diff --git a/src/basic_memory/repository/search_repository_base.py b/src/basic_memory/repository/search_repository_base.py
index 52e2d0a8..06fd4304 100644
--- a/src/basic_memory/repository/search_repository_base.py
+++ b/src/basic_memory/repository/search_repository_base.py
@@ -53,14 +53,28 @@ RELAXATION_STOPWORDS = frozenset(
 def relaxed_query_words(search_text: Optional[str]) -> Optional[list[str]]:
     """Content-bearing words for OR-relaxing a strict full-text query.
 
-    Returns None when relaxation must not apply: empty input, quoted phrases,
-    or explicit boolean queries (user intent is not second-guessed).
+    Returns None when relaxation must not apply. These eligibility rules match
+    SearchService._is_relaxed_fts_fallback_eligible so the hybrid FTS branch
+    relaxes exactly the same query shapes as the service-level FTS path:
+
+    - empty / quoted / explicit-boolean queries (user intent is not
+      second-guessed);
+    - fewer than three alphanumeric tokens (short queries like "New Feature"
+      over-broaden under OR — and in hybrid the relaxed FTS-only rows normalize
+      to 1.0 and can outrank the vector result the user wanted);
+    - any pure-digit token ("root note 1", "SPEC 16") — identifier-like queries
+      over-broaden and create false positives under OR.
     """
     if not search_text:
         return None
     stripped = search_text.strip()
     if '"' in stripped or any(op in f" {stripped} " for op in (" AND ", " OR ", " NOT ")):
         return None
+    # Eligibility checks run on raw alphanumeric tokens (parity with the
+    # service), before stopword filtering.
+    tokens = re.findall(r"[A-Za-z0-9]+", stripped.lower())
+    if len(tokens) < 3 or any(token.isdigit() for token in tokens):
+        return None
     words = [word.strip("?!.,;:") for word in stripped.split()]
     words = [
         word
diff --git a/tests/repository/test_search_repository.py b/tests/repository/test_search_repository.py
index 0068b3f1..3a95f1da 100644
--- a/tests/repository/test_search_repository.py
+++ b/tests/repository/test_search_repository.py
@@ -1156,16 +1156,19 @@ async def test_relaxed_query_drops_stopwords(search_repository):
 
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_relaxed_query_respects_user_intent(search_repository):
-    # Explicit boolean and quoted queries are not second-guessed (both backends).
-    if is_postgres_backend(search_repository):
-        relaxer = search_repository._relaxed_tsquery_text
-        single = "single:*"
-    else:
-        relaxer = search_repository._relaxed_fts_text
-        single = "single*"
+    # Eligibility matches the service-level relaxation (both backends): quoted,
+    # boolean, short (<3 tokens), and numeric-identifier queries are not relaxed.
+    relaxer = (
+        search_repository._relaxed_tsquery_text
+        if is_postgres_backend(search_repository)
+        else search_repository._relaxed_fts_text
+    )
     assert relaxer("alpha AND beta") is None
     assert relaxer('"exact phrase"') is None
-    assert relaxer("single") == single
+    assert relaxer("single") is None  # < 3 tokens
+    assert relaxer("New Feature") is None  # < 3 tokens (link title)
+    assert relaxer("root note 1") is None  # numeric identifier token
+    assert relaxer("SPEC 16 design") is None  # numeric token
     assert relaxer(None) is None