fix: handle hyphenated FTS5 queries and preserve quoted literals (#1776)

_sanitize_fts5_query() was stripping ALL double quotes (including
properly paired ones), breaking user-provided quoted phrases like
"exact phrase".  Hyphenated terms like chat-send also silently
expanded to chat AND send, returning unexpected or zero results.

Fix:
1. Extract balanced quoted phrases into placeholders before
   stripping FTS5-special characters, then restore them.
2. Wrap unquoted hyphenated terms (word-word) in double quotes so
   FTS5 matches them as exact phrases instead of splitting on
   the hyphen.
3. Unmatched quotes are still stripped as before.

Based on issue report by @bailob (#1770) and PR #1773 by @Jah-yee
(whose branch contained unrelated changes and couldn't be merged
directly).

Closes #1770
Closes #1773

Co-authored-by: Jah-yee <Jah-yee@users.noreply.github.com>

hermes_state.py

@@ -689,21 +689,45 @@ class SessionDB:
         ``NOT``) have special meaning.  Passing raw user input directly to
         MATCH can cause ``sqlite3.OperationalError``.
 
-        Strategy: strip characters that are only meaningful as FTS5 operators
+        Strategy:
-        and would otherwise cause syntax errors.  This preserves normal keyword
+        - Preserve properly paired quoted phrases (``"exact phrase"``)
-        search while preventing crashes on inputs like ``C++``, ``"unterminated``,
+        - Strip unmatched FTS5-special characters that would cause errors
-        or ``hello AND``.
+        - Wrap unquoted hyphenated terms in quotes so FTS5 matches them
+          as exact phrases instead of splitting on the hyphen
         """
-        # Remove FTS5-special characters that are not useful in keyword search
+        # Step 1: Extract balanced double-quoted phrases and protect them
-        sanitized = re.sub(r'[+{}()"^]', " ", query)
+        # from further processing via numbered placeholders.
-        # Collapse repeated * (e.g. "***") into a single one, and remove
+        _quoted_parts: list = []
-        # leading * (prefix-only matching requires at least one char before *)
+
+        def _preserve_quoted(m: re.Match) -> str:
+            _quoted_parts.append(m.group(0))
+            return f"\x00Q{len(_quoted_parts) - 1}\x00"
+
+        sanitized = re.sub(r'"[^"]*"', _preserve_quoted, query)
+
+        # Step 2: Strip remaining (unmatched) FTS5-special characters
+        sanitized = re.sub(r'[+{}()\"^]', " ", sanitized)
+
+        # Step 3: Collapse repeated * (e.g. "***") into a single one,
+        # and remove leading * (prefix-only needs at least one char before *)
         sanitized = re.sub(r"\*+", "*", sanitized)
         sanitized = re.sub(r"(^|\s)\*", r"\1", sanitized)
-        # Remove dangling boolean operators at start/end that would cause
+
-        # syntax errors (e.g. "hello AND" or "OR world")
+        # Step 4: Remove dangling boolean operators at start/end that would
+        # cause syntax errors (e.g. "hello AND" or "OR world")
         sanitized = re.sub(r"(?i)^(AND|OR|NOT)\b\s*", "", sanitized.strip())
         sanitized = re.sub(r"(?i)\s+(AND|OR|NOT)\s*$", "", sanitized.strip())
+
+        # Step 5: Wrap unquoted hyphenated terms (e.g. ``chat-send``) in
+        # double quotes.  FTS5's tokenizer splits on hyphens, turning
+        # ``chat-send`` into ``chat AND send``.  Quoting preserves the
+        # intended phrase match.
+        sanitized = re.sub(r"\b(\w+(?:-\w+)+)\b", r'"\1"', sanitized)
+
+        # Step 6: Restore preserved quoted phrases
+        for i, quoted in enumerate(_quoted_parts):
+            sanitized = sanitized.replace(f"\x00Q{i}\x00", quoted)
+
         return sanitized.strip()
 
     def search_messages(

tests/test_hermes_state.py

@@ -261,6 +261,30 @@ class TestFTS5Search:
         # The word "C" appears in the content, so FTS5 should find it
         assert isinstance(results, list)
 
+    def test_search_hyphenated_term_does_not_crash(self, db):
+        """Hyphenated terms like 'chat-send' must not crash FTS5."""
+        db.create_session(session_id="s1", source="cli")
+        db.append_message("s1", role="user", content="Run the chat-send command")
+
+        results = db.search_messages("chat-send")
+        assert isinstance(results, list)
+        assert len(results) >= 1
+        assert any("chat-send" in (r.get("snippet") or r.get("content", "")).lower()
+                    for r in results)
+
+    def test_search_quoted_phrase_preserved(self, db):
+        """User-provided quoted phrases should be preserved for exact matching."""
+        db.create_session(session_id="s1", source="cli")
+        db.append_message("s1", role="user", content="docker networking is complex")
+        db.append_message("s1", role="assistant", content="networking docker tips")
+
+        # Quoted phrase should match only the exact order
+        results = db.search_messages('"docker networking"')
+        assert isinstance(results, list)
+        # Should find the user message (exact phrase) but may or may not find
+        # the assistant message depending on FTS5 phrase matching
+        assert len(results) >= 1
+
     def test_sanitize_fts5_query_strips_dangerous_chars(self):
         """Unit test for _sanitize_fts5_query static method."""
         from hermes_state import SessionDB
@@ -278,6 +302,43 @@ class TestFTS5Search:
         # Valid prefix kept
         assert s('deploy*') == 'deploy*'
 
+    def test_sanitize_fts5_preserves_quoted_phrases(self):
+        """Properly paired double-quoted phrases should be preserved."""
+        from hermes_state import SessionDB
+        s = SessionDB._sanitize_fts5_query
+        # Simple quoted phrase
+        assert s('"exact phrase"') == '"exact phrase"'
+        # Quoted phrase alongside unquoted terms
+        assert '"docker networking"' in s('"docker networking" setup')
+        # Multiple quoted phrases
+        result = s('"hello world" OR "foo bar"')
+        assert '"hello world"' in result
+        assert '"foo bar"' in result
+        # Unmatched quote still stripped
+        assert '"' not in s('"unterminated')
+
+    def test_sanitize_fts5_quotes_hyphenated_terms(self):
+        """Hyphenated terms should be wrapped in quotes for exact matching."""
+        from hermes_state import SessionDB
+        s = SessionDB._sanitize_fts5_query
+        # Simple hyphenated term
+        assert s('chat-send') == '"chat-send"'
+        # Multiple hyphens
+        assert s('docker-compose-up') == '"docker-compose-up"'
+        # Hyphenated term with other words
+        result = s('fix chat-send bug')
+        assert '"chat-send"' in result
+        assert 'fix' in result
+        assert 'bug' in result
+        # Multiple hyphenated terms with OR
+        result = s('chat-send OR deploy-prod')
+        assert '"chat-send"' in result
+        assert '"deploy-prod"' in result
+        # Already-quoted hyphenated term — no double quoting
+        assert s('"chat-send"') == '"chat-send"'
+        # Hyphenated inside a quoted phrase stays as-is
+        assert s('"my chat-send thing"') == '"my chat-send thing"'
+
 
 # =========================================================================
 # Session search and listing