diff --git a/tests/configs/vitest.perf.config.ts b/tests/configs/vitest.perf.config.ts
index 6936a71c..6c0f2d1b 100644
--- a/tests/configs/vitest.perf.config.ts
+++ b/tests/configs/vitest.perf.config.ts
@@ -57,14 +57,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
       // otherwise-correctness integration suite (self-skipped everywhere
       // else via BRAINY_PERF_LANE). Stays in the integration gate's
       // include too, so every OTHER test in the file keeps running there.
-      'tests/integration/storage-batch-operations.test.ts',
-      // Same pattern: one wall-clock budget case (100-file write + readdir,
-      // 5.5s budget) inside an otherwise-correctness VFS unit suite
-      // (self-skipped everywhere else via BRAINY_PERF_LANE — see
-      // tests/vfs/vfs.unit.test.ts's 'Performance > should handle many
-      // files efficiently'). Stays in the unit gate's *.unit.test.ts match
-      // too, so every OTHER test in the file keeps running there.
-      'tests/vfs/vfs.unit.test.ts'
+      'tests/integration/storage-batch-operations.test.ts'
     ],
 
     reporters: process.env.CI ? ['dot'] : ['basic'],
diff --git a/tests/integration/graphIndex-pagination.test.ts b/tests/integration/graphIndex-pagination.test.ts
index 8ad4d6d8..32a7673c 100644
--- a/tests/integration/graphIndex-pagination.test.ts
+++ b/tests/integration/graphIndex-pagination.test.ts
@@ -9,34 +9,9 @@
  * 8.0 BigInt boundary: entity ints in (resolved via the metadata index's
  * idMapper), entity/verb ints out (`bigint[]`). Entity ints map back to UUIDs
  * via `idMapper.getUuid(Number(int))`; verb ints via `verbIntsToIds()`.
- *
- * COST NOTE (2026-09): this file's `beforeEach` used to recreate a fresh
- * FileSystemStorage-backed Brainy plus 51 real-embedded entities before
- * EVERY one of the 18 tests below (~950 add()/relate() calls total, each
- * paying the real ONNX embedder — the whole file walled ~328s). Fixed
- * without touching a single assertion:
- *
- * (1) `vector: []` on every add() below — these tests exercise graph
- *     pagination, never similarity, so a pre-supplied vector is honest, not
- *     a shortcut: `add()`'s `params.vector || (await this.embed(...))` never
- *     calls the embedder once `vector` is present, even the sanctioned
- *     unvectored `[]` shape (see brainy.ts's add(), the zero-norm-law
- *     comment) — and the `vector.length > 0` gate on dimension-pinning means
- *     `[]` never poisons `this.dimensions` for later real embeds.
- * (2) `storage: { type: 'memory' }` instead of the 'auto' default
- *     (FileSystemStorage at ./brainy-data) — real disk I/O the pagination
- *     assertions never needed, and it sidesteps tests/setup.ts's global
- *     per-test `rm -rf brainy-data`, which would otherwise corrupt a brain
- *     shared across a describe's beforeAll out from under it.
- * (3) the base fixture (one central hub + 50 outgoing-edge neighbors) now
- *     builds ONCE per describe (`beforeAll`) instead of once per test — safe
- *     because no test in a given describe block mutates the shared fixture
- *     in a way an earlier sibling test's assertion depends on (the one
- *     mutating case, the incoming-direction test, is the LAST test in its
- *     describe).
  */
 
-import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'vitest'
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach } from 'vitest'
 import { Brainy } from '../../src/brainy.js'
 import { NounType, VerbType } from '../../src/types/graphTypes.js'
 
@@ -64,21 +39,14 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
       .map((i) => idMapper().getUuid(Number(i)))
       .filter((u: string | undefined): u is string => u !== undefined)
 
-  /**
-   * Builds one central hub + 50 neighbor entities (all outgoing edges from
-   * the hub), unvectored and on in-memory storage (see the file header).
-   * Assigns the describe-scoped `brain`/`centralId`/`neighborIds` above;
-   * called once per describe via `beforeAll`, not once per test.
-   */
-  async function buildFixture(): Promise<void> {
+  beforeEach(async () => {
     brain = new Brainy({ requireSubtype: false })
-    await brain.init({ storage: { type: 'memory' } })
+    await brain.init()
 
     // Create central entity
     centralId = await brain.add({
       data: { name: 'Central Hub' },
-      type: NounType.Thing,
-      vector: []
+      type: NounType.Thing
     })
 
     // Create 50 neighbor entities with relationships
@@ -86,8 +54,7 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
     for (let i = 0; i < 50; i++) {
       const neighborId = await brain.add({
         data: { name: `Neighbor ${i}`, index: i },
-        type: NounType.Thing,
-        vector: []
+        type: NounType.Thing
       })
       neighborIds.push(neighborId)
 
@@ -98,14 +65,9 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
         type: VerbType.RelatesTo
       })
     }
-  }
+  })
 
   describe('getNeighbors() Pagination', () => {
-    beforeAll(buildFixture)
-    afterAll(async () => {
-      await brain?.close()
-    })
-
     it('should return all neighbors without pagination', async () => {
       const neighborInts = await graphIndex().getNeighbors(entityInt(centralId))
       const neighbors = intsToUuids(neighborInts)
@@ -187,8 +149,7 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
       // Create some incoming relationships
       const sourceId = await brain.add({
         data: { name: 'Source' },
-        type: NounType.Thing,
-        vector: []
+        type: NounType.Thing
       })
 
       await brain.relate({
@@ -208,11 +169,6 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
   })
 
   describe('getVerbIdsBySource() Pagination', () => {
-    beforeAll(buildFixture)
-    afterAll(async () => {
-      await brain?.close()
-    })
-
     it('should return all verb ints without pagination and resolve them back to ids', async () => {
       const verbInts: bigint[] = await graphIndex().getVerbIdsBySource(entityInt(centralId))
 
@@ -267,11 +223,6 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
   })
 
   describe('getVerbIdsByTarget() Pagination', () => {
-    beforeAll(buildFixture)
-    afterAll(async () => {
-      await brain?.close()
-    })
-
     it('should return all verb ints targeting an entity', async () => {
       // Pick a neighbor that's a target of relationships
       const targetId = neighborIds[0]
@@ -285,16 +236,14 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
       // Create entity with many incoming relationships
       const popularTarget = await brain.add({
         data: { name: 'Popular Target' },
-        type: NounType.Thing,
-        vector: []
+        type: NounType.Thing
       })
 
       // Create 30 relationships pointing to it
       for (let i = 0; i < 30; i++) {
         const sourceId = await brain.add({
           data: { name: `Source ${i}` },
-          type: NounType.Thing,
-          vector: []
+          type: NounType.Thing
         })
         await brain.relate({
           from: sourceId,
@@ -318,11 +267,6 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
   })
 
   describe('Performance with Pagination', () => {
-    beforeAll(buildFixture)
-    afterAll(async () => {
-      await brain?.close()
-    })
-
     it('should maintain sub-5ms performance with pagination', async () => {
       const central = entityInt(centralId)
 
@@ -341,17 +285,11 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
   })
 
   describe('Real-World Use Cases', () => {
-    beforeAll(buildFixture)
-    afterAll(async () => {
-      await brain?.close()
-    })
-
     it('should efficiently paginate through high-degree node', async () => {
       // Simulate popular entity with 100+ relationships
       const hub = await brain.add({
         data: { name: 'Popular Hub' },
-        type: NounType.Thing,
-        vector: []
+        type: NounType.Thing
       })
 
       // Create 100 relationships
@@ -359,8 +297,7 @@ describe('GraphAdjacencyIndex Pagination', () => {
       for (let i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
         const targetId = await brain.add({
           data: { name: `Target ${i}` },
-          type: NounType.Thing,
-          vector: []
+          type: NounType.Thing
         })
         targetIds.push(targetId)
         await brain.relate({
diff --git a/tests/integration/triple-intelligence-correctness.test.ts b/tests/integration/triple-intelligence-correctness.test.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 53848d1a..00000000
--- a/tests/integration/triple-intelligence-correctness.test.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,172 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Triple Intelligence Correctness Tests
- *
- * Moved out of tests/performance/triple-intelligence-scale.test.ts (the
- * perf-lane split excludes the whole `tests/performance/**` directory from
- * the correctness gate — see vitest.config.ts's exclude list — which left
- * this describe's 4 tests running nowhere by default). Every `expect(...)`
- * below is byte-for-byte what the original file asserted — nothing here
- * changes an assertion.
- *
- * Fixture-only fixes were required to make this run at all against the
- * current engine — exactly the kind of drift that running nowhere hides
- * (tsconfig.json excludes `**\/*.test.ts`, so tsc never typechecked this file
- * either, and nothing else exercised it since the perf-lane split):
- * `addMany()` now takes `{ items }`, not a bare array; `relate()`'s `type` is
- * a `VerbType` enum value, not the string `'related'`; `add()`'s `type` is
- * required at runtime (`type: NounType.Document` added — no test asserts on
- * it); the `where` filter spells its operators bare (`gte`, not `$gte`);
- * `storage: { type: 'memory' }` avoids tests/setup.ts's global per-test
- * `rm -rf brainy-data` tearing the writer lock out from under this describe's
- * shared (beforeAll) brain between tests.
- *
- * Two of the four tests are `it.skip` with a defect filed in a comment above
- * each, not patched: `graphTraversal()` bypasses the 8.0 id-normalization law
- * (a natural-key `connected.from` never resolves), and `vectorSearch()`
- * throws a hardcoded O(log n) wall-time guard that a 6-row fixture's cold
- * WASM/JIT cost blows through by 6-15x — both genuine TripleIntelligenceSystem
- * defects the original file never surfaced because it ran (when it ran at
- * all, in-process) after a 1M-item warm-up suite. See each skip's comment.
- */
-
-import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'vitest'
-import { Brainy } from '../../src/brainy.js'
-import { TripleIntelligenceSystem } from '../../src/triple/TripleIntelligenceSystem.js'
-import { NounType, VerbType } from '../../src/types/graphTypes.js'
-
-describe('Triple Intelligence Correctness', () => {
-  let brain: Brainy
-  let triple: TripleIntelligenceSystem
-
-  beforeAll(async () => {
-    brain = new Brainy({ requireSubtype: false })
-    await brain.init({
-      enableMetadataIndex: true,
-      enableGraphIndex: true,
-      // Memory, not the 'auto' default's FileSystemStorage at ./brainy-data:
-      // tests/setup.ts's global per-test `rm -rf brainy-data` was ripping the
-      // writer lock out from under this describe's shared (beforeAll) brain
-      // between tests ("Writer fence lost" on close) — a store this test
-      // never needed to touch disk for.
-      storage: { type: 'memory' }
-    })
-
-    // Add test data with known patterns
-    const testData = [
-      { id: 'doc1', data: 'Machine learning algorithms', type: NounType.Document, metadata: { topic: 'AI', year: 2023 } },
-      { id: 'doc2', data: 'Deep learning neural networks', type: NounType.Document, metadata: { topic: 'AI', year: 2024 } },
-      { id: 'doc3', data: 'Natural language processing', type: NounType.Document, metadata: { topic: 'AI', year: 2023 } },
-      { id: 'doc4', data: 'Computer vision applications', type: NounType.Document, metadata: { topic: 'AI', year: 2024 } },
-      { id: 'doc5', data: 'Quantum computing basics', type: NounType.Document, metadata: { topic: 'Physics', year: 2023 } },
-      { id: 'doc6', data: 'Blockchain technology', type: NounType.Document, metadata: { topic: 'Crypto', year: 2024 } }
-    ]
-
-    await brain.addMany({ items: testData })
-
-    // Add relationships
-    await brain.relate({ from: 'doc1', to: 'doc2', type: VerbType.RelatedTo })
-    await brain.relate({ from: 'doc2', to: 'doc3', type: VerbType.RelatedTo })
-    await brain.relate({ from: 'doc3', to: 'doc4', type: VerbType.RelatedTo })
-
-    triple = brain.getTripleIntelligence()
-  })
-
-  afterAll(async () => {
-    await brain?.close()
-  })
-
-  it('should return exact matches for field queries', async () => {
-    const results = await triple.find({
-      where: { topic: 'AI' },
-      limit: 10
-    })
-
-    expect(results).toHaveLength(4)
-    for (const result of results) {
-      expect(result.metadata.topic).toBe('AI')
-    }
-  })
-
-  it('should handle range queries correctly', async () => {
-    const results = await triple.find({
-      where: { year: { gte: 2024 } },
-      limit: 10
-    })
-
-    expect(results).toHaveLength(3)
-    for (const result of results) {
-      expect(result.metadata.year).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(2024)
-    }
-  })
-
-  // SKIPPED — genuine TripleIntelligenceSystem defect, out of test-hygiene
-  // scope, filed rather than patched: graphTraversal() (TripleIntelligenceSystem.ts)
-  // calls storage.getNoun(id) / graphIndex.getNeighbors(id) directly with the
-  // caller's raw `connected.from` string, bypassing the 8.0 id-normalization
-  // law (Brainy.add() coerces a natural-key id like 'doc1' to a stable v5
-  // UUID and stores the original only for translation at the public API
-  // surface — see coerceNewEntityId in brainy.ts). A caller passing a
-  // natural-key id here gets storage.getNoun('doc1') → undefined; every
-  // result's `id` is whatever raw string seeded the BFS queue, so results
-  // can never match by natural key either. Reproduces identically against
-  // the pre-move fixture and code — not introduced by this file's move, just
-  // never exercised (this describe ran nowhere since the perf-lane split).
-  it.skip('should traverse graph relationships', async () => {
-    const results = await triple.find({
-      connected: { from: 'doc1', depth: 2 },
-      limit: 10
-    })
-
-    // Should find doc1, doc2 (depth 1), and doc3 (depth 2)
-    const ids = results.map(r => r.id)
-    expect(ids).toContain('doc1')
-    expect(ids).toContain('doc2')
-    expect(ids).toContain('doc3')
-
-    // Check depth values
-    const doc1Result = results.find(r => r.id === 'doc1')
-    const doc2Result = results.find(r => r.id === 'doc2')
-    const doc3Result = results.find(r => r.id === 'doc3')
-
-    expect(doc1Result?.depth).toBe(0)
-    expect(doc2Result?.depth).toBe(1)
-    expect(doc3Result?.depth).toBe(2)
-  })
-
-  // SKIPPED — genuine TripleIntelligenceSystem defect, out of test-hygiene
-  // scope, filed rather than patched: vectorSearch() (TripleIntelligenceSystem.ts)
-  // throws `Vector search O(log n) violation` when elapsed wall time exceeds
-  // `log2(hnswIndex.size()) * 5 * 2` — on a 6-row fixture that bound is
-  // ~25.8ms, which the real cost of a WASM/Candle embed call plus first-call
-  // JIT/cache warmup blows through by 6-15x (measured 166-375ms across
-  // repeated runs) — a hardcoded constant that assumes an already-warm,
-  // presumably-native runtime, not this environment. The ORIGINAL file never
-  // hit this: it ran after 'Triple Intelligence Performance at Scale', whose
-  // 1M-item setup + many queries left the embedder/HNSW thoroughly warm by
-  // the time this describe's tests ran in the same process — an accidental
-  // dependency on a sibling suite, not a property of this test. Standalone,
-  // cold, it is inherently flaky by the SUT's own design, not fixable by
-  // fixture changes (enlarging the fixture only pushes elapsed time up
-  // alongside the threshold's log-scaled — not linear — growth).
-  it.skip('should combine signals with proper fusion', async () => {
-    const results = await triple.find({
-      similar: 'deep learning',
-      where: { topic: 'AI' },
-      limit: 3
-    }, {
-      fusion: {
-        strategy: 'rrf',
-        weights: { vector: 0.7, field: 0.3 }
-      }
-    })
-
-    // doc2 should rank highest (matches both signals)
-    expect(results[0].id).toBe('doc2')
-    expect(results[0].fusionScore).toBeGreaterThan(0)
-
-    // All results should have AI topic
-    for (const result of results) {
-      expect(result.metadata.topic).toBe('AI')
-    }
-  })
-})
diff --git a/tests/performance/triple-intelligence-scale.test.ts b/tests/performance/triple-intelligence-scale.test.ts
index 1db7fc80..6687decd 100644
--- a/tests/performance/triple-intelligence-scale.test.ts
+++ b/tests/performance/triple-intelligence-scale.test.ts
@@ -352,8 +352,106 @@ describe('Triple Intelligence Performance at Scale', () => {
   })
 })
 
-// The former 'Triple Intelligence Correctness' describe (4 tests, no timing
-// assertions) moved to tests/integration/triple-intelligence-correctness.test.ts
-// so it runs in the default correctness gate — this whole directory
-// (tests/performance/**) is excluded from that gate (see vitest.config.ts),
-// which had silently stopped running those 4 tests after the perf-lane split.
\ No newline at end of file
+describe('Triple Intelligence Correctness', () => {
+  let brain: Brainy
+  let triple: TripleIntelligenceSystem
+  
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    brain = new Brainy({ requireSubtype: false })
+    await brain.init({
+      enableMetadataIndex: true,
+      enableGraphIndex: true
+    })
+    
+    // Add test data with known patterns
+    const testData = [
+      { id: 'doc1', data: 'Machine learning algorithms', metadata: { topic: 'AI', year: 2023 } },
+      { id: 'doc2', data: 'Deep learning neural networks', metadata: { topic: 'AI', year: 2024 } },
+      { id: 'doc3', data: 'Natural language processing', metadata: { topic: 'AI', year: 2023 } },
+      { id: 'doc4', data: 'Computer vision applications', metadata: { topic: 'AI', year: 2024 } },
+      { id: 'doc5', data: 'Quantum computing basics', metadata: { topic: 'Physics', year: 2023 } },
+      { id: 'doc6', data: 'Blockchain technology', metadata: { topic: 'Crypto', year: 2024 } }
+    ]
+    
+    await brain.addMany(testData)
+    
+    // Add relationships
+    await brain.relate({ from: 'doc1', to: 'doc2', type: 'related' })
+    await brain.relate({ from: 'doc2', to: 'doc3', type: 'related' })
+    await brain.relate({ from: 'doc3', to: 'doc4', type: 'related' })
+    
+    triple = brain.getTripleIntelligence()
+  })
+  
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    await brain?.close()
+  })
+  
+  it('should return exact matches for field queries', async () => {
+    const results = await triple.find({
+      where: { topic: 'AI' },
+      limit: 10
+    })
+    
+    expect(results).toHaveLength(4)
+    for (const result of results) {
+      expect(result.metadata.topic).toBe('AI')
+    }
+  })
+  
+  it('should handle range queries correctly', async () => {
+    const results = await triple.find({
+      where: { year: { $gte: 2024 } },
+      limit: 10
+    })
+    
+    expect(results).toHaveLength(3)
+    for (const result of results) {
+      expect(result.metadata.year).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(2024)
+    }
+  })
+  
+  it('should traverse graph relationships', async () => {
+    const results = await triple.find({
+      connected: { from: 'doc1', depth: 2 },
+      limit: 10
+    })
+    
+    // Should find doc1, doc2 (depth 1), and doc3 (depth 2)
+    const ids = results.map(r => r.id)
+    expect(ids).toContain('doc1')
+    expect(ids).toContain('doc2')
+    expect(ids).toContain('doc3')
+    
+    // Check depth values
+    const doc1Result = results.find(r => r.id === 'doc1')
+    const doc2Result = results.find(r => r.id === 'doc2')
+    const doc3Result = results.find(r => r.id === 'doc3')
+    
+    expect(doc1Result?.depth).toBe(0)
+    expect(doc2Result?.depth).toBe(1)
+    expect(doc3Result?.depth).toBe(2)
+  })
+  
+  it('should combine signals with proper fusion', async () => {
+    const results = await triple.find({
+      similar: 'deep learning',
+      where: { topic: 'AI' },
+      limit: 3
+    }, {
+      fusion: {
+        strategy: 'rrf',
+        weights: { vector: 0.7, field: 0.3 }
+      }
+    })
+    
+    // doc2 should rank highest (matches both signals)
+    expect(results[0].id).toBe('doc2')
+    expect(results[0].fusionScore).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    
+    // All results should have AI topic
+    for (const result of results) {
+      expect(result.metadata.topic).toBe('AI')
+    }
+  })
+})
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/vfs/vfs.unit.test.ts b/tests/vfs/vfs.unit.test.ts
index b4024155..4b4ba8d2 100644
--- a/tests/vfs/vfs.unit.test.ts
+++ b/tests/vfs/vfs.unit.test.ts
@@ -389,14 +389,7 @@ describe('VirtualFileSystem - Production Tests', () => {
   })
 
   describe('Performance', () => {
-    it('should handle many files efficiently', async (ctx) => {
-      // Wall-clock budget assertion — belongs to the perf lane (npm run
-      // test:perf), not the correctness gate: 121ms alone but 16.5s under
-      // the gate's sibling-file contention, a flake the code never caused
-      // (same pattern as storage-batch-operations.test.ts's batch-vs-
-      // individual timing case).
-      ctx.skip(!process.env.BRAINY_PERF_LANE, 'wall-clock budget assertion — runs only under the perf lane (npm run test:perf)')
-
+    it('should handle many files efficiently', async () => {
       const dir = '/performance-test'
       await vfs.mkdir(dir)