diff --git a/coworker/tools/search.py b/coworker/tools/search.py
index ad489e1fa2..78a416a3e3 100644
--- a/coworker/tools/search.py
+++ b/coworker/tools/search.py
@@ -134,17 +134,22 @@ def _rel(path: str, root: Path) -> str:
         return path
 
 
+# One `path:line:text` match line. The path part must tolerate a Windows drive prefix:
+# a naive split(":", 2) on `C:\ws\a.py:12:text` yields file="C", line="\ws\a.py" — every
+# match garbled on Windows, where rg (invoked with an absolute base) echoes absolute paths.
+_RG_LINE = re.compile(r"^(?P<file>(?:[A-Za-z]:)?[^:]*):(?P<line>\d+):(?P<text>.*)$")
+
+
 def _parse_rg(stdout: str, root: Path, n: int) -> dict[str, Any]:
     matches: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
     for line in stdout.splitlines():
-        parts = line.split(":", 2)
-        if len(parts) == 3:
-            f, ln, txt = parts
+        m = _RG_LINE.match(line)
+        if m:
             matches.append(
                 {
-                    "file": _rel(f, root),
-                    "line": int(ln) if ln.isdigit() else 0,
-                    "text": txt[:300],
+                    "file": _rel(m["file"], root),
+                    "line": int(m["line"]),
+                    "text": m["text"][:300],
                 }
             )
         if len(matches) >= n:
diff --git a/tests/test_code_tools.py b/tests/test_code_tools.py
index 0edc83b2f1..f3ebcfccc0 100644
--- a/tests/test_code_tools.py
+++ b/tests/test_code_tools.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 from coworker.tools.files import file_tools
 from coworker.tools.git import git_tools
-from coworker.tools.search import _py_grep, search_tools
+from coworker.tools.search import _parse_rg, _py_grep, search_tools
 from coworker.web.fetch import _html_to_text, make_web_fetch_tool
 
 
@@ -66,6 +66,29 @@ def test_grep_rejects_path_escape(tmp_path):
     assert "escapes" in grep(pattern="x", path="../..")["error"]
 
 
+def test_parse_rg_posix_paths_and_colons_in_text(tmp_path):
+    root = tmp_path.resolve()
+    out = f"{root}/src/a.py:12:url = 'http://x:8080'\n"
+    res = _parse_rg(out, root, 100)
+    assert res["count"] == 1
+    m = res["matches"][0]
+    assert m["file"] == "src/a.py"
+    assert m["line"] == 12
+    assert m["text"] == "url = 'http://x:8080'"
+
+
+def test_parse_rg_windows_drive_paths(tmp_path):
+    """rg on Windows echoes absolute paths (`C:\\ws\\a.py:12:text`); a naive
+    split(':', 2) turned the drive letter into the filename and lost the line number."""
+    out = "C:\\ws\\src\\a.py:12:def hello():\n"
+    res = _parse_rg(out, tmp_path.resolve(), 100)
+    assert res["count"] == 1
+    m = res["matches"][0]
+    assert m["file"] == "C:\\ws\\src\\a.py"  # not 'C'
+    assert m["line"] == 12
+    assert m["text"] == "def hello():"
+
+
 def test_py_grep_fallback_skips_ignored_dirs(tmp_path):
     _seed(tmp_path)
     res = _py_grep(tmp_path.resolve(), tmp_path.resolve(), "hello", None, 100)