>
+        execFileSync('git', buildGitGrepArgs('needle', { includePattern: '/' }), {
+          cwd: rootPath,
+          stdio: 'ignore'
+        })
+      ).toThrow()
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(rootPath, { recursive: true, force: true })
+    }
+  })
+
   it('handles colons in filenames via null delimiter', () => {
     const acc = createAccumulator()
     const re = buildSubmatchRegex('x', {})
diff --git a/src/shared/text-search.ts b/src/shared/text-search.ts
index 963f0e13faf..8d5972ffabd 100644
--- a/src/shared/text-search.ts
+++ b/src/shared/text-search.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import { normalizeSearchResult } from './search-match-count'
 import { escapeRegex } from './string-utils'
 import type { SearchFileResult, SearchOptions, SearchResult } from './code-search-types'
 import { pushSearchMatch } from './text-search-match-accumulator'
-import { splitSearchGlobPatterns, toGitGlobPathspec } from './text-search-glob-patterns'
+import { splitSearchGlobPatterns, toGitGlobPathspecs } from './text-search-glob-patterns'
 import { joinSearchRoot, normalizeRelativePath, relativeToSearchRoot } from './text-search-paths'
 
 export type SearchAccumulator = {
@@ -195,20 +195,26 @@ export function buildGitGrepArgs(query: string, opts: SearchOptionsLike): string
   gitArgs.push('-e', query, '--')
 
   let hasPathspecs = false
+  let hasIncludePathspecs = false
   if (opts.includePattern) {
     for (const pat of splitSearchGlobPatterns(opts.includePattern)) {
-      gitArgs.push(toGitGlobPathspec(pat))
-      hasPathspecs = true
+      const pathspecs = toGitGlobPathspecs(pat)
+      gitArgs.push(...pathspecs)
+      hasPathspecs ||= pathspecs.length > 0
+      hasIncludePathspecs ||= pathspecs.length > 0
     }
   }
   if (opts.excludePattern) {
     for (const pat of splitSearchGlobPatterns(opts.excludePattern)) {
-      gitArgs.push(toGitGlobPathspec(pat, true))
-      hasPathspecs = true
+      const pathspecs = toGitGlobPathspecs(pat, true)
+      gitArgs.push(...pathspecs)
+      hasPathspecs ||= pathspecs.length > 0
     }
   }
   // Why: git grep needs a pathspec to search the working tree; '.' means everything under cwd.
-  if (!hasPathspecs) {
+  if (opts.includePattern && !hasIncludePathspecs) {
+    gitArgs.push(':(top,literal).git')
+  } else if (!hasPathspecs) {
     gitArgs.push('.')
   }
   return gitArgs