diff --git a/src/brainy.ts b/src/brainy.ts
index 25a7669a..ad05e702 100644
--- a/src/brainy.ts
+++ b/src/brainy.ts
@@ -912,6 +912,19 @@ export class Brainy<T = any> implements BrainyInterface<T> {
         this.graphIndex = graphIndex
       }
 
+      // Eager graph cold-load (cor contract). The native graph provider lazily
+      // defers loading its source→target adjacency, so isReady() would report
+      // false at the rebuild gate below and force a spurious rebuild (failing the
+      // §7.1 rebuild()==0 acceptance). Trigger the eager cold-load now — AFTER
+      // metadataIndex.init() above (the id-mapper is hydrated, so a native int
+      // adjacency resolves endpoints through it: the CTX-BR-RESTORE-REBUILD order)
+      // and BEFORE rebuildIndexesIfNeeded. Optional: the JS graph has no init()
+      // and self-loads its adjacency on demand.
+      const graphWithInit = this.graphIndex as { init?: () => Promise<void> }
+      if (typeof graphWithInit.init === 'function') {
+        await graphWithInit.init()
+      }
+
       // 8.0 u64 contract: thread the shared UUID ↔ int resolver into the JS
       // graph index and the storage layer's verb read paths.
       this.wireGraphIdResolver()
diff --git a/src/plugin.ts b/src/plugin.ts
index 6ba52b74..2f66a2bb 100644
--- a/src/plugin.ts
+++ b/src/plugin.ts
@@ -264,6 +264,18 @@ export interface GraphIndexProvider {
    */
   isReady?(): boolean
 
+  /**
+   * @description OPTIONAL eager cold-load. Called once during brain init — AFTER
+   * the metadata provider's `init()` (so the id-mapper is hydrated; a native int
+   * adjacency resolves endpoints through it — the id-mapper-before-adjacency
+   * order) and BEFORE the rebuild gate — so a native provider loads its
+   * source→target adjacency from storage and reports `isReady() === true` at the
+   * gate, with no spurious rebuild (the §7.1 `rebuild()==0` acceptance). Mirrors
+   * {@link MetadataIndexProvider.init}. The JS graph index omits it and
+   * self-loads its adjacency on demand.
+   */
+  init?(): Promise<void>
+
   /**
    * @description Entity ints reachable from `id` (1 hop), deduped.
    * @param id - The entity's interned int (from the shared idMapper).