diff --git a/src/core/embedding-dim-check.ts b/src/core/embedding-dim-check.ts
index e863f748e..f4f1e7ee8 100644
--- a/src/core/embedding-dim-check.ts
+++ b/src/core/embedding-dim-check.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
  */
 
 import type { BrainEngine } from './engine.ts';
-import { PGVECTOR_HNSW_VECTOR_MAX_DIMS } from './vector-index.ts';
+import { PGVECTOR_HNSW_VECTOR_MAX_DIMS, hnswMaxDimsForType } from './vector-index.ts';
 import { gbrainPath } from './config.ts';
 import { resolveRecipe } from './ai/model-resolver.ts';
 import type { Recipe } from './ai/types.ts';
@@ -609,6 +609,17 @@ export function buildFactsAlterRecipe(
   const opclass = columnType === 'halfvec' ? 'halfvec_cosine_ops' : 'vector_cosine_ops';
   const targetType = columnType === 'halfvec' ? `halfvec(${configuredDims})` : `vector(${configuredDims})`;
   const dimsChanged = columnDims !== configuredDims;
+  const hnswMaxDims = hnswMaxDimsForType(columnType);
+  const indexLines = configuredDims <= hnswMaxDims
+    ? [
+        `CREATE INDEX idx_facts_embedding_hnsw`,
+        `  ON facts USING hnsw (embedding ${opclass})`,
+        `  WHERE embedding IS NOT NULL AND expired_at IS NULL;`,
+      ]
+    : [
+        `-- Skip reindex. ${columnType}(${configuredDims}) exceeds pgvector's HNSW cap of ${hnswMaxDims};`,
+        `-- fact similarity falls back to exact scans.`,
+      ];
   return [
     `-- ALTER ${columnType}(${columnDims}) → ${columnType}(${configuredDims}) on indexed column.`,
     `-- HOLD a maintenance window: this rewrites every row's embedding.`,
@@ -629,9 +640,7 @@ export function buildFactsAlterRecipe(
       : []),
     `ALTER TABLE facts ALTER COLUMN embedding TYPE ${targetType}`,
     `  USING embedding::${targetType};`,
-    `CREATE INDEX idx_facts_embedding_hnsw`,
-    `  ON facts USING hnsw (embedding ${opclass})`,
-    `  WHERE embedding IS NOT NULL AND expired_at IS NULL;`,
+    ...indexLines,
   ].join('\n');
 }
 
diff --git a/src/core/migrate.ts b/src/core/migrate.ts
index 124b79c8b..9dd889af9 100644
--- a/src/core/migrate.ts
+++ b/src/core/migrate.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import type { BrainEngine } from './engine.ts';
 import { slugifyPath } from './sync.ts';
 import { getFtsLanguage } from './fts-language.ts';
+import { hnswMaxDimsForType } from './vector-index.ts';
 
 /**
  * Schema migrations — run automatically on initSchema().
@@ -2276,11 +2277,19 @@ export const MIGRATIONS: Migration[] = [
         useHalfvec = true;
       }
 
-      const vecType = useHalfvec ? 'HALFVEC' : 'VECTOR';
+      const columnType = useHalfvec ? 'halfvec' : 'vector';
+      const vecType = columnType.toUpperCase();
       // HNSW operator class must match the column type:
       //   VECTOR(n)  → vector_cosine_ops
       //   HALFVEC(n) → halfvec_cosine_ops
       const opclass = useHalfvec ? 'halfvec_cosine_ops' : 'vector_cosine_ops';
+      const hnswMaxDims = hnswMaxDimsForType(columnType);
+      const factsEmbeddingIndexSql = embeddingDim <= hnswMaxDims
+        ? `CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_facts_embedding_hnsw
+          ON facts USING hnsw (embedding ${opclass})
+          WHERE embedding IS NOT NULL AND expired_at IS NULL;`
+        : `-- idx_facts_embedding_hnsw skipped: pgvector HNSW ${columnType} indexes support
+        -- at most ${hnswMaxDims} dimensions; exact vector scans remain available.`;
       // FK to sources is added in a separate ALTER TABLE rather than inline
       // on the column. Inline `REFERENCES` worked on PGLite but silently
       // got dropped by postgres.js's `unsafe()` multi-statement path on
@@ -2354,9 +2363,7 @@ export const MIGRATIONS: Migration[] = [
           ON facts(source_id, entity_slug)
           WHERE consolidated_at IS NULL AND expired_at IS NULL;
 
-        CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_facts_embedding_hnsw
-          ON facts USING hnsw (embedding ${opclass})
-          WHERE embedding IS NOT NULL AND expired_at IS NULL;
+        ${factsEmbeddingIndexSql}
       `;
 
       await engine.runMigration(40, factsDDL);
@@ -2870,8 +2877,16 @@ export const MIGRATIONS: Migration[] = [
         useHalfvec = true;
       }
 
-      const vecType = useHalfvec ? 'HALFVEC' : 'VECTOR';
+      const columnType = useHalfvec ? 'halfvec' : 'vector';
+      const vecType = columnType.toUpperCase();
       const opclass = useHalfvec ? 'halfvec_cosine_ops' : 'vector_cosine_ops';
+      const hnswMaxDims = hnswMaxDimsForType(columnType);
+      const queryCacheEmbeddingIndexSql = embeddingDim <= hnswMaxDims
+        ? `CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_query_cache_embedding_hnsw
+          ON query_cache USING hnsw (embedding ${opclass})
+          WHERE embedding IS NOT NULL;`
+        : `-- idx_query_cache_embedding_hnsw skipped: pgvector HNSW ${columnType} indexes support
+        -- at most ${hnswMaxDims} dimensions; exact vector scans remain available.`;
 
       const ddl = `
         CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS query_cache (
@@ -2890,9 +2905,7 @@ export const MIGRATIONS: Migration[] = [
         CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_query_cache_source_created
           ON query_cache(source_id, created_at DESC);
 
-        CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_query_cache_embedding_hnsw
-          ON query_cache USING hnsw (embedding ${opclass})
-          WHERE embedding IS NOT NULL;
+        ${queryCacheEmbeddingIndexSql}
       `;
 
       await engine.runMigration(55, ddl);
diff --git a/src/core/vector-index.ts b/src/core/vector-index.ts
index 6110ea9dc..b89e9a63a 100644
--- a/src/core/vector-index.ts
+++ b/src/core/vector-index.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import type { BrainEngine } from './engine.ts';
 
 export const PGVECTOR_HNSW_VECTOR_MAX_DIMS = 2000;
+export const PGVECTOR_HNSW_HALFVEC_MAX_DIMS = 4000;
 
 const CHUNK_EMBEDDING_HNSW_INDEX =
   'CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_chunks_embedding ON content_chunks USING hnsw (embedding vector_cosine_ops);';
@@ -29,6 +30,10 @@ export function chunkEmbeddingIndexSql(dims: number): string {
   ].join('\n');
 }
 
+export function hnswMaxDimsForType(columnType: 'vector' | 'halfvec'): number {
+  return columnType === 'halfvec' ? PGVECTOR_HNSW_HALFVEC_MAX_DIMS : PGVECTOR_HNSW_VECTOR_MAX_DIMS;
+}
+
 export function applyChunkEmbeddingIndexPolicy(sql: string, dims: number): string {
   return sql.replaceAll(CHUNK_EMBEDDING_HNSW_INDEX, chunkEmbeddingIndexSql(dims));
 }
diff --git a/test/embedding-dim-check-facts.test.ts b/test/embedding-dim-check-facts.test.ts
index 2b0a9a8fc..8c5652729 100644
--- a/test/embedding-dim-check-facts.test.ts
+++ b/test/embedding-dim-check-facts.test.ts
@@ -122,9 +122,9 @@ describe('buildFactsAlterRecipe', () => {
   });
 
   test('vector recipe uses vector_cosine_ops + vector(N) USING cast', () => {
-    const recipe = buildFactsAlterRecipe(1024, 2048, 'vector');
-    expect(recipe).toContain('vector(2048)');
-    expect(recipe).toContain('USING embedding::vector(2048)');
+    const recipe = buildFactsAlterRecipe(1024, 1536, 'vector');
+    expect(recipe).toContain('vector(1536)');
+    expect(recipe).toContain('USING embedding::vector(1536)');
     expect(recipe).toContain('vector_cosine_ops');
     expect(recipe).not.toContain('halfvec_cosine_ops');
   });
@@ -163,6 +163,14 @@ describe('buildFactsAlterRecipe', () => {
     expect(recipe).not.toContain('UPDATE facts SET embedding = NULL');
     expect(recipe).toContain('USING embedding::vector(1536)');
   });
+
+  test('halfvec recipe skips HNSW rebuild above pgvector cap', () => {
+    const recipe = buildFactsAlterRecipe(1536, 4096, 'halfvec');
+    expect(recipe).toContain('halfvec(4096)');
+    expect(recipe).toContain('Skip reindex');
+    expect(recipe).toContain("exceeds pgvector's HNSW cap of 4000");
+    expect(recipe).not.toMatch(/CREATE INDEX idx_facts_embedding_hnsw[\s\S]*USING hnsw/);
+  });
 });
 
 describe('FactsEmbeddingDimMismatchError', () => {
diff --git a/test/facts-migration-dim.test.ts b/test/facts-migration-dim.test.ts
index 6560e2f59..dca59f559 100644
--- a/test/facts-migration-dim.test.ts
+++ b/test/facts-migration-dim.test.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 import { describe, test, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'bun:test';
 import { PGLiteEngine } from '../src/core/pglite-engine.ts';
+import { configureGateway, resetGateway } from '../src/core/ai/gateway.ts';
 
 let engine: PGLiteEngine;
 
@@ -93,4 +94,60 @@ describe('migration v45 facts column shape', () => {
     );
     expect(after[0].udt_name).toBe(before[0].udt_name);
   });
+
+});
+
+describe('migration v45/v55 large-dim HNSW policy', () => {
+  let largeDimEngine: PGLiteEngine;
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    configureGateway({
+      embedding_model: 'litellm:custom-4096d',
+      embedding_dimensions: 4096,
+      env: { ...process.env },
+    });
+
+    largeDimEngine = new PGLiteEngine();
+    await largeDimEngine.connect({});
+    await largeDimEngine.initSchema();
+  });
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    await largeDimEngine.disconnect();
+    resetGateway();
+  });
+
+  test('4096d init skips unsupported HNSW indexes but keeps vector columns', async () => {
+    const formatRows = await largeDimEngine.executeRaw<{ format_type: string }>(
+      `SELECT format_type(atttypid, atttypmod) AS format_type
+       FROM pg_attribute
+       WHERE attrelid = 'facts'::regclass AND attname = 'embedding'`,
+    );
+    expect(formatRows[0]?.format_type).toMatch(/(halfvec|vector)\(4096\)/);
+
+    const indexRows = await largeDimEngine.executeRaw<{ exists: boolean }>(
+      `SELECT EXISTS (
+         SELECT 1 FROM pg_indexes
+         WHERE tablename = 'facts'
+           AND indexname = 'idx_facts_embedding_hnsw'
+       ) AS exists`,
+    );
+    expect(indexRows[0]?.exists).toBe(false);
+
+    const queryCacheFormatRows = await largeDimEngine.executeRaw<{ format_type: string }>(
+      `SELECT format_type(atttypid, atttypmod) AS format_type
+       FROM pg_attribute
+       WHERE attrelid = 'query_cache'::regclass AND attname = 'embedding'`,
+    );
+    expect(queryCacheFormatRows[0]?.format_type).toMatch(/(halfvec|vector)\(4096\)/);
+
+    const queryCacheIndexRows = await largeDimEngine.executeRaw<{ exists: boolean }>(
+      `SELECT EXISTS (
+         SELECT 1 FROM pg_indexes
+         WHERE tablename = 'query_cache'
+           AND indexname = 'idx_query_cache_embedding_hnsw'
+       ) AS exists`,
+    );
+    expect(queryCacheIndexRows[0]?.exists).toBe(false);
+  }, 60000);
 });