diff --git a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-generation.test.ts b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-generation.test.ts
index 35883a62b07..a3fffd2648f 100644
--- a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-generation.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-generation.test.ts
@@ -146,10 +146,13 @@ it('moves the generation forward when retention cuts a session loose', async ()
   }
 })
 
-it('leaves the generation alone while a purge reclaims rows nothing can reach', async () => {
-  // The drain writes only `messages`, so it moves nothing. Bumping there would
-  // refuse every outstanding cursor once per batch, for rows whose session row
-  // is already gone and which therefore answer no search.
+it('moves the generation when a purge reclaims rows nothing can reach', async () => {
+  // The drain writes only `messages`, and for a while that was argued to change
+  // no answer. Retrieval never saw those rows; the typo repair's dictionary
+  // did, because `messages_vocab` is a view over the FTS b-tree and lists a
+  // term whether or not a reader can reach it. See
+  // `session-search-orphan-rows.test.ts` for the answer that moved. The price
+  // of fencing it is a cursor refused once per batch while a purge runs.
   const root = await tempRoot()
   const path = join(root, 'index.sqlite')
   const db = reader(path)
@@ -164,7 +167,30 @@ it('leaves the generation alone while a purge reclaims rows nothing can reach',
     expect(db.prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) AS c FROM messages').get()).not.toEqual({ c: 0 })
     await store.purgeOlderThan(null)
     expect(db.prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) AS c FROM messages').get()).toEqual({ c: 0 })
-    expect(readIndexGeneration(db)).toBe(orphaned)
+    expect(readIndexGeneration(db)).toBeGreaterThan(orphaned)
+  } finally {
+    store.close()
+  }
+})
+
+it("leaves the generation alone when a replace swaps a session's own rows", async () => {
+  // The same trigger must not fire here, or every re-read of a large transcript
+  // would move the generation once per deleted row on top of the one bump its
+  // file record already makes. A replace deletes rows whose session row still
+  // stands, which is what the trigger's `WHEN` clause tests.
+  const root = await tempRoot()
+  const path = join(root, 'index.sqlite')
+  const db = reader(path)
+  const store = new SessionSearchStore(path, (error) => {
+    throw error
+  })
+  try {
+    await indexOneTranscript(root, store)
+    const rows = db.prepare('SELECT COUNT(*) AS c FROM messages').get() as { c: number }
+    const indexed = readIndexGeneration(db)
+    db.prepare('DELETE FROM messages WHERE session_row_id IN (SELECT id FROM sessions)').run()
+    expect(rows.c).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    expect(readIndexGeneration(db)).toBe(indexed)
   } finally {
     store.close()
   }
diff --git a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-generation.ts b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-generation.ts
index 9f4ff91eb6c..21ed3890cdf 100644
--- a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-generation.ts
+++ b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-index-generation.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ const GENERATION_KEY = 'index_generation'
 export const SESSION_SEARCH_GENERATION_TRIGGERS = [
   'search_generation_file_insert',
   'search_generation_file_update',
-  'search_generation_file_delete'
+  'search_generation_file_delete',
+  'search_generation_orphan_reclaim'
 ] as const
 
 const BUMP = `INSERT INTO meta(key, value) VALUES ('${GENERATION_KEY}', '1')
@@ -18,17 +19,30 @@ const BUMP = `INSERT INTO meta(key, value) VALUES ('${GENERATION_KEY}', '1')
 /**
  * The fence, as three triggers on `files`.
  *
- * Why `files` and not `sessions` or `messages`. Every transaction the store
- * opens that can change what a search returns writes this table, and nothing
- * else does: a committed read upserts the file's cursor beside its rows, a
- * chunk of a long read upserts the partial sentinel beside its prefix,
- * `removeFile` deletes the row with the session, and retention deletes the
- * file row in the same transaction as the session row. The one write path that
- * does not touch `files` is retention's orphan drain, and that is exactly the
- * one that must not bump: those rows are already unreachable — their session
- * row is gone and every retrieval inner-joins `sessions` — so reclaiming them
- * changes no answer, while bumping would refuse every outstanding cursor once
- * per 256 rows.
+ * Why `files`. Every transaction the store opens that can change what a search
+ * returns writes this table: a committed read upserts the file's cursor beside
+ * its rows, a chunk of a long read upserts the partial sentinel beside its
+ * prefix, `removeFile` deletes the row with the session, and retention deletes
+ * the file row in the same transaction as the session row.
+ *
+ * And why `messages` as well, for orphans only. Retention's second half
+ * reclaims rows whose session row is already gone, and touches neither table
+ * above. It was left unfenced on the argument that those rows answer nothing,
+ * which is true of retrieval and was not true of the whole engine: the typo
+ * repair's dictionary is `messages_vocab`, a view over the FTS b-tree that
+ * lists a term whether or not a reader can reach the rows carrying it, and
+ * reclaiming them moved which word a query was repaired to. The repair now
+ * counts live rows instead, so the common case is fixed at its source; this
+ * trigger is what makes the fence true rather than nearly true, because the
+ * vocabulary still decides which candidates survive its scan limit.
+ *
+ * The `WHEN` clause is what keeps it free. A replace and a `removeFile` delete
+ * a session's rows while its `sessions` row still stands, so neither fires
+ * here, and both already bump through `files`. Only the drain deletes a row
+ * whose session is gone. The cost of the fence is real and worth naming: a
+ * cursor outstanding while a purge runs is refused once per batch, which
+ * `SessionSearchCursorError` reports as `stale-generation` so a caller
+ * re-issues page one rather than showing anyone an error.
  *
  * A trigger rather than a call the writer makes, for two reasons. PR 4 does not
  * own the writer, and more importantly the fence has to hold for writers this
@@ -52,6 +66,10 @@ END;
 CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS search_generation_file_delete AFTER DELETE ON files BEGIN
   ${BUMP}
 END;
+CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS search_generation_orphan_reclaim AFTER DELETE ON messages
+WHEN NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM sessions WHERE id = OLD.session_row_id) BEGIN
+  ${BUMP}
+END;
 `
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-orphan-rows.test.ts b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-orphan-rows.test.ts
index 6656a1081e1..dfda2303104 100644
--- a/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-orphan-rows.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/ai-vault-search/session-search-orphan-rows.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { afterEach, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
 import type SyncDatabase from '../sqlite/sync-database'
 import {
   addSyntheticSession,
@@ -6,8 +6,10 @@ import {
   type SessionSearchHarness
 } from './session-search-engine-test-fixture'
 import { identifierShadowText } from './session-search-identifier-split'
+import { readIndexGeneration } from './session-search-index-generation'
 import { planSessionSearchQuery } from './session-search-query-planner'
 import { sessionSearchSnippet } from './session-search-snippet'
+import type { SessionSearchCursorError } from './session-search-page-cursor'
 import { SessionSearchTypoRepair } from './session-search-typo-repair'
 
 // Retention deletes a session row in one small transaction and reclaims its
@@ -34,7 +36,7 @@ afterEach(async () => {
 })
 
 /** Two rows in the FTS table and the vocabulary, and no session row for them. */
-function plantOrphans(db: SyncDatabase): number[] {
+function plantOrphans(db: SyncDatabase, text: string = ORPHAN_TEXT): number[] {
   const rowids: number[] = []
   for (let n = 0; n < 2; n++) {
     const rowid = Number(
@@ -44,7 +46,7 @@ function plantOrphans(db: SyncDatabase): number[] {
     )
     db.prepare(
       'INSERT INTO messages_fts(rowid,user_text,assistant_text,tool_text,identifiers) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)'
-    ).run(rowid, ORPHAN_TEXT, '', '', identifierShadowText(ORPHAN_TEXT))
+    ).run(rowid, text, '', '', identifierShadowText(text))
     rowids.push(rowid)
   }
   return rowids
@@ -105,3 +107,80 @@ it('still answers for the live session beside them', async () => {
   const { harness: open } = await withOrphans()
   expect(open.engine.search({ query: 'haystack' }).hits.map((hit) => hit.sessionId)).toEqual(['1'])
 })
+
+// Reclaiming those rows is the other half. The drain deletes only from
+// `messages`, so for a long time it was argued to change no answer and left
+// outside the generation fence. Retrieval never saw them, but the typo repair's
+// dictionary is `messages_vocab`, a view over the FTS b-tree that lists a term
+// whether or not a reader can reach the rows carrying it — so the drain moved
+// which word a query was repaired to, under a cursor that was still honoured.
+describe('a purge reclaiming rows nothing can reach', () => {
+  /** A live session and a purged one that both carry `text`. */
+  async function withReclaimable(): Promise<SessionSearchHarness> {
+    harness = await openSessionSearchHarness('ss-orphan-drain')
+    // Two live rows, which is what makes `marmoset` eligible as a repair at all.
+    addSyntheticSession(harness.db, { id: 1, text: 'the marmoset lives here', rows: 2 })
+    plantOrphans(harness.db)
+    return harness
+  }
+
+  it('answers the same before and after, because the repair counts live rows', async () => {
+    const open = await withReclaimable()
+    const before = open.engine.search({ query: 'marmosett' })
+    expect(before.planner.repairedTerms).toEqual(['marmoset'])
+    expect(before.hits.map((hit) => hit.sessionId)).toEqual(['1'])
+
+    await open.store.purgeOlderThan(null)
+    expect(open.db.prepare('SELECT count(*) AS c FROM messages').get()).toEqual({ c: 2 })
+
+    const after = open.engine.search({ query: 'marmosett' })
+    expect(after.planner.repairedTerms).toEqual(before.planner.repairedTerms)
+    expect(after.hits.map((hit) => hit.sessionId)).toEqual(before.hits.map((hit) => hit.sessionId))
+  })
+
+  it('moves the generation anyway, so no cursor spans it', async () => {
+    // The repair counting live rows fixes the common case. It does not make the
+    // drain provably inert: `messages_vocab` still decides which candidates
+    // survive its scan limit, and reclaiming a term's last row changes where
+    // that limit cuts. The fence is what covers the rest, at the price of
+    // refusing a cursor once per batch while a purge runs.
+    const open = await withReclaimable()
+    // A second live session, so page one has a page two to be refused.
+    addSyntheticSession(open.db, { id: 2, text: 'the marmoset again', rows: 2 })
+    const page = open.engine.search({ query: 'marmoset', limit: 1 })
+    expect(page.page.cursor).not.toBeNull()
+    const before = readIndexGeneration(open.db)
+
+    await open.store.purgeOlderThan(null)
+
+    expect(readIndexGeneration(open.db)).toBeGreaterThan(before)
+    try {
+      open.engine.search({ query: 'marmoset', limit: 1, cursor: page.page.cursor! })
+      expect.unreachable('a cursor must not span a purge')
+    } catch (error) {
+      expect((error as SessionSearchCursorError).rejection).toBe('stale-generation')
+    }
+  })
+
+  it('picks the same repair when an unreachable spelling was the more common one', async () => {
+    // Two candidates equally close to the query. `marmosetx` led on the old
+    // ranking only because two of its rows belonged to a session retention had
+    // already cut loose, so the drain swapped the repair under a live cursor.
+    harness = await openSessionSearchHarness('ss-orphan-drain-tie')
+    const db = harness.db
+    for (let id = 1; id <= 4; id++) {
+      addSyntheticSession(db, { id, text: `marmosetx session${id}` })
+    }
+    for (let id = 5; id <= 9; id++) {
+      addSyntheticSession(db, { id, text: `marmosetq session${id}` })
+    }
+    plantOrphans(db, 'marmosetx')
+
+    const before = harness.engine.search({ query: 'marmosett' })
+    expect(before.planner.repairedTerms).toEqual(['marmosetq'])
+    await harness.store.purgeOlderThan(null)
+    expect(harness.engine.search({ query: 'marmosett' }).planner.repairedTerms).toEqual(
+      before.planner.repairedTerms
+    )
+  })
+})