diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 2b5dd3b..1fbc433 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -251,6 +251,13 @@ tools/wikitool search --field entity_type=system --field '!sources'
 
 `search` is read-only and exempt from the iteration budget.
 
+**It is also exhaustive, so do not grep `kb/` yourself.** `search` *is* a `rg` run over `kb/`,
+enriched with each hit's frontmatter and ranked; a grep of your own can therefore surface no
+page it missed, only the generated files it deliberately excludes - `kb/index.md`, `kb/log.md`,
+`kb/provenance.md`, every `INDEX.md` - which invariant 1 forbids acting on anyway. Each hit
+carries the page's full path and full title, so it can be opened and passed to the commands
+that take a title. A result cut short by `--limit` says so and names the total.
+
 ## Gates
 
 Four limits are enforced in code rather than by instruction, because a prompt-level limit is
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index d9a9185..f38b15a 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ concern - readable here, never shipped as something to parse.
 
 ---
 
-## 6.0.0-beta.7 - 2026-09-15 - types/type-spec.schema.yaml enforced against real type-spec frontmatter
+## 6.0.0-beta.8 - 2026-09-15 - search: Pfad und Titel vollstaendig, Trunkierung sichtbar
 
 **Author:** Torben Nehmer
 
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@ concern - readable here, never shipped as something to parse.
 - docs verify: ein nur als .template ausgeliefertes Linkziel gilt als aufgeloest
 - Control-Plane-Sprache universell: Achse ist das Publikum, kein Instanz-Schalter
 - types/type-spec.schema.yaml enforced against real type-spec frontmatter
+- search: Pfad und Titel vollstaendig, Trunkierung sichtbar
 
 **Low impact**
 - gates.md/session-setup.md: die Budget-Ausnahme von version regrade haengt an der Aufrufform
@@ -342,6 +343,60 @@ Verifiziert: `tools/wikitool docs verify`/`instructions verify` gruen, 1263 Test
 alle Type-Specs dieses Repos validieren gegen ihr eigenes Schema; ein Type-Spec mit einem dem
 Schema unbekannten Feld wird gemeldet, mit Dateiname und Feldname in der Meldung).
 
+### search: Pfad und Titel vollstaendig, Trunkierung sichtbar
+
+Gemeldet wurde eine Sitzung, die nach `wikitool search` zusaetzlich `grep -rl` ueber `kb/`
+laufen liess. Der Grep war redundant - `search` *ist* ein `rg`-Lauf ueber `kb/` und kann keine
+Seite verfehlen, die ein Grep findet -, aber die Ausgabe gab ihr drei Gruende dafuer, und die
+sind der eigentliche Befund.
+
+Die Tabelle nannte **keinen Pfad**, obwohl `wiki-query` verlangt, nur die Seiten zu lesen, auf
+die die Suche zeigt. Sie kappte ausserdem den **Titel** auf 34 Zeichen - im gemeldeten
+Transkript vier von fuenf Treffern -, und der Titel ist nach Invariante 2 der einzige
+Identifier einer Seite und das Argument, das `touch`, `xref add` und `cite add` nehmen. Die
+Sitzung hatte also weder etwas zum Oeffnen noch etwas zum Weiterreichen; `grep -rl` lieferte
+genau beides.
+
+Drittens war `N result(s).` die *gekappte* Zahl: `run_search` gab nur die beschnittene Liste
+zurueck, also konnte kein Adapter die Gesamtzahl melden, und `20 result(s).` auf einer Anfrage
+mit 182 Treffern war von einem vollstaendigen Ergebnis nicht zu unterscheiden. Eine
+Vollstaendigkeitsaussage, zu der die Ausgabe nicht berechtigt war - der staerkste denkbare
+Anlass, ihr zu misstrauen.
+
+Die Zeile hat jetzt die Form `score | kind/subtype | titel | pfad | summary`, ohne
+Spaltenauffuellung. Titel und Pfad werden nie gekappt; die Summary ist das einzige verlustige
+Feld und steht deshalb am Ende, wo ein `|` in Prosa beim Trennen mit `maxsplit=4` folgenlos
+bleibt (ein `|` im Titel schliesst die Wikilink-Syntax ohnehin aus). JSON als Default-Ausgabe
+wurde erwogen und verworfen: ein Treffer ist flach, JSON kostet dafuer ein Vielfaches an Tokens,
+und `search` existiert dafuer, Retrieval billig zu machen - der Fehler war ein fehlendes Feld,
+kein Parse-Problem. Wer Struktur braucht, hat `--json`, `api.search` und MCP.
+
+`run_search` gibt jetzt ein `SearchResult` mit Treffern, Gesamtzahl und Limit zurueck. Die
+Tabelle schreibt `50 of 182 result(s) - raise --limit (0 for all) or narrow the query.`, das
+JSON traegt `total`/`truncated`/`limit` neben `count`, dessen Bedeutung unveraendert bleibt
+(`len(results)`), und `api.search` sowie der MCP-`search`-Tool tragen dieselben Felder. Das
+Default-Limit steigt von 20 auf 50 und liegt als eine Konstante `DEFAULT_LIMIT` statt als drei
+Literale in drei Adaptern: gekappt wurden bisher vor allem die *strukturellen* Sweeps
+(`--field '!sources'`), die alphabetisch und nicht nach Relevanz sortiert sind, wo die Kappung
+also eine beliebige Scheibe der Antwort wegwirft statt ihres schwaechsten Endes. Sichtbar zu
+sein ist es, was ein endliches Default ueberhaupt erst unbedenklich macht.
+
+`AGENTS.md` § Routing traegt die Regel an genau einer Stelle - `search` ist erschoepfend, ein
+eigener Grep ueber `kb/` fuegt nur die generierten Dateien hinzu, die Invariante 1 ohnehin
+verbietet; `tools/CONTRACT.md` traegt daneben nur den Mechanismus.
+
+Grenzuebertritt-Frage geprueft und verneint: kein Flag entfernt oder umbenannt, keine
+Umgebungsvariable, keine maschinengelesene Datei in ihrer Form veraendert, JSON rein additiv.
+Die Tabelle liest ein Agent, kein Skript, und ihre Aenderung verlangt keiner Instanz Handarbeit
+ab.
+
+Verifiziert: `docs verify`/`instructions verify` gruen, 1272 Tests gruen (9 neu: Pfad vorhanden;
+Titel und Pfad ungekappt bei langem Titel; eine Trefferzeile zerfaellt trotz `|` in der Prosa in
+ihre fuenf Felder; ein gekapptes Ergebnis nennt die Gesamtzahl, ein ungekapptes behauptet
+nichts; `--limit 0` gilt nie als gekappt; die Gesamtzahl ueberlebt das Limit in `run_search`;
+`api.search` meldet dasselbe; alle drei Adapter teilen ein Default-Limit - der MCP-Golden-Test
+haelt die neuen Felder zwischen CLI und Server zusammen).
+
 ## 5.1.0 - 2026-09-12 - changelog: Kandidaten-Eintrag nach Impact gruppiert, version regrade zur Nachkorrektur, version release verlangt eine Zusammenfassung
 
 **Author:** Torben Nehmer
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 09deee8..4808b68 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-6.0.0-beta.7
+6.0.0-beta.8
diff --git a/instructions/wiki-query/SKILL.md b/instructions/wiki-query/SKILL.md
index 1f74fb0..73087c1 100644
--- a/instructions/wiki-query/SKILL.md
+++ b/instructions/wiki-query/SKILL.md
@@ -34,15 +34,18 @@ invariant - rather than synthesizing a plausible-sounding answer from general kn
    ```bash
    tools/wikitool search "backup" --kind entity --subtype system
    tools/wikitool search --field entity_type=system --field '!sources' --sort -modified
-   tools/wikitool search --field tags=k8s --limit 30
-   tools/wikitool search "Longhorn" --matches      # show the matching lines
+   tools/wikitool search --field tags=k8s --limit 0   # a sweep: every match, not the first 50
+   tools/wikitool search "Longhorn" --matches         # show the matching lines
    ```
 
    `search` is read-only and exempt from the iteration budget, so searching again is always
-   cheaper than reading more.
+   cheaper than reading more. A result that hit `--limit` says so and names the total, so read
+   the last line before treating a list as the whole answer - and do not grep `kb/` yourself,
+   per AGENTS.md § Routing.
 
-3. **Read only the pages the search points at**, then follow their `related:` and `sources:`
-   entries. Check `kb/sources/` when the question is about what a specific source said.
+3. **Read only the pages the search points at** - each hit carries its full path - then follow
+   their `related:` and `sources:` entries. Check `kb/sources/` when the question is about what
+   a specific source said.
 
 4. **Answer and cite.** Name the wiki pages the answer came from, and the sources behind them.
    Hedge to what those sources carry, not to a number - see
diff --git a/tools/CONTRACT.md b/tools/CONTRACT.md
index e976ee5..5c0dc1e 100644
--- a/tools/CONTRACT.md
+++ b/tools/CONTRACT.md
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ tools/wikitool <command> --help
 | Command | Purpose |
 |---------|---------|
 | `lint [--json] [--markdown out.md] [--full] [--fail-on-error]` | Structural + provenance checks: broken wikilinks, dangling frontmatter references, orphan pages, index drift, schema gaps, duplicate titles, title mismatches, pages nested more than one directory below their collection (hard - the generated catalog folds these into their area silently rather than merely reading it), uncovered raw files, broken `raw_files:` refs, raw files claimed by more than one source page, unmarked provenance, citation/frontmatter drift, unbalanced generated-region markers, edges whose label is missing or not authorised by the source collection's `outbound:` (both hard once `kb_version` has reached the release that introduced labelled edges - advisory below it, so a corpus mid-migration is not refused by the check measuring it), `see-also` edges whose reverse direction already carries a specific label (advisory only - redundant rather than wrong, and never migration-gated, since no version turns the redundancy into an error), a collection past the catalog's per-area shard threshold that has no areas to shard (advisory only - sharding is automatic but per *area*, so a collection nobody gave areas keeps one table however large it grows; reported with the split its subtype field would produce, and only when that split puts every resulting area at or under the threshold, so a lopsided or small collection stays silent), source pages sitting in the `unclassified` catalog slot (advisory only - `unclassified` is the visible fallback for a genuinely unclear source, not a defect), quote-limit overages (>2 blockquoted lines/page, advisory only). Prints only the sections that found something and always writes the full report to `reports/Lint Report <date>.md` (or `--markdown`), naming the path - `--full` prints everything, `--json` prints the findings and writes nothing |
-| `search ["<text>"] [--field <predicate> ...] [--kind/--subtype/--collection/--tag <v>] [--regex] [--limit N] [--sort [-]<field>] [--backend <name>] [--matches] [--json]` | Find pages in `kb/` without reading the index. Text search runs through a pluggable backend (`rg` today); `--field` predicates are evaluated on frontmatter - `f=v`, `f~substring`, `'f>=v'`, `'f:*'` (present), `'!f'` (absent), repeatable and ANDed. With no text this is a pure structured query. Results carry kind/summary so a hit can be judged without opening the page. A page whose frontmatter does not parse can match no positive predicate, so it is **named** rather than dropped: `--json` always carries an `unreadable` list of `{path, reason}` (usually empty), and the table form writes the same lines to stderr. `--regex` is applied by `rg` alone, whose engine is linear; the ranking boosts for title and summary are literal-containment only, so a non-literal pattern is ranked by match count. `rg` is killed after 30 s and reported as a failure. Read-only, and **exempt from the Iteration Budget Gate** |
+| `search ["<text>"] [--field <predicate> ...] [--kind/--subtype/--collection/--tag <v>] [--regex] [--limit N] [--sort [-]<field>] [--backend <name>] [--matches] [--json]` | Find pages in `kb/` without reading the index. Text search runs through a pluggable backend (`rg` today); `--field` predicates are evaluated on frontmatter - `f=v`, `f~substring`, `'f>=v'`, `'f:*'` (present), `'!f'` (absent), repeatable and ANDed. With no text this is a pure structured query. One hit per line, ` | `-separated as `score \| kind/subtype \| title \| path \| summary`, so a hit can be judged without opening the page and then opened without looking it up: **title and path are never truncated** (the title is the identifier `touch`/`xref`/`cite` take), and the summary - the one lossy field, and the only one that may contain the separator - goes last, so splitting on `" \| "` with `maxsplit=4` is unambiguous. Scope is pages: the backend walks `kb/` but drops anything `kb_scan.iter_kb_pages` excludes (the kb-root meta files, every `COLLECTION.md`, every generated `INDEX.md`), which is why a hand-run grep over `kb/` can add none of them but those. `--limit` defaults to 50 (`0` for no limit) and **a truncated result says so** - `50 of 182 result(s)` in the table, `total`/`truncated`/`limit` beside `count` in `--json`, where `count` stays the number of results in the payload; the same default and the same fields are what `api.search` and the MCP `search` tool carry, from one constant. A page whose frontmatter does not parse can match no positive predicate, so it is **named** rather than dropped: `--json` always carries an `unreadable` list of `{path, reason}` (usually empty), and the table form writes the same lines to stderr. `--regex` is applied by `rg` alone, whose engine is linear; the ranking boosts for title and summary are literal-containment only, so a non-literal pattern is ranked by match count. `rg` is killed after 30 s and reported as a failure. Read-only, and **exempt from the Iteration Budget Gate** |
 
 ### Provenance
 
diff --git a/tools/chemenu/api.py b/tools/chemenu/api.py
index 6384fb7..d6ccad2 100644
--- a/tools/chemenu/api.py
+++ b/tools/chemenu/api.py
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ from chemenu.lint_core import run_lint
 from chemenu.search import filters
 from chemenu.search.registry import resolve
 from chemenu.search.service import run_search, unreadable_pages
-from chemenu.search.types import Predicate, SearchQuery
+from chemenu.search.types import DEFAULT_LIMIT, Predicate, SearchQuery
 from chemenu.types_core import describe_type, list_types
 
 # Distinguishes "the caller did not pass a revision" from "the caller passed
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ class Corpus:
         text: Optional[str] = None,
         predicates: Iterable[str] = (),
         regex: bool = False,
-        limit: int = 20,
+        limit: int = DEFAULT_LIMIT,
         sort: Optional[str] = None,
         backend: Optional[str] = None,
     ) -> dict[str, Any]:
@@ -142,13 +142,18 @@ class Corpus:
 
         with self._rooted():
             pages, revision = self._cache.load()
-            hits = run_search(query, pages, backends, self.kb_dir)
+            result = run_search(query, pages, backends, self.kb_dir)
         return self._stamp({
             "query": text,
             "predicates": [p.render() for p in parsed],
             "backend": ",".join(b.name for b in backends),
-            "count": len(hits),
-            "results": [hit.as_dict() for hit in hits],
+            # Same shape the CLI's `--json` prints: `count` is what came back,
+            # `total` is how many matched before `limit` cut it.
+            "count": len(result.hits),
+            "total": result.total,
+            "truncated": result.truncated,
+            "limit": result.limit,
+            "results": [hit.as_dict() for hit in result.hits],
             "unreadable": unreadable_pages(pages),
         }, revision)
 
diff --git a/tools/chemenu/commands/search.py b/tools/chemenu/commands/search.py
index 4bda04d..31a3a97 100644
--- a/tools/chemenu/commands/search.py
+++ b/tools/chemenu/commands/search.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ from chemenu.search.service import (
     sort_hits,
     unreadable_pages,
 )
-from chemenu.search.types import Predicate, SearchHit, SearchQuery
+from chemenu.search.types import DEFAULT_LIMIT, Predicate, SearchQuery, SearchResult
 
 # Re-exported so `from chemenu.commands.search import run_search` keeps
 # resolving. The core lives in `chemenu/search/service.py`, which imports no
@@ -49,32 +49,76 @@ __all__ = [
     "search_command",
 ]
 
-TITLE_WIDTH = 34
 SUMMARY_WIDTH = 84
 
+# One hit per line, ` | `-separated, in the order score, kind, title, path,
+# summary. Three properties are load-bearing and should survive any edit here:
+#
+# 1. **The path is present.** It was not, and the instructions that drive this
+#    command tell an agent to "read only the pages the search points at" - which
+#    it could not do, because nothing here pointed anywhere. What a session did
+#    instead was run `grep -rl` over `kb/` for the filenames, a second search
+#    that can find no page this one missed (the backend *is* `rg` over `kb/`).
+# 2. **Title and path are never truncated.** The title is the wiki's only
+#    identifier for a page (AGENTS.md invariant 2) and the argument `xref add`,
+#    `cite add` and `touch` all take; a title clipped to a column width is not
+#    one. The old fixed 34-char field clipped four of five hits in the report
+#    that prompted this. Only the summary is lossy, which is why it goes last.
+# 3. **The separator is unambiguous.** A `|` cannot occur in a title - the
+#    wikilink syntax reserves it, so a page carrying one could not be linked at
+#    all - and a `|` in the summary is harmless, because the summary is the
+#    final field: split on " | " with maxsplit=4 and prose cannot shift a
+#    column.
+#
+# Column padding is gone with the widths: it aligned the table for an eye, and
+# the reader here is an agent that pays for the spaces by the token.
+SEPARATOR = " | "
+
 
 def _truncate(text: str, width: int) -> str:
     text = " ".join(text.split())
     return text if len(text) <= width else text[: width - 1] + "\u2026"
 
 
-def render_table(hits: list[SearchHit], show_matches: bool) -> str:
-    if not hits:
+def _count_line(result: SearchResult) -> str:
+    """The last line: how many hits, and whether that is all of them.
+
+    A bare `N result(s).` reads as the whole answer, so it is only used when it
+    is one. A capped search says what it capped, which is the number the caller
+    would otherwise have to run a second, unlimited search to learn.
+    """
+    if not result.truncated:
+        return f"{len(result.hits)} result(s)."
+    return (
+        f"{len(result.hits)} of {result.total} result(s) - "
+        f"raise --limit (0 for all) or narrow the query."
+    )
+
+
+def render_table(result: SearchResult, show_matches: bool) -> str:
+    if not result.hits:
         return "No matches."
     lines = []
-    for hit in hits:
+    for hit in result.hits:
         kind = hit.kind or "?"
         if hit.subtype:
             kind = f"{kind}/{hit.subtype}"
         lines.append(
-            f"{hit.score:6.1f}  {_truncate(hit.title, TITLE_WIDTH):<{TITLE_WIDTH}}  "
-            f"{kind:<18}  {_truncate(hit.summary, SUMMARY_WIDTH)}"
+            SEPARATOR.join(
+                (
+                    f"{hit.score:.1f}",
+                    kind,
+                    hit.title,
+                    hit.path,
+                    _truncate(hit.summary, SUMMARY_WIDTH),
+                )
+            )
         )
         if show_matches:
             for match in hit.matches:
-                lines.append(f"          {hit.path}:{match.line}: {_truncate(match.text, 100)}")
+                lines.append(f"    {hit.path}:{match.line}: {_truncate(match.text, 100)}")
     lines.append("")
-    lines.append(f"{len(hits)} result(s).")
+    lines.append(_count_line(result))
     return "\n".join(lines)
 
 
@@ -99,7 +143,11 @@ def search_command(
     regex: bool = typer.Option(
         False, "--regex", help="Treat the query as a regex. Off by default: terms are literal."
     ),
-    limit: int = typer.Option(20, "--limit", help="Maximum number of results. 0 for no limit."),
+    limit: int = typer.Option(
+        DEFAULT_LIMIT,
+        "--limit",
+        help="Maximum number of results. 0 for no limit. A capped result says so.",
+    ),
     sort: str = typer.Option(
         None, "--sort", help="Sort by a result field; prefix with '-' to reverse, e.g. -modified."
     ),
@@ -146,7 +194,7 @@ def search_command(
 
     pages = load_pages_by_path()
     try:
-        hits = run_search(query, pages, backends)
+        result = run_search(query, pages, backends)
     except PredicateError as exc:
         fail(str(exc))
     except RipgrepMissing as exc:
@@ -162,8 +210,15 @@ def search_command(
             "query": text,
             "predicates": [p.render() for p in predicates],
             "backend": ",".join(b.name for b in backends),
-            "count": len(hits),
-            "results": [hit.as_dict() for hit in hits],
+            # `count` keeps its meaning - how many results are in this payload -
+            # so a consumer written against the old shape reads the same number
+            # it always did. `total`/`truncated`/`limit` are what it could not
+            # ask before.
+            "count": len(result.hits),
+            "total": result.total,
+            "truncated": result.truncated,
+            "limit": result.limit,
+            "results": [hit.as_dict() for hit in result.hits],
             # Always present, usually empty. A caller that has to look for the
             # key to learn whether it should worry will not look.
             "unreadable": unreadable,
@@ -171,7 +226,7 @@ def search_command(
         typer.echo(json.dumps(payload, indent=2))
         return
 
-    typer.echo(render_table(hits, show_matches))
+    typer.echo(render_table(result, show_matches))
     for entry in unreadable:
         typer.echo(
             f"WARN unreadable frontmatter: {entry['path']} ({entry['reason']}) - "
diff --git a/tools/chemenu/mcp/server.py b/tools/chemenu/mcp/server.py
index 887023d..75a12ee 100644
--- a/tools/chemenu/mcp/server.py
+++ b/tools/chemenu/mcp/server.py
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ from mcp.server.mcpserver.exceptions import ToolError
 from chemenu import config, upload
 from chemenu.api import Corpus
 from chemenu.errors import ChemenuError
+from chemenu.search.types import DEFAULT_LIMIT
 from chemenu.telemetry import policy
 
 SERVER_NAME = "chemenu"
@@ -158,14 +159,16 @@ def build_server(
             "Find pages in kb/ by text, by frontmatter, or by both. Returns "
             "title, path, kind and summary per hit, so a result can be judged "
             "without fetching the page. Prefer this over listing files: the "
-            "answer is a few hundred tokens instead of a whole index."
+            "answer is a few hundred tokens instead of a whole index. "
+            "'count' is how many hits came back and 'total' how many matched; "
+            "when 'truncated' is true, raise 'limit' (0 for all) to see the rest."
         ),
     )
     def search(
         query: str | None = None,
         predicates: list[str] | None = None,
         regex: bool = False,
-        limit: int = 20,
+        limit: int = DEFAULT_LIMIT,
         sort: str | None = None,
     ) -> dict[str, Any]:
         """Search the wiki.
diff --git a/tools/chemenu/search/service.py b/tools/chemenu/search/service.py
index 324f10c..86ba758 100644
--- a/tools/chemenu/search/service.py
+++ b/tools/chemenu/search/service.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ from chemenu.search import filters
 from chemenu.search.base import page_key
 from chemenu.search.fuse import reciprocal_rank_fusion
 from chemenu.search.ripgrep import build_hit
-from chemenu.search.types import SearchHit, SearchQuery
+from chemenu.search.types import SearchHit, SearchQuery, SearchResult
 
 
 def load_pages_by_path(kb_dir: Path | None = None, root: Path | None = None) -> dict[str, Page]:
@@ -92,8 +92,13 @@ def run_search(
     pages: dict[str, Page],
     backends: list,
     kb_dir: Path | None = None,
-) -> list[SearchHit]:
-    """Answer a query. Pure: no I/O beyond whatever a backend does."""
+) -> SearchResult:
+    """Answer a query. Pure: no I/O beyond whatever a backend does.
+
+    Returns the truncated hits *and* the number there were before the limit,
+    because the caller cannot recover the second from the first - see
+    `SearchResult`.
+    """
     filters.validate_fields(query.predicates, pages)
 
     if query.text:
@@ -110,4 +115,9 @@ def run_search(
         hits.sort(key=lambda h: h.title.lower())
 
     hits = sort_hits(hits, query.sort)
-    return hits[: query.limit] if query.limit else hits
+    total = len(hits)
+    return SearchResult(
+        hits=hits[: query.limit] if query.limit else hits,
+        total=total,
+        limit=query.limit,
+    )
diff --git a/tools/chemenu/search/types.py b/tools/chemenu/search/types.py
index 590e28f..33d997d 100644
--- a/tools/chemenu/search/types.py
+++ b/tools/chemenu/search/types.py
@@ -4,6 +4,18 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from typing import Any, Optional
 
+# How many hits a caller gets when it asks for no particular number. Defined
+# once, here, because three adapters offer the same knob - the CLI's `--limit`,
+# `api.search(limit=...)` and the MCP `search` tool - and three literals is how
+# they start disagreeing about what "the default search" returns.
+#
+# 50 rather than a smaller number because the queries that actually hit the cap
+# are the *structured* sweeps (`--field '!sources'`), which are ordered
+# alphabetically rather than by relevance: truncating those throws away an
+# arbitrary slice of the answer rather than its weakest tail. A capped result
+# is only safe at all because it now says so - see `SearchResult.truncated`.
+DEFAULT_LIMIT = 50
+
 
 @dataclass(frozen=True)
 class Predicate:
@@ -30,7 +42,7 @@ class SearchQuery:
     text: Optional[str] = None
     predicates: tuple[Predicate, ...] = ()
     regex: bool = False
-    limit: int = 20
+    limit: int = DEFAULT_LIMIT
     sort: Optional[str] = None
 
 
@@ -77,3 +89,34 @@ class SearchHit:
             "backend": self.backend,
             "matches": [m.as_dict() for m in self.matches],
         }
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class SearchResult:
+    """The hits a caller gets back, plus how many there were before the limit.
+
+    `run_search` used to return the truncated list alone, which made the
+    truncation impossible to report: every adapter counted `len(hits)` and
+    printed it as the answer, so `20 result(s).` on a query matching 182 pages
+    was indistinguishable from a query that really matched twenty. That is a
+    completeness claim none of them were in a position to make, and the only
+    way to find out was to ask again with `--limit 0` - a second full search to
+    learn a number the first one already knew.
+
+    So the total travels with the hits. Nothing here decides how to say it;
+    that belongs to each adapter (`render_table`, the `--json` payload,
+    `api.search`).
+    """
+
+    hits: list[SearchHit]
+    total: int
+    limit: int
+
+    @property
+    def truncated(self) -> bool:
+        """Whether the limit actually cut something off.
+
+        `limit=0` means "no limit", so it never truncates however large the
+        corpus is.
+        """
+        return bool(self.limit) and self.total > len(self.hits)
diff --git a/tools/chemenu/tests/test_api.py b/tools/chemenu/tests/test_api.py
index 3aa0235..7e9e661 100644
--- a/tools/chemenu/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/tools/chemenu/tests/test_api.py
@@ -47,6 +47,21 @@ def test_a_corpus_can_be_named_and_is_the_one_that_answers(foreign_corpus):
     assert result["results"][0]["path"] == "kb/entities/Peregrine.md"
 
 
+def test_a_capped_answer_says_how_much_it_left_out(foreign_corpus):
+    """`count` keeps meaning "what is in this payload", so a consumer written
+    against the old shape reads the number it always did; `total` is what it
+    could not ask before, and without it a truncated answer is indistinguishable
+    from a complete one."""
+    corpus = Corpus(foreign_corpus)
+
+    whole = corpus.search("Peregrine")
+    assert (whole["count"], whole["total"], whole["truncated"]) == (1, 1, False)
+    assert whole["count"] == len(whole["results"])
+
+    capped = corpus.search("Peregrine", limit=0)
+    assert capped["truncated"] is False, "limit 0 means no limit, so it caps nothing"
+
+
 def test_no_path_of_this_checkout_is_read_while_a_foreign_root_is_set(foreign_corpus):
     """The acceptance criterion, asserted rather than argued.
 
diff --git a/tools/chemenu/tests/test_mcp_server.py b/tools/chemenu/tests/test_mcp_server.py
index 25ffdd3..c58c6b4 100644
--- a/tools/chemenu/tests/test_mcp_server.py
+++ b/tools/chemenu/tests/test_mcp_server.py
@@ -125,6 +125,24 @@ def test_the_four_tools_are_there_and_nothing_that_writes(corpus):
     assert names.isdisjoint({"new", "touch", "xref", "cite", "publish", "migrate", "rm"})
 
 
+def test_all_three_adapters_offer_the_same_default_limit(corpus):
+    """The CLI's `--limit`, `api.search(limit=...)` and this tool are three
+    knobs on one search, and three literals is how they start disagreeing about
+    what "the default search" returns. They read one constant."""
+    import inspect
+
+    from chemenu.api import Corpus
+    from chemenu.commands.search import search_command
+    from chemenu.search.types import DEFAULT_LIMIT
+
+    server = build_server(corpus, check_trace=False)
+    tool = next(t for t in asyncio.run(server.list_tools()) if t.name == "search")
+
+    assert tool.input_schema["properties"]["limit"]["default"] == DEFAULT_LIMIT
+    assert inspect.signature(Corpus.search).parameters["limit"].default == DEFAULT_LIMIT
+    assert inspect.signature(search_command).parameters["limit"].default.default == DEFAULT_LIMIT
+
+
 def test_no_tool_writes_anything_into_the_corpus_or_git(corpus):
     server = build_server(corpus, check_trace=False)
     before = _tree(corpus)
@@ -176,7 +194,8 @@ def test_the_wire_format_is_the_clis_json_form(corpus):
     # `generated` is the CLI's date stamp and `commit`/`as_of` are the server's
     # revision stamp - two answers to "when", neither of them a finding. What
     # has to match is everything that describes the *corpus*.
-    shared = ("query", "predicates", "backend", "count", "results", "unreadable")
+    shared = ("query", "predicates", "backend", "count", "total", "truncated", "limit",
+              "results", "unreadable")
     assert {key: served[key] for key in shared} == {key: from_cli[key] for key in shared}
 
 
diff --git a/tools/chemenu/tests/test_search.py b/tools/chemenu/tests/test_search.py
index 031900e..6101600 100644
--- a/tools/chemenu/tests/test_search.py
+++ b/tools/chemenu/tests/test_search.py
@@ -17,7 +17,14 @@ from chemenu.search.filters import PredicateError, parse_predicate
 from chemenu.search.fuse import reciprocal_rank_fusion
 from chemenu.search.registry import UnknownBackend, resolve
 from chemenu.search.ripgrep import RipgrepBackend, build_argv
-from chemenu.search.types import Match, Predicate, SearchHit, SearchQuery
+from chemenu.search.types import (
+    DEFAULT_LIMIT,
+    Match,
+    Predicate,
+    SearchHit,
+    SearchQuery,
+    SearchResult,
+)
 from chemenu.frontmatter_io import write_page
 
 
@@ -32,8 +39,12 @@ def backend(kb_dir: Path, tmp_path: Path):
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
-def search(kb_dir: Path, pages):
-    """Run a query against the fixture kb rather than the real one."""
+def search_result(kb_dir: Path, pages):
+    """Run a query against the fixture kb and return the whole `SearchResult`.
+
+    For the tests that care about the limit and the total; most only want the
+    hits, and use `search` below.
+    """
 
     def _search(query: SearchQuery, backends=()):
         return run_search(query, pages, list(backends), kb_dir)
@@ -41,6 +52,16 @@ def search(kb_dir: Path, pages):
     return _search
 
 
+@pytest.fixture
+def search(search_result):
+    """The hits alone, for tests whose subject is ranking or filtering."""
+
+    def _search(query: SearchQuery, backends=()):
+        return search_result(query, backends).hits
+
+    return _search
+
+
 def _titles(hits):
     return [hit.title for hit in hits]
 
@@ -211,6 +232,20 @@ def test_limit_and_sort(search):
     assert len(search(_q("kind=entity", limit=2))) == 2
 
 
+def test_the_total_survives_the_limit_so_no_second_search_is_needed(search_result):
+    """The caller cannot recover the total from a truncated list, and asking
+    again with `--limit 0` is a second full search to learn a number the first
+    one already had."""
+    capped = search_result(_q("kind=entity", limit=2))
+
+    assert len(capped.hits) == 2
+    assert capped.total == 3
+    assert capped.truncated is True
+
+    whole = search_result(_q("kind=entity"))
+    assert (whole.total, whole.truncated) == (3, False)
+
+
 def test_sort_puts_missing_values_last():
     hits = [
         SearchHit(title="b", path="b", modified=None),
@@ -240,18 +275,79 @@ def test_resolve_defaults_to_rg_and_rejects_unknown():
 # --- output -----------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
+def _result(hits, total=None, limit=DEFAULT_LIMIT):
+    return SearchResult(hits=hits, total=total if total is not None else len(hits), limit=limit)
+
+
 def test_render_table_is_compact_and_reports_the_count():
     hit = SearchHit(title="aurora", path="kb/x.md", kind="entity", subtype="system",
                     summary="Server hosting DocStore", score=8.0, matches=[Match(3, "DocStore")])
-    out = render_table([hit], show_matches=False)
+    out = render_table(_result([hit]), show_matches=False)
     assert "aurora" in out and "entity/system" in out
     assert "kb/x.md:3" not in out
     assert "1 result(s)." in out
-    assert "kb/x.md:3" in render_table([hit], show_matches=True)
+    assert "kb/x.md:3" in render_table(_result([hit]), show_matches=True)
 
 
 def test_render_table_says_so_when_nothing_matched():
-    assert render_table([], show_matches=False) == "No matches."
+    assert render_table(_result([]), show_matches=False) == "No matches."
+
+
+def test_every_hit_carries_the_path_so_the_page_can_be_opened():
+    """The reason this format changed: the instructions tell an agent to read
+    the pages the search points at, and the table pointed nowhere. A session
+    that needed filenames ran `grep -rl` over kb/ for them - a second search
+    that can find no page this one missed."""
+    hit = SearchHit(title="aurora", path="kb/entities/systems/aurora.md", kind="entity")
+    assert "kb/entities/systems/aurora.md" in render_table(_result([hit]), show_matches=False)
+
+
+def test_title_and_path_are_never_truncated_only_the_summary_is():
+    """A clipped title is not an identifier. It is what `xref add`, `cite add`
+    and `touch` take as an argument, and the old fixed 34-char column cut four
+    of five hits in the report that prompted this."""
+    title = "Source - Pelletofenkondensator und Verkabelung Recherche"
+    path = f"kb/sources/llm-sessions/{title}.md"
+    hit = SearchHit(title=title, path=path, kind="source", summary="x" * 400)
+    line = render_table(_result([hit]), show_matches=False).splitlines()[0]
+
+    assert title in line
+    assert path in line
+    assert "…" in line, "the summary is still the one lossy field"
+
+
+def test_a_hit_line_parses_into_its_five_fields_even_with_prose_pipes():
+    """The separator has to survive a summary that contains one. It does,
+    because the summary is last: a `|` there cannot shift a column. A `|` in a
+    title is impossible - the wikilink syntax reserves it."""
+    hit = SearchHit(title="aurora", path="kb/x.md", kind="entity", subtype="system",
+                    summary="Runs `a | b` nightly", score=8.0)
+    line = render_table(_result([hit]), show_matches=False).splitlines()[0]
+    score, kind, title, path, summary = line.split(" | ", 4)
+
+    assert (score, kind, title, path) == ("8.0", "entity/system", "aurora", "kb/x.md")
+    assert summary == "Runs `a | b` nightly"
+
+
+def test_a_capped_result_says_what_it_capped():
+    """`20 result(s).` on a query matching 182 pages is a completeness claim
+    the output was in no position to make, and the only way to find the real
+    number was a second, unlimited search."""
+    hits = [SearchHit(title=f"p{i}", path=f"kb/p{i}.md") for i in range(20)]
+    out = render_table(_result(hits, total=182, limit=20), show_matches=False)
+
+    assert "20 of 182 result(s)" in out
+    assert "--limit" in out
+
+
+def test_an_uncapped_result_claims_nothing_about_a_limit():
+    hits = [SearchHit(title=f"p{i}", path=f"kb/p{i}.md") for i in range(3)]
+    assert "3 result(s)." in render_table(_result(hits), show_matches=False)
+    assert " of " not in render_table(_result(hits), show_matches=False)
+
+
+def test_limit_zero_never_counts_as_truncated_however_large_the_corpus():
+    assert _result([SearchHit(title="a", path="a")] * 182, total=182, limit=0).truncated is False
 
 
 def test_hit_serialises_for_json():