diff --git a/src/aggregation/AggregationIndex.ts b/src/aggregation/AggregationIndex.ts
index 8b1c8b12..71dd9e41 100644
--- a/src/aggregation/AggregationIndex.ts
+++ b/src/aggregation/AggregationIndex.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
  * - Delta detection hashes definitions; only changed aggregates rebuild on restart
  */
 
-import type { StorageAdapter } from '../coreTypes.js'
+import type { StorageAdapter, HNSWNounWithMetadata } from '../coreTypes.js'
+import { resolveEntityField } from '../coreTypes.js'
 import type {
   AggregateDefinition,
   AggregateGroupState,
@@ -96,22 +97,25 @@ function matchesSource(entity: Record<string, unknown>, source: AggregateDefinit
 
 /**
  * Compute the group key for an entity given groupBy dimensions.
+ *
+ * Field lookups go through `resolveEntityField` to honor the
+ * HNSWNounWithMetadata shape contract (standard fields top-level,
+ * custom fields in metadata) in a single source of truth.
  */
 function computeGroupKey(
   entity: Record<string, unknown>,
   groupBy: GroupByDimension[]
 ): Record<string, string | number> {
   const key: Record<string, string | number> = {}
-  const metadata = (entity.metadata ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>
+  const e = entity as unknown as HNSWNounWithMetadata
 
   for (const dim of groupBy) {
     if (typeof dim === 'string') {
-      // Plain field lookup — check metadata first, then top-level
-      const val = metadata[dim] ?? entity[dim]
+      const val = resolveEntityField(e, dim)
       key[dim] = val !== undefined && val !== null ? String(val) : '__null__'
     } else {
       // Time-windowed field
-      const val = metadata[dim.field] ?? entity[dim.field]
+      const val = resolveEntityField(e, dim.field)
       if (typeof val === 'number') {
         key[dim.field] = bucketTimestamp(val, dim.window)
       } else {
@@ -124,11 +128,14 @@ function computeGroupKey(
 }
 
 /**
- * Get the numeric value of a field from entity metadata (for metric computation).
+ * Get the numeric value of a field from an entity (for metric computation).
+ *
+ * Routes through `resolveEntityField` so standard top-level numeric fields
+ * (weight, confidence, createdAt, updatedAt) and custom user numeric fields
+ * in metadata are both handled in one place.
  */
 function getNumericField(entity: Record<string, unknown>, field: string): number | undefined {
-  const metadata = (entity.metadata ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>
-  const val = metadata[field] ?? entity[field]
+  const val = resolveEntityField(entity as unknown as HNSWNounWithMetadata, field)
   if (typeof val === 'number' && !isNaN(val)) return val
   if (typeof val === 'string') {
     const num = parseFloat(val)
diff --git a/src/neural/improvedNeuralAPI.ts b/src/neural/improvedNeuralAPI.ts
index 839b3828..566b0a62 100644
--- a/src/neural/improvedNeuralAPI.ts
+++ b/src/neural/improvedNeuralAPI.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
  * Private methods are prefixed with _ and not exposed in public API
  */
 
-import { Vector } from '../coreTypes.js'
+import { Vector, resolveEntityField, type HNSWNounWithMetadata } from '../coreTypes.js'
 import { cosineDistance, euclideanDistance } from '../utils/distance.js'
 import {
   SemanticCluster,
@@ -2927,22 +2927,20 @@ export class ImprovedNeuralAPI {
   private _groupByDomain(items: any[], field: string): Map<string, any[]> {
     const groups = new Map()
     for (const item of items) {
-      // Check multiple locations for the field value
+      // Resolve domain field value across legacy storage shapes.
       let domain: any = 'unknown'
 
-      // Special handling for type/nounType field
+      // Special handling for type/nounType — legacy storage compatibility
+      // where the type may live at item.nounType or metadata.noun/metadata.type
+      // rather than the current top-level item.type.
       if (field === 'type' || field === 'nounType') {
         domain = item.nounType || item.metadata?.noun || item.metadata?.type || 'unknown'
       } else {
-        // Check root level first
-        domain = item[field]
+        // Primary path: single-source-of-truth resolver (standard top-level,
+        // custom in metadata).
+        domain = resolveEntityField(item as HNSWNounWithMetadata, field)
 
-        // Then check metadata
-        if (domain == null) {
-          domain = item.metadata?.[field]
-        }
-
-        // Then check data
+        // Legacy fallback: some producers stash data under item.data.
         if (domain == null) {
           domain = item.data?.[field]
         }
@@ -3127,17 +3125,16 @@ export class ImprovedNeuralAPI {
 
         const entity = item.entity
 
-        // Get timestamp value from various possible locations
-        let timestamp: any = null
-
-        // Check root level first
-        if (timeField === 'createdAt' || timeField === 'updatedAt') {
-          timestamp = entity[timeField]
-        }
-
-        // Check metadata/data
+        // Resolve the timestamp field through the single-source-of-truth
+        // helper so standard top-level fields (createdAt, updatedAt) and
+        // custom fields in metadata are both handled uniformly. Fall back
+        // to entity.data for legacy producers that stash timestamps there.
+        let timestamp: any = resolveEntityField(
+          entity as HNSWNounWithMetadata,
+          timeField
+        )
         if (timestamp == null) {
-          timestamp = entity.metadata?.[timeField] || entity.data?.[timeField]
+          timestamp = entity.data?.[timeField]
         }
 
         if (timestamp == null) {