diff --git a/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/events.rs b/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/events.rs
index 6bf993e45..c03bf0762 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/events.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/events.rs
@@ -224,6 +224,17 @@ pub fn event_search_fts(
     limit: usize,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<Vec<EventRecord>> {
     let conn = conn.lock();
+    let trimmed = query.trim();
+    if trimmed.is_empty() {
+        tracing::debug!("[events] FTS search skipped — empty query");
+        return Ok(Vec::new());
+    }
+    let phrase_query = super::fts5::sanitize_fts_query(trimmed);
+    if phrase_query.is_empty() {
+        tracing::debug!("[events] FTS search skipped — sanitised query is empty");
+        return Ok(Vec::new());
+    }
+
     let mut stmt = conn.prepare(
         "SELECT el.event_id, el.segment_id, el.session_id, el.namespace,
                 el.event_type, el.content, el.subject, el.timestamp_ref,
@@ -235,13 +246,12 @@ pub fn event_search_fts(
          LIMIT ?3",
     )?;
     let rows = stmt
-        .query_map(params![query, namespace, limit as i64], |row| {
+        .query_map(params![phrase_query, namespace, limit as i64], |row| {
             row_to_event(row)
         })?
         .collect::<Result<Vec<_>, _>>()?;
     tracing::debug!(
-        "[events] FTS search '{}' (ns={}) returned {} results",
-        query,
+        "[events] FTS search ns={} returned {} results",
         namespace,
         rows.len()
     );
diff --git a/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/events_tests.rs b/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/events_tests.rs
index 72156871d..cc96354c7 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/events_tests.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/events_tests.rs
@@ -211,6 +211,32 @@ fn event_fts_matches_subject_field() {
     assert_eq!(by_subject[0].event_id, "evt-subj");
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn event_fts_sanitises_punctuation_safely() {
+    let conn = setup_db();
+    let event = EventRecord {
+        event_id: "evt-punct".into(),
+        segment_id: "seg-1".into(),
+        session_id: "s1".into(),
+        namespace: "global".into(),
+        event_type: EventType::Decision,
+        content: "We decided to use Rust for backend deployment".into(),
+        subject: Some("backend deployment".into()),
+        timestamp_ref: None,
+        confidence: 0.85,
+        embedding: None,
+        source_turn_ids: None,
+        created_at: 1000.0,
+    };
+    event_insert(&conn, &event).unwrap();
+
+    let results = event_search_fts(&conn, "global", "\"Rust\"，(backend)?", 5)
+        .expect("punctuated user query should not trip FTS5 syntax errors");
+
+    assert_eq!(results.len(), 1);
+    assert_eq!(results[0].event_id, "evt-punct");
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn event_embeddings_are_scoped_by_model_signature() {
     let conn = setup_db();
diff --git a/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/fts5.rs b/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/fts5.rs
index 09242fdb5..11952aa37 100644
--- a/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/fts5.rs
+++ b/src/openhuman/memory_store/unified/fts5.rs
@@ -154,6 +154,17 @@ pub fn episodic_search(
     limit: usize,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<Vec<EpisodicEntry>> {
     let conn = conn.lock();
+    let trimmed = query.trim();
+    if trimmed.is_empty() {
+        tracing::debug!("[fts5] search skipped — empty query");
+        return Ok(Vec::new());
+    }
+    let phrase_query = sanitize_fts_query(trimmed);
+    if phrase_query.is_empty() {
+        tracing::debug!("[fts5] search skipped — sanitised query is empty");
+        return Ok(Vec::new());
+    }
+
     let mut stmt = conn.prepare(
         "SELECT el.id, el.session_id, el.timestamp, el.role, el.content, el.lesson,
                 el.tool_calls_json, el.cost_microdollars
@@ -165,7 +176,7 @@ pub fn episodic_search(
     )?;
 
     let rows = stmt
-        .query_map(rusqlite::params![query, limit as i64], |row| {
+        .query_map(rusqlite::params![phrase_query, limit as i64], |row| {
             Ok(EpisodicEntry {
                 id: row.get(0)?,
                 session_id: row.get(1)?,
@@ -179,7 +190,7 @@ pub fn episodic_search(
         })?
         .collect::<Result<Vec<_>, _>>()?;
 
-    tracing::debug!("[fts5] search '{}' returned {} results", query, rows.len());
+    tracing::debug!("[fts5] search returned {} results", rows.len());
     Ok(rows)
 }
 
@@ -281,17 +292,19 @@ pub fn episodic_cross_session_search(
     Ok(rows)
 }
 
-/// Best-effort FTS5 query sanitiser: strip characters that break the
-/// MATCH grammar (quotes, parens, asterisks) and wrap each surviving
-/// whitespace-delimited token in double quotes so the FTS engine treats
-/// it as a literal phrase. Returns an empty string when nothing usable
-/// survives — the caller short-circuits to "no hits".
-fn sanitize_fts_query(query: &str) -> String {
+/// Best-effort FTS5 query sanitiser: split user text on punctuation and
+/// symbols that break the MATCH grammar, then quote each surviving token
+/// so FTS5 treats it as literal text. Returns an empty string when
+/// nothing usable survives — callers short-circuit to "no hits".
+pub(super) fn sanitize_fts_query(query: &str) -> String {
     let cleaned: String = query
         .chars()
-        .map(|c| match c {
-            '"' | '(' | ')' | '*' | ':' => ' ',
-            other => other,
+        .map(|c| {
+            if c.is_alphanumeric() || c == '_' {
+                c
+            } else {
+                ' '
+            }
         })
         .collect();
     let tokens: Vec<String> = cleaned
@@ -539,6 +552,21 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(hits[0].content.contains("Postgres"));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn episodic_search_sanitises_punctuation_safely() {
+        let conn = setup_db();
+        insert_turn(&conn, "session-a", 1000.0, "Postgres deployment notes");
+
+        let hits = episodic_search(&conn, "\"Postgres\"，(deployment)?", 10)
+            .expect("punctuated user query should not trip FTS5 syntax errors");
+
+        assert!(
+            !hits.is_empty(),
+            "punctuated query whose surviving tokens match the indexed row must still surface it"
+        );
+        assert!(hits[0].content.contains("Postgres"));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn cross_session_search_does_not_panic_on_pure_punctuation() {
         let conn = setup_db();