diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/tab-create-entry-file-matches.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/tab-create-entry-file-matches.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8ac46512051
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/tab-create-entry-file-matches.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+import { expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { prepareQuickOpenFiles, rankQuickOpenFiles } from '../quick-open-search'
+import { findExistingFileMatches } from './tab-create-entry-file-matches'
+import type * as QuickOpenSearch from '../quick-open-search'
+
+const ranking = vi.hoisted(() => ({ calls: 0 }))
+vi.mock('../quick-open-search', async (importOriginal) => {
+  const original = await importOriginal<typeof QuickOpenSearch>()
+  return {
+    ...original,
+    rankQuickOpenFiles: (...args: Parameters<typeof original.rankQuickOpenFiles>) => {
+      ranking.calls++
+      return original.rankQuickOpenFiles(...args)
+    }
+  }
+})
+
+it('skips fuzzy ranking when exact matches fill the requested window', () => {
+  const files = prepareQuickOpenFiles(
+    Array.from({ length: 10000 }, (_, index) => `${index}/readme.md`)
+  )
+  ranking.calls = 0
+  const matches = findExistingFileMatches('readme.md', files, 10)
+  expect(matches.map((match) => match.relativePath)).toEqual(
+    files.slice(0, 10).map((file) => file.path)
+  )
+  expect(matches.every((match) => match.matchKind === 'exact-basename')).toBe(true)
+  expect(ranking.calls).toBe(0)
+})
+
+it('deduplicates exact paths and still fills remaining slots with fuzzy matches', () => {
+  const files = prepareQuickOpenFiles(['a.md', 'a.md', 'other/a.md', 'abc.md'])
+  expect(findExistingFileMatches('a.md', files, 4)).toEqual([
+    { kind: 'existing-file', matchKind: 'exact-path', relativePath: 'a.md' },
+    { kind: 'existing-file', matchKind: 'exact-basename', relativePath: 'other/a.md' },
+    { kind: 'existing-file', matchKind: 'fuzzy', relativePath: 'abc.md' }
+  ])
+})
+
+// Why: skipping the ranker is only sound because a fuzzy hit can never outrank an
+// exact one — exact results are concatenated first and dedupe is first-wins, so the
+// exact prefix is exactly what a full ranked-then-sliced list would have returned.
+// This re-runs the pre-skip pipeline and holds the shipped one to it.
+function rankThenSlice(
+  query: string,
+  files: readonly QuickOpenSearch.QuickOpenIndexedFile[],
+  limit: number
+): { kind: string; matchKind: string; relativePath: string }[] {
+  const normalized = query.trim().replace(/\\/g, '/')
+  if (!normalized || limit <= 0) {
+    return []
+  }
+  const lower = normalized.toLowerCase()
+  const all = [
+    ...files.filter((f) => f.lowerPath === lower).map((f) => ['exact-path', f.path] as const),
+    ...files
+      .filter((f) => f.lowerFilename === lower)
+      .map((f) => ['exact-basename', f.path] as const),
+    ...rankQuickOpenFiles(normalized, files, limit).map((f) => ['fuzzy', f.path] as const)
+  ]
+  const seen = new Set<string>()
+  return all
+    .filter(([, path]) => !seen.has(path) && (seen.add(path), true))
+    .map(([matchKind, relativePath]) => ({ kind: 'existing-file', matchKind, relativePath }))
+    .slice(0, limit)
+}
+
+it('returns what rank-then-slice would have returned, including at limit 1', () => {
+  const corpus = [
+    ['a.md', 'ab.md', 'abc.md', 'deep/nested/a.md'],
+    ['ab.md', 'abc.md', 'deep/nested/a.md'],
+    ['src/index.ts', 'src/app/index.ts', 'index.ts', 'indexer.ts'],
+    ['a.md', 'a.md', 'other/a.md', 'abc.md'],
+    ['README.md', 'docs/readme.md', 'readme.mdx'],
+    ['only-fuzzy.md']
+  ]
+  const queries = ['a.md', 'index.ts', 'readme.md', 'src/index.ts', 'a', 'nope.md']
+  for (const paths of corpus) {
+    const files = prepareQuickOpenFiles(paths)
+    for (const query of queries) {
+      for (const limit of [0, 1, 2, 3, 5]) {
+        expect({
+          paths,
+          query,
+          limit,
+          matches: findExistingFileMatches(query, files, limit)
+        }).toEqual({ paths, query, limit, matches: rankThenSlice(query, files, limit) })
+      }
+    }
+  }
+})
+
+it('takes the exact match at limit 1 without consulting the ranker at all', () => {
+  const files = prepareQuickOpenFiles(['a.md', 'ab.md', 'abc.md', 'deep/nested/a.md'])
+  ranking.calls = 0
+  expect(findExistingFileMatches('a.md', files, 1)).toEqual([
+    { kind: 'existing-file', matchKind: 'exact-path', relativePath: 'a.md' }
+  ])
+  expect(ranking.calls).toBe(0)
+  const withoutExactPath = prepareQuickOpenFiles(['ab.md', 'abc.md', 'deep/nested/a.md'])
+  ranking.calls = 0
+  expect(findExistingFileMatches('a.md', withoutExactPath, 1)).toEqual([
+    { kind: 'existing-file', matchKind: 'exact-basename', relativePath: 'deep/nested/a.md' }
+  ])
+  expect(ranking.calls).toBe(0)
+})
+
+it('ranks fuzzily whenever exact matches leave a slot open, and honours a zero limit', () => {
+  const files = prepareQuickOpenFiles(['a.md', 'abc.md'])
+  ranking.calls = 0
+  expect(findExistingFileMatches('a.md', files, 2)).toEqual([
+    { kind: 'existing-file', matchKind: 'exact-path', relativePath: 'a.md' },
+    { kind: 'existing-file', matchKind: 'fuzzy', relativePath: 'abc.md' }
+  ])
+  expect(ranking.calls).toBe(1)
+  ranking.calls = 0
+  expect(findExistingFileMatches('a.md', files, 0)).toEqual([])
+  expect(findExistingFileMatches('   ', files, 5)).toEqual([])
+  expect(ranking.calls).toBe(0)
+})
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/tab-create-entry-file-matches.ts b/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/tab-create-entry-file-matches.ts
index 25d30cb9ce6..eb2f19576d8 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/tab-create-entry-file-matches.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/components/tab-bar/tab-create-entry-file-matches.ts
@@ -71,14 +71,15 @@ export function findExistingFileMatches(
       matchKind: 'exact-basename' as const,
       relativePath: file.path
     }))
+  const exactMatches = dedupeMatches([...exactPathMatches, ...exactBasenameMatches])
+  if (exactMatches.length >= limit) {
+    return exactMatches.slice(0, limit)
+  }
   const fuzzyMatches = rankQuickOpenFiles(normalizedQuery, indexedFiles, limit).map((file) => ({
     kind: 'existing-file' as const,
     matchKind: 'fuzzy' as const,
     relativePath: file.path
   }))
 
-  return dedupeMatches([...exactPathMatches, ...exactBasenameMatches, ...fuzzyMatches]).slice(
-    0,
-    limit
-  )
+  return dedupeMatches([...exactMatches, ...fuzzyMatches]).slice(0, limit)
 }