diff --git a/docs/.vitepress/theme/components/VPLocalSearchBox.vue b/docs/.vitepress/theme/components/VPLocalSearchBox.vue
index 63048810a1..eb4842d41a 100644
--- a/docs/.vitepress/theme/components/VPLocalSearchBox.vue
+++ b/docs/.vitepress/theme/components/VPLocalSearchBox.vue
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import { useData } from "vitepress";
 import { LRUCache } from "vitepress/dist/client/theme-default/support/lru";
 import { createSearchTranslate } from "vitepress/dist/client/theme-default/support/translation";
 import { matchesActiveScopes } from "../searchScopes";
+import { filterByPhrases, parseSearchQuery } from "../searchQuery";
 
 const emit = defineEmits<{
   (e: "close"): void;
@@ -78,7 +79,7 @@ const searchIndex = computedAsync(async () =>
   markRaw(
     MiniSearch.loadJSON<Result>((await searchIndexData.value[localeIndex.value]?.())?.default, {
       fields: ["title", "titles", "text"],
-      storeFields: ["title", "titles"],
+      storeFields: ["title", "titles", "text"],
       searchOptions: {
         fuzzy: 0.2,
         prefix: true,
@@ -174,17 +175,26 @@ debouncedWatch(
 
     if (!index) return;
 
-    // Search
+    // Search — use AND so multi-word queries require all terms on the page.
+    // Quoted substrings trigger exact-phrase post-filtering.
     const active = activeScopes.value;
     const scopeList = scopes.value;
-    const searchOpts =
-      active.size > 0
-        ? {
-            filter: (r: SearchResult) => matchesActiveScopes(r.id, scopeList, active),
-          }
-        : {};
-    results.value = index.search(filterTextValue, searchOpts).slice(0, 16) as (SearchResult &
-      Result)[];
+    const { query, phrases } = parseSearchQuery(filterTextValue);
+
+    const searchOpts: { combineWith: string; filter?: (r: SearchResult) => boolean } = {
+      combineWith: "AND",
+    };
+    if (active.size > 0) {
+      searchOpts.filter = (r: SearchResult) => matchesActiveScopes(r.id, scopeList, active);
+    }
+
+    let searchResults = index.search(query, searchOpts).slice(0, 16) as (SearchResult & Result)[];
+
+    // Post-filter for exact phrase matches when the query contained quotes.
+    // Uses the stored text from the search index — no async page rendering needed.
+    searchResults = filterByPhrases(searchResults, phrases);
+
+    results.value = searchResults;
     enableNoResults.value = true;
 
     // Highlighting
diff --git a/docs/.vitepress/theme/searchQuery.test.ts b/docs/.vitepress/theme/searchQuery.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9448537773
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/.vitepress/theme/searchQuery.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { filterByPhrases, parseSearchQuery, textContainsPhrases } from "./searchQuery";
+
+describe("parseSearchQuery", () => {
+  it("returns the raw query and no phrases when there are no quotes", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery("eval scenario")).toEqual({
+      query: "eval scenario",
+      phrases: [],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("extracts a single quoted phrase", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery('"eval scenario"')).toEqual({
+      query: "eval scenario",
+      phrases: ["eval scenario"],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("extracts a phrase surrounded by unquoted terms", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery('harness "eval scenario" config')).toEqual({
+      query: "harness eval scenario config",
+      phrases: ["eval scenario"],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("extracts multiple quoted phrases", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery('"eval scenario" "harness config"')).toEqual({
+      query: "eval scenario harness config",
+      phrases: ["eval scenario", "harness config"],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("ignores empty quoted strings", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery('foo "" bar')).toEqual({
+      query: 'foo "" bar',
+      phrases: [],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("treats unmatched quotes as literal characters", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery('"eval scenario')).toEqual({
+      query: '"eval scenario',
+      phrases: [],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("handles a single unquoted word", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery("harness")).toEqual({
+      query: "harness",
+      phrases: [],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("handles an empty string", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery("")).toEqual({
+      query: "",
+      phrases: [],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("trims whitespace inside quoted phrases", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery('"  eval scenario  "')).toEqual({
+      query: "eval scenario",
+      phrases: ["eval scenario"],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("handles a quoted single word", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery('"harness"')).toEqual({
+      query: "harness",
+      phrases: ["harness"],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("separates adjacent quoted phrases without whitespace", () => {
+    expect(parseSearchQuery('"foo bar""baz qux"')).toEqual({
+      query: "foo bar baz qux",
+      phrases: ["foo bar", "baz qux"],
+    });
+  });
+});
+
+describe("textContainsPhrases", () => {
+  it("returns true when there are no phrases", () => {
+    expect(textContainsPhrases("any text", [])).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns true when the phrase appears in the text", () => {
+    expect(
+      textContainsPhrases("The eval scenario runner starts here.", ["eval scenario"]),
+    ).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false when the phrase does not appear adjacent", () => {
+    expect(
+      textContainsPhrases("The eval of each scenario is different.", ["eval scenario"]),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("matches case-insensitively", () => {
+    expect(textContainsPhrases("The Eval Scenario runner.", ["eval scenario"])).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("requires all phrases to match", () => {
+    expect(
+      textContainsPhrases("eval scenario and harness config details", [
+        "eval scenario",
+        "harness config",
+      ]),
+    ).toBe(true);
+
+    expect(
+      textContainsPhrases("eval scenario but no harness here", [
+        "eval scenario",
+        "harness config",
+      ]),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns true for a single-word phrase that appears in text", () => {
+    expect(textContainsPhrases("the harness is ready", ["harness"])).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false when text is empty and phrases are not", () => {
+    expect(textContainsPhrases("", ["eval scenario"])).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("filterByPhrases", () => {
+  const results = [
+    { title: "Getting Started", titles: ["Guides"], text: "The eval scenario runner starts here." },
+    { title: "Config Reference", titles: ["Guides"], text: "Harness config and eval options." },
+    { title: "Eval Overview", titles: ["Concepts"], text: "Each scenario runs independently." },
+  ];
+
+  it("returns all results when there are no phrases", () => {
+    expect(filterByPhrases(results, [])).toEqual(results);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps only results whose text contains the exact phrase", () => {
+    const filtered = filterByPhrases(results, ["eval scenario"]);
+    expect(filtered).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(filtered[0].title).toBe("Getting Started");
+  });
+
+  it("requires all phrases to match", () => {
+    const filtered = filterByPhrases(results, ["eval scenario", "harness config"]);
+    expect(filtered).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it("matches phrases against titles as well as text", () => {
+    const filtered = filterByPhrases(results, ["eval overview"]);
+    expect(filtered).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(filtered[0].title).toBe("Eval Overview");
+  });
+
+  it("matches phrases spanning title and text content", () => {
+    const filtered = filterByPhrases(
+      [{ title: "Scenario", titles: ["Eval"], text: "runner starts here" }],
+      ["eval scenario"],
+    );
+    expect(filtered).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
+  it("keeps results with no text content (graceful degradation)", () => {
+    const sparse = [{ title: "", titles: [], text: undefined as unknown as string }];
+    expect(filterByPhrases(sparse, ["anything"])).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
+  it("is case-insensitive", () => {
+    const filtered = filterByPhrases(results, ["EVAL SCENARIO"]);
+    expect(filtered).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(filtered[0].title).toBe("Getting Started");
+  });
+
+  it("works end-to-end with parseSearchQuery", () => {
+    const { phrases } = parseSearchQuery('"eval scenario" guide');
+    const filtered = filterByPhrases(results, phrases);
+    expect(filtered).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(filtered[0].title).toBe("Getting Started");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/docs/.vitepress/theme/searchQuery.ts b/docs/.vitepress/theme/searchQuery.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..84a896bb0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/.vitepress/theme/searchQuery.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+export interface ParsedQuery {
+  /** The query string with double-quoted phrases stripped of their quotes. */
+  query: string;
+  /** Exact phrases extracted from double-quoted substrings. */
+  phrases: string[];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Parses a search query string, extracting double-quoted phrases.
+ *
+ * Returns the cleaned query (quotes removed, words kept for AND matching)
+ * and an array of exact phrases that must appear adjacent in results.
+ *
+ * Examples:
+ *   parseSearchQuery('eval scenario')
+ *     => { query: 'eval scenario', phrases: [] }
+ *   parseSearchQuery('"eval scenario"')
+ *     => { query: 'eval scenario', phrases: ['eval scenario'] }
+ *   parseSearchQuery('harness "eval scenario" config')
+ *     => { query: 'harness eval scenario config', phrases: ['eval scenario'] }
+ */
+export function parseSearchQuery(raw: string): ParsedQuery {
+  const phrases: string[] = [];
+  const query = raw.replace(/"([^"]+)"/g, (_match, phrase: string) => {
+    const trimmed = phrase.trim();
+    if (trimmed) phrases.push(trimmed);
+    // Pad with spaces so adjacent quoted phrases don't fuse tokens
+    // (e.g. "foo bar""baz qux" → "foo bar baz qux", not "foo barbaz qux").
+    return " " + trimmed + " ";
+  });
+  return { query: query.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim(), phrases };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Returns true when every phrase appears as a case-insensitive
+ * substring in the given text.
+ */
+export function textContainsPhrases(text: string, phrases: string[]): boolean {
+  if (phrases.length === 0) return true;
+  const lower = text.toLowerCase();
+  return phrases.every((p) => lower.includes(p.toLowerCase()));
+}
+
+/**
+ * Filters search results by requiring every phrase to appear in the
+ * result's concatenated title + text content.  Results with no text
+ * content are kept (graceful degradation).
+ */
+export function filterByPhrases<
+  T extends { text?: string; title?: string; titles?: string[] },
+>(results: T[], phrases: string[]): T[] {
+  if (phrases.length === 0) return results;
+  return results.filter((r) => {
+    const content = [...(r.titles || []), r.title || "", r.text || ""].join(" ");
+    if (!content.trim()) return true;
+    return textContainsPhrases(content, phrases);
+  });
+}
diff --git a/docs/doc-site.md b/docs/doc-site.md
index e48fcd6f1e..7743e4c3b2 100644
--- a/docs/doc-site.md
+++ b/docs/doc-site.md
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ The `docs:build` script runs `git submodule update --init` before the VitePress
 - `getMarkdownFiles()` auto-discovers markdown files and subdirectory READMEs for dynamic sidebar sections (ADRs, experiments, design docs, specs, plans)
 - Symlinks connect submodule content into `docs/` (e.g. `docs/experiments` -> `../experiments`)
 - The `search.options.scopes` array in `config.ts` defines the scope pills shown in the search modal. Each scope has a `label` and a list of `prefixes` (path prefixes like `/docs/guides/`). When a user activates a scope, search results are filtered to pages whose path starts with one of the scope's prefixes. Every `docs/` subfolder that produces rendered pages must appear in at least one scope; otherwise its pages become unreachable when any scope pill is active.
+- Multi-word search queries use **AND** semantics — all terms must appear on a page for it to match. Wrapping words in double quotes (e.g. `"eval scenario"`) enables exact-phrase matching: only pages containing the quoted words adjacent and in order are returned.
 
 ## Submodules