diff --git a/src/openhuman/memory_store/chunks/connection.rs b/src/openhuman/memory_store/chunks/connection.rs
index fb7d0ea81..df8bbfcf8 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/memory_store/chunks/connection.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/memory_store/chunks/connection.rs
@@ -593,9 +593,18 @@ pub(crate) fn clear_connection_cache() {
 /// downstream crates should treat it as internal.
 #[doc(hidden)]
 pub fn with_connection<T>(config: &Config, f: impl FnOnce(&Connection) -> Result<T>) -> Result<T> {
-    let conn_arc = get_or_init_connection(config)?;
-    let guard = conn_arc.lock();
-    f(&guard)
+    // W3 connection foundation: route ALL production access to
+    // `<workspace_dir>/memory_tree/chunks.db` through the TinyCortex connection
+    // manager. The crate opens the SAME file (its `db_path_for` derives the
+    // identical `<workspace>/memory_tree/chunks.db`), applies the identical
+    // schema + version-gated migrations (`TREE_EMBEDDING`=1, `GLOBAL_TOPIC_PURGE`
+    // =2 — matched on both sides, so an already-migrated DB is a no-op), and
+    // migrates any pre-existing WAL database to the TRUNCATE rollback journal in
+    // place on first open. The former host connection cache below is retired in
+    // the deletion-ledger follow-up (it is now only referenced by cache-behaviour
+    // unit tests, which move upstream into the crate).
+    let mc = crate::openhuman::tinycortex::memory_config_from(config, config.workspace_dir.clone());
+    tinycortex::memory::chunks::with_connection(&mc, f)
 }
 
 /// Append `suffix` to the *file name* of `path` (so `chunks.db` + `-wal`