diff --git a/app/workers/brain-idb-store.ts b/app/workers/brain-idb-store.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcffff9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/workers/brain-idb-store.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import type { UseStore } from 'idb-keyval'
+
+/**
+ * Two idb-keyval stores in ONE database.
+ *
+ * `idb-keyval`'s own `createStore` opens the database **without a version** and
+ * creates only its own object store in the upgrade. Call it twice for the same
+ * database and only the first store is ever created: by the time the second one
+ * opens, the database already exists at version 1, no upgrade fires, and every
+ * transaction against it throws `NotFoundError`.
+ *
+ * The brain needs two — `brain-meta` and `brain-content` — so it needs this.
+ * The database is opened once, at an explicit version, and both stores are
+ * created in that single upgrade.
+ *
+ * The version is 2 rather than 1 on purpose: a browser that already visited
+ * Studio holds `cr-brain` at version 1 with whichever store happened to be
+ * touched first. Opening at 1 would find it current and fire no upgrade, so the
+ * missing store would stay missing. Bumping forces the upgrade that creates it.
+ */
+const DB_VERSION = 2
+
+/**
+ * Returns one `UseStore` per name, all sharing a single database connection —
+ * the shape `idb-keyval`'s `get` / `set` / `del` / `keys` already accept, so
+ * call sites do not change.
+ */
+export function createSharedStores<const N extends readonly string[]>(
+  dbName: string,
+  storeNames: N,
+): Record<N[number], UseStore> {
+  let dbp: Promise<IDBDatabase> | undefined
+
+  const getDB = () => {
+    if (dbp) return dbp
+
+    dbp = new Promise<IDBDatabase>((resolve, reject) => {
+      const request = indexedDB.open(dbName, DB_VERSION)
+
+      request.onupgradeneeded = () => {
+        const db = request.result
+        for (const name of storeNames) {
+          if (!db.objectStoreNames.contains(name)) db.createObjectStore(name)
+        }
+      }
+
+      // Another tab holding an older version blocks the upgrade. Reject rather
+      // than leave every read pending forever: an error is recoverable and
+      // visible, a promise that never settles is neither. `onversionchange`
+      // below means this should not happen, but "should not" is not "cannot".
+      request.onblocked = () => reject(new Error('brain database upgrade blocked by another tab'))
+
+      request.onerror = () => reject(request.error)
+      request.onsuccess = () => {
+        const db = request.result
+        // Step aside when another tab wants to upgrade, instead of being the
+        // tab that blocks it.
+        db.onversionchange = () => {
+          db.close()
+          dbp = undefined
+        }
+        // Safari sometimes closes the connection on its own and says so here.
+        db.onclose = () => {
+          dbp = undefined
+        }
+        resolve(db)
+      }
+    })
+
+    // A failed open must not be cached, or one blocked upgrade would poison
+    // every later call for the lifetime of the worker.
+    dbp.catch(() => {
+      dbp = undefined
+    })
+    return dbp
+  }
+
+  const stores = {} as Record<string, UseStore>
+  for (const name of storeNames) {
+    stores[name] = ((txMode, callback) =>
+      getDB().then(db => callback(db.transaction(name, txMode).objectStore(name)))) as UseStore
+  }
+  return stores as Record<N[number], UseStore>
+}
diff --git a/app/workers/content-brain.worker.ts b/app/workers/content-brain.worker.ts
index 8f171a4..2cdb4ad 100644
--- a/app/workers/content-brain.worker.ts
+++ b/app/workers/content-brain.worker.ts
@@ -6,14 +6,18 @@
  * Cross-tab sync via BroadcastChannel.
  */
 
-import { createStore, del, get, keys, set } from 'idb-keyval'
+import { del, get, keys, set } from 'idb-keyval'
 import FlexSearch from 'flexsearch'
-// A worker has no Nuxt auto-imports, so this is explicit.
+// A worker has no Nuxt auto-imports, so these are explicit.
 import { collectSearchHits, indexFetchLimit } from '../utils/search-results'
+import { createSharedStores } from './brain-idb-store'
 
-// Custom IDB stores in 'cr-brain' database
-const metaStore = createStore('cr-brain', 'brain-meta')
-const contentStore = createStore('cr-brain', 'brain-content')
+// Both stores live in one 'cr-brain' database, opened once. idb-keyval's own
+// `createStore` cannot do that — see brain-idb-store.ts for why it matters.
+const { 'brain-meta': metaStore, 'brain-content': contentStore } = createSharedStores(
+  'cr-brain',
+  ['brain-meta', 'brain-content'],
+)
 
 // FlexSearch index (no published types — use any)
 // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
@@ -54,7 +58,13 @@ self.onmessage = async (event: MessageEvent) => {
         const { payload, projectId } = msg
 
         if (payload.delta && !payload.config && !payload.models && !payload.content) {
-          // No changes — already up to date
+          // No changes on the server — but "no changes" is about the repo, not
+          // about this worker. A worker is created fresh on every page load and
+          // its FlexSearch index lives only in memory, while the content it is
+          // built from lives in IndexedDB and survives. So on the common path —
+          // reload a project nobody has edited — the index was never built and
+          // search answered nothing, forever, without an error.
+          await ensureSearchIndex(projectId)
           self.postMessage({ type: 'synced', treeSha: payload.treeSha, stats: null })
           break
         }
@@ -130,6 +140,10 @@ self.onmessage = async (event: MessageEvent) => {
 
       case 'search': {
         const { id, query, modelId: searchModelId, locale: searchLocale, limit } = msg
+        // Belt and braces: every path that can leave a worker without an index
+        // — a cross-tab sync, an invalidate, a cached load — ends up here
+        // rather than silently answering nothing.
+        await ensureSearchIndex(currentProjectId)
         const filters = { modelId: searchModelId, locale: searchLocale, limit: limit ?? 10 }
         let results: Array<{ modelId: string, entryId: string, locale: string, score: number }> = []
 
@@ -236,6 +250,17 @@ channel.onmessage = (event: MessageEvent) => {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Build the index if this worker does not have one yet.
+ *
+ * Cheap when it already does, which is what lets every entry point call it
+ * without thinking about whether some other one already has.
+ */
+async function ensureSearchIndex(projectId: string | null) {
+  if (searchIndex || !projectId) return
+  await rebuildSearchIndex(projectId)
+}
+
 async function rebuildSearchIndex(projectId: string) {
   searchIndex = new FlexSearch.Document({
     document: {
diff --git a/tests/nuxt/brain-worker-search.nuxt.test.ts b/tests/nuxt/brain-worker-search.nuxt.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5cdc1cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/nuxt/brain-worker-search.nuxt.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+import 'fake-indexeddb/auto'
+import { beforeAll, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+
+/**
+ * The brain worker's search, driven through its own message handler.
+ *
+ * The bug this exists for: a worker is created fresh on every page load and its
+ * FlexSearch index lives only in memory, while the content it is built from
+ * lives in IndexedDB and survives. The index was built in exactly one place —
+ * after the "nothing changed" early return in `sync` — so reloading a project
+ * nobody had edited left the worker with no index at all, and search answered
+ * nothing, forever, with no error to show for it.
+ *
+ * So the test loads the worker twice: once to populate IndexedDB the way a real
+ * session would, and again to be the reloaded worker that has never synced.
+ */
+
+const PROJECT = 'project-1'
+
+const SYNC_PAYLOAD = {
+  treeSha: 'sha-1',
+  delta: false,
+  config: { locales: { default: 'en', supported: ['en'] } },
+  models: {
+    articles: { id: 'articles', kind: 'collection' },
+    authors: { id: 'authors', kind: 'collection' },
+  },
+  content: {
+    'articles:en': {
+      data: {
+        a1: { title: 'Ship it on Friday', body: 'A note about the creator economy' },
+        a2: { title: 'Something else entirely', body: 'Unrelated' },
+      },
+      meta: null,
+      kind: 'collection',
+    },
+    'authors:en': {
+      data: { u1: { name: 'Ahmet', bio: 'creator' } },
+      meta: null,
+      kind: 'collection',
+    },
+  },
+  vocabulary: null,
+  contentContext: null,
+  contentSummary: null,
+  schemaValidation: null,
+}
+
+let posted: Array<Record<string, unknown>> = []
+let handle: (msg: Record<string, unknown>) => Promise<void>
+
+/** Load a fresh copy of the worker module and return a way to talk to it. */
+async function bootWorker() {
+  vi.resetModules()
+  posted = []
+  const scope = { postMessage: (m: Record<string, unknown>) => posted.push(m), onmessage: null as unknown }
+  vi.stubGlobal('self', scope)
+  await import('../../app/workers/content-brain.worker')
+  const onmessage = (scope as { onmessage: (e: { data: unknown }) => Promise<void> }).onmessage
+  return async (msg: Record<string, unknown>) => {
+    posted.length = 0
+    await onmessage({ data: msg })
+    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 0))
+  }
+}
+
+function lastOfType(type: string) {
+  return posted.filter(m => m.type === type).at(-1)
+}
+
+beforeAll(async () => {
+  vi.stubGlobal('BroadcastChannel', class {
+    postMessage() {}
+    close() {}
+  })
+
+  // A previous session: a real sync that stores the content and builds an index.
+  const first = await bootWorker()
+  await first({ type: 'init', projectId: PROJECT })
+  await first({ type: 'sync', projectId: PROJECT, payload: SYNC_PAYLOAD })
+
+  // The reload: a new worker, empty in memory, over the same IndexedDB.
+  handle = await bootWorker()
+})
+
+describe('brain worker search after a reload', () => {
+  it('builds the index even when the sync reports nothing changed', async () => {
+    await handle({ type: 'init', projectId: PROJECT })
+    expect(lastOfType('ready')).toMatchObject({ cached: true })
+
+    // The server has nothing new — the case that used to skip index building.
+    await handle({ type: 'sync', projectId: PROJECT, payload: { delta: true, treeSha: 'sha-1' } })
+    expect(lastOfType('synced')).toBeDefined()
+
+    await handle({ type: 'search', id: 's1', query: 'creator', limit: 10 })
+
+    const results = lastOfType('searchResult')?.results as Array<{ entryId: string }>
+    expect(results.length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+    expect(results.map(r => r.entryId)).toContain('a1')
+  })
+
+  it('scopes to one model without losing its matches to another', async () => {
+    // `authors:u1` also matches "creator". Filtering after the limit is what
+    // let another model's hits eat the caller's slots.
+    await handle({ type: 'search', id: 's2', query: 'creator', modelId: 'articles', limit: 10 })
+
+    const results = lastOfType('searchResult')?.results as Array<{ modelId: string, entryId: string }>
+    expect(results.map(r => r.entryId)).toEqual(['a1'])
+    expect(results.every(r => r.modelId === 'articles')).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it('returns nothing for a locale that holds nothing', async () => {
+    await handle({ type: 'search', id: 's3', query: 'creator', locale: 'tr', limit: 10 })
+
+    expect(lastOfType('searchResult')?.results).toEqual([])
+  })
+
+  it('answers a search made before any sync at all', async () => {
+    // Nothing guarantees the order of `sync` and the first keystroke.
+    const fresh = await bootWorker()
+    await fresh({ type: 'init', projectId: PROJECT })
+    await fresh({ type: 'search', id: 's4', query: 'creator', modelId: 'articles', limit: 10 })
+
+    const results = lastOfType('searchResult')?.results as unknown[]
+    expect(results.length).toBeGreaterThan(0)
+  })
+})