diff --git a/docs/contract-1-ratification.md b/docs/contract-1-ratification.md
index 57c4e7d3..87df7b1f 100644
--- a/docs/contract-1-ratification.md
+++ b/docs/contract-1-ratification.md
@@ -219,6 +219,21 @@ every door contract 1 requires?" — is a set-membership check between their
 
 ---
 
+## A defect this work surfaced but did not fix
+
+`src/vfs/VirtualFileSystem.ts` builds a path-prefix filter as
+`path: { $startsWith: options.path }` — with a `$` prefix. No operator in this
+engine carries a `$`, so `validateWhereFilter()` rejects it with
+`INVALID_QUERY` before any index read: **`vfs.searchFiles({ path })` throws
+today, on every call that passes a path.** It is pre-existing and unrelated to
+the operator work above (the validator refuses it before the index path is
+reached), and it is left as a filing rather than fixed here, because the right
+answer is a design question — a path-prefix search cannot be served by an
+equality/range index, so it needs either a path-segment index or an explicit
+in-memory narrow, not a spelling correction.
+
+---
+
 ## Summary of what changed in code for this ratification
 
 | item | change |
diff --git a/src/brainy.ts b/src/brainy.ts
index 711d8d02..c479fcc3 100644
--- a/src/brainy.ts
+++ b/src/brainy.ts
@@ -16732,8 +16732,19 @@ export class Brainy<T = any> implements BrainyInterface<T> {
       if (legacyEntityPaths.length === 0) {
         // Already flat (root entities, no head-branch entities) → stamp the marker
         // so future opens short-circuit. A genuinely empty/fresh dir gets no marker.
-        const rootEntities = await probe.listRawObjects('entities')
-        if (rootEntities.length > 0) {
+        // "Are there any entities?" is answered by ONE directory read, not by a
+        // recursive listing of every file in the tree: this runs on the open path
+        // of every store that does not yet carry the marker (a restore, a store
+        // built by an older release), and on a large store that listing walks the
+        // whole canonical tree to learn a boolean.
+        const oneLevel = (
+          probe as unknown as { listRawPrefixes?: (prefix: string) => Promise<string[]> }
+        ).listRawPrefixes
+        const hasRootEntities =
+          typeof oneLevel === 'function'
+            ? (await oneLevel.call(probe, 'entities')).length > 0
+            : (await probe.listRawObjects('entities')).length > 0
+        if (hasRootEntities) {
           await probe.writeRawObject('_system/migration-layout.json', {
             layout: 'flat-v8',
             version: 8,