diff --git a/src/vfs/VirtualFileSystem.ts b/src/vfs/VirtualFileSystem.ts
index 1a4b9fa5..bccd6fea 100644
--- a/src/vfs/VirtualFileSystem.ts
+++ b/src/vfs/VirtualFileSystem.ts
@@ -1572,7 +1572,19 @@ export class VirtualFileSystem implements IVirtualFileSystem {
   // ============= Semantic Operations =============
 
   /**
-   * Search files with natural language
+   * Search files with natural language.
+   *
+   * `options.path` scopes the search to a directory: its whole subtree by
+   * default, its immediate children when `recursive` is `false`. Both scopes
+   * are metadata filters the index SERVES, so the scope narrows the search
+   * before it runs — no tree walk, and never an over-fetch filtered afterwards.
+   *
+   * @param query - The natural-language query.
+   * @param options - Scope, metadata filters and paging (see {@link SearchOptions}).
+   * @returns The matching files, best first.
+   * @throws {VFSError} ENOENT when `recursive: false` names a path that does
+   *   not exist (the non-recursive scope is the directory's own identity, so
+   *   the directory has to be there).
    */
   async search(query: string, options?: SearchOptions): Promise<SearchResult[]> {
     await this.ensureInitialized()
@@ -1588,11 +1600,26 @@ export class VirtualFileSystem implements IVirtualFileSystem {
       }
     }
 
-    // Add path filter if specified
+    // Scope to a directory, if asked. This used to emit
+    // `path: { $startsWith }` — an operator that is not in the filter
+    // vocabulary at all, and whose `$`-less spelling the metadata index
+    // REFUSES by the served-operator law (an equality/range posting index
+    // cannot evaluate a substring without reading every row). Every
+    // path-scoped VFS search therefore threw, and none has ever worked on
+    // this engine line. Both scopes below are served shapes.
     if (options?.path) {
-      params.where = {
-        ...params.where,
-        path: { $startsWith: options.path }
+      if (options.recursive === false) {
+        // Immediate children only: the directory's identity IS the scope, and
+        // `parent` is an indexed equality on every VFS entity.
+        params.where = {
+          ...params.where,
+          parent: await this.pathResolver.resolve(options.path)
+        }
+      } else {
+        const scope = this.descendantPathScope(options.path)
+        if (scope) {
+          params.where = { ...params.where, path: scope }
+        }
       }
     }
 
@@ -1754,6 +1781,42 @@ export class VirtualFileSystem implements IVirtualFileSystem {
     return entity as VFSEntity
   }
 
+  /**
+   * The SERVED metadata shape for "everything under this directory".
+   *
+   * `metadata.path` is the VFS's truth — write and rename maintain it, and the
+   * `Contains` edges are a projection of it (see {@link repairContainment}) —
+   * it is indexed on every VFS entity, and the metadata index serves ordered
+   * range operators. So a subtree scope is a half-open range over the path
+   * column: O(log n + matches), no tree walk, and nothing fetched that the
+   * scope then discards.
+   *
+   * The range is `[dir + '/', dir + <successor of '/'>)`. Every descendant path
+   * begins with `dir + '/'`, and '0' is the code point directly after '/', so a
+   * string lies in the range EXACTLY when it carries that prefix. The two
+   * bounds differ at a single ASCII position, so the answer is the same under
+   * code-unit and code-point collation alike — no dependence on how the store
+   * orders the rest of the string.
+   *
+   * Sibling exclusion falls out of the same fact and is worth stating, because
+   * it is where a naive prefix test goes wrong: for `dir = '/scope'`,
+   * `/scope-sibling/x` sorts BELOW the lower bound ('-' precedes '/') and
+   * `/scope0` sits at the open upper bound — both outside, while
+   * `/scope/sub/deep/c.txt` is inside at any depth.
+   *
+   * @param path - The directory to scope to.
+   * @returns The `where` fragment for the `path` field, or `null` for the root
+   *   — every VFS entity is under it, so no clause narrows the search.
+   */
+  private descendantPathScope(path: string): { gte: string; lt: string } | null {
+    const dir = path.replace(/\/+/g, '/').replace(/\/$/, '') || '/'
+    if (dir === '/') return null
+    // Computed, so the bound carries its own reason: the first string that can
+    // no longer share the `dir + '/'` prefix.
+    const separatorSuccessor = String.fromCharCode('/'.charCodeAt(0) + 1)
+    return { gte: `${dir}/`, lt: `${dir}${separatorSuccessor}` }
+  }
+
   private getParentPath(path: string): string {
     const normalized = path.replace(/\/+/g, '/').replace(/\/$/, '')
     const lastSlash = normalized.lastIndexOf('/')
diff --git a/tests/vfs/vfs-search-path-scope.test.ts b/tests/vfs/vfs-search-path-scope.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd5fa4d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/vfs/vfs-search-path-scope.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+/**
+ * @module tests/vfs/vfs-search-path-scope
+ * @description `vfs.search({ path })` scopes with a SERVED filter.
+ *
+ * The scope used to be emitted as `path: { $startsWith }` — an operator that is
+ * not in the filter vocabulary at all, and whose `$`-less spelling the metadata
+ * index refuses by the served-operator law (an equality/range posting index
+ * cannot evaluate a substring without reading every row). Every path-scoped VFS
+ * search threw; none has ever worked on this engine line.
+ *
+ * The scope is now a half-open range over `metadata.path`, which is the VFS's
+ * truth, is indexed on every VFS entity, and is served by the ordered range
+ * operators: `[dir + '/', dir + '0')` — '0' being the code point after '/', so
+ * membership in the range is EXACTLY "carries the prefix `dir/`". The
+ * non-recursive scope is the directory's own identity, `parent`, an equality.
+ *
+ * These pins hold the answer (descendants at every depth, siblings never — the
+ * `/scope-sibling` trap included), the shape (the operators the search emits
+ * are answered by the index's own door, never refused), and the law that the
+ * scope narrows the search BEFORE it runs rather than filtering an over-fetch.
+ */
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { VirtualFileSystem } from '../../src/vfs/VirtualFileSystem.js'
+import { Brainy } from '../../src/brainy.js'
+import { VFSErrorCode } from '../../src/vfs/types.js'
+
+/** A word every fixture file carries, so the text leg reaches all of them. */
+const TOKEN = 'quasar'
+
+describe('vfs.search({ path }) scopes with a served filter', () => {
+  let brain: Brainy
+  let vfs: VirtualFileSystem
+
+  /** In scope for '/scope', at three depths. */
+  const inScope = ['/scope/a.txt', '/scope/sub/b.txt', '/scope/sub/deep/c.txt']
+  /** Out of scope — including the two prefix traps a naive test misses. */
+  const outOfScope = ['/scope-sibling/d.txt', '/scope0/e.txt', '/elsewhere/f.txt', '/g.txt']
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    brain = new Brainy({ requireSubtype: false, storage: { type: 'memory' }, silent: true })
+    await brain.init()
+    vfs = brain.vfs
+    await vfs.init()
+
+    await vfs.mkdir('/scope/sub/deep', { recursive: true })
+    await vfs.mkdir('/scope-sibling', { recursive: true })
+    await vfs.mkdir('/scope0', { recursive: true })
+    await vfs.mkdir('/elsewhere', { recursive: true })
+
+    for (const path of [...inScope, ...outOfScope]) {
+      await vfs.writeFile(path, `${TOKEN} content for ${path}`)
+    }
+  })
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    await vfs?.close()
+    await brain?.close()
+  })
+
+  it('includes every descendant depth and excludes every sibling', async () => {
+    const results = await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/scope', limit: 50 })
+    const paths = results.map((r) => r.path).sort()
+
+    expect(paths).toEqual([...inScope].sort())
+    for (const path of outOfScope) expect(paths).not.toContain(path)
+  })
+
+  it('a trailing slash and a doubled slash name the same scope', async () => {
+    const plain = await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/scope', limit: 50 })
+    const trailing = await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/scope/', limit: 50 })
+    const doubled = await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '//scope//', limit: 50 })
+
+    const ids = (rs: Array<{ entityId: string }>) => rs.map((r) => r.entityId).sort()
+    expect(ids(trailing)).toEqual(ids(plain))
+    expect(ids(doubled)).toEqual(ids(plain))
+  })
+
+  it('the root scope is every VFS file — it adds no clause to narrow with', async () => {
+    const rooted = await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/', limit: 50 })
+    const unscoped = await vfs.search(TOKEN, { limit: 50 })
+
+    const paths = rooted.map((r) => r.path).sort()
+    expect(paths).toEqual([...inScope, ...outOfScope].sort())
+    expect(paths).toEqual(unscoped.map((r) => r.path).sort())
+  })
+
+  it('recursive: false is the immediate children, not the subtree', async () => {
+    const results = await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/scope', recursive: false, limit: 50 })
+    expect(results.map((r) => r.path)).toEqual(['/scope/a.txt'])
+  })
+
+  it('recursive: false on a path that does not exist refuses by name', async () => {
+    await expect(
+      vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/no-such-dir', recursive: false, limit: 50 })
+    ).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: VFSErrorCode.ENOENT })
+  })
+
+  it('every operator the search emits is ANSWERED by the index door, never refused', async () => {
+    const index = (brain as any).metadataIndex
+    const emitted: any[] = []
+    const find = vi.spyOn(brain as any, 'find')
+    try {
+      await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/scope', limit: 50 })
+      await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/scope/sub', where: { mimeType: 'text/plain' }, limit: 50 })
+      await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/scope', recursive: false, limit: 50 })
+      await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/', limit: 50 })
+      for (const call of find.mock.calls) emitted.push((call[0] as any).where)
+    } finally {
+      find.mockRestore()
+    }
+
+    expect(emitted).toHaveLength(4)
+    for (const where of emitted) {
+      // The door itself is the judge: an operator outside the served set is
+      // REFUSED here (BrainyError INVALID_QUERY), never answered.
+      await expect(index.getIdsForFilter(where)).resolves.toBeInstanceOf(Array)
+    }
+
+    // And the scope really is a range on the path — the shape this fix chose.
+    expect(emitted[0].path).toEqual({ gte: '/scope/', lt: '/scope0' })
+    expect(emitted[3].path).toBeUndefined()
+  })
+
+  it('the scope narrows the search before it runs — no over-fetch to filter', async () => {
+    const index = (brain as any).metadataIndex
+    const filter = vi.spyOn(index, 'getIdsForFilter')
+    let universe: string[] = []
+    try {
+      await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/scope', limit: 50 })
+      // The search's own call — the one carrying the scope. (Path resolution
+      // asks this same door for the root, before the search is built.)
+      const scoped = filter.mock.calls.findIndex(
+        (c) => (c[0] as any)?.path?.gte === '/scope/'
+      )
+      expect(scoped).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0)
+      universe = (await filter.mock.results[scoped].value) as string[]
+    } finally {
+      filter.mockRestore()
+    }
+
+    // The id universe the index resolved for the search is already the scope:
+    // three files, and not one row from outside it.
+    const rows = await brain.batchGet(universe)
+    const paths = [...rows.values()].map((e: any) => e.metadata.path).sort()
+    expect(paths).toEqual([...inScope].sort())
+  })
+
+  it('the range answers the same ids as walking the tree', async () => {
+    // The path is the truth and the Contains edges are its projection; a scope
+    // read from the truth must agree with one walked over the projection.
+    const walked: string[] = []
+    const walk = async (dir: string): Promise<void> => {
+      for (const name of await vfs.readdir(dir)) {
+        const child = dir === '/' ? `/${name}` : `${dir}/${name}`
+        const stat = await vfs.stat(child)
+        if (stat.isDirectory()) await walk(child)
+        else walked.push(child)
+      }
+    }
+    await walk('/scope')
+
+    const searched = await vfs.search(TOKEN, { path: '/scope', limit: 50 })
+    expect(searched.map((r) => r.path).sort()).toEqual(walked.sort())
+  })
+})