diff --git a/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/FullTextSearchModule.kt b/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/FullTextSearchModule.kt
index f39da4fe85..94b5ac2413 100644
--- a/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/FullTextSearchModule.kt
+++ b/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/FullTextSearchModule.kt
@@ -27,7 +27,14 @@ import com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip50Search.SearchableEvent
 
 class FullTextSearchModule : IModule {
     val tableName = "event_fts"
-    val eventHeaderRowIdName = "event_header_row_id"
+
+    // We don't store the event_headers foreign key as its own indexed column —
+    // an FTS column is tokenized into the searchable text, so a numeric FK would
+    // pollute MATCH results and waste index space. Instead we align the FTS
+    // table's implicit rowid with event_headers.row_id at insert time and join
+    // on it. rowid joins are also the fastest possible, and `rowid` works across
+    // fts3/4/5 (fts4/3 expose it as `docid`, but `rowid` is accepted too).
+    val rowIdName = "rowid"
     val contentName = "content"
 
     override fun create(db: SQLiteConnection) {
@@ -35,11 +42,12 @@ class FullTextSearchModule : IModule {
         db.execSQL(
             """
                     CREATE VIRTUAL TABLE $tableName
-                    USING fts$ftsVersion($eventHeaderRowIdName, $contentName)
+                    USING fts$ftsVersion($contentName)
                 """,
         )
 
-        // Foreign key cleanup for full text search
+        // Foreign key cleanup for full text search. Because the FTS rowid is the
+        // event_headers.row_id, we can delete the matching row directly.
         db.execSQL(
             """
                 CREATE TRIGGER fts_foreign_key
@@ -47,19 +55,23 @@ class FullTextSearchModule : IModule {
                 FOR EACH ROW
                 BEGIN
                     DELETE FROM $tableName
-                    WHERE old.row_id = $tableName.$eventHeaderRowIdName;
+                    WHERE $tableName.$rowIdName = old.row_id;
                 END;
             """,
         )
     }
 
     override fun drop(db: SQLiteConnection) {
+        // The trigger lives on event_headers, so dropping our table alone won't
+        // remove it. Drop it explicitly so drop() is self-contained and a later
+        // create() doesn't fail with "trigger already exists".
+        db.execSQL("DROP TRIGGER IF EXISTS fts_foreign_key")
         db.execSQL("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS $tableName")
     }
 
     val insertFTS =
         """
-        INSERT OR ROLLBACK INTO $tableName ($eventHeaderRowIdName, $contentName)
+        INSERT OR ROLLBACK INTO $tableName ($rowIdName, $contentName)
         VALUES (?, ?)
         """.trimIndent()
 
diff --git a/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/QueryBuilder.kt b/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/QueryBuilder.kt
index 46fa1579a4..b4c9660d31 100644
--- a/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/QueryBuilder.kt
+++ b/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/QueryBuilder.kt
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ class QueryBuilder(
         val sql =
             buildString {
                 append("SELECT event_headers.id, event_headers.created_at FROM event_headers")
-                append("\nINNER JOIN ${fts.tableName} ON event_headers.row_id = ${fts.tableName}.${fts.eventHeaderRowIdName}")
+                append("\nINNER JOIN ${fts.tableName} ON event_headers.row_id = ${fts.tableName}.${fts.rowIdName}")
                 if (clause.conditions.isNotEmpty()) {
                     append("\nWHERE ${clause.conditions}")
                 }
@@ -678,13 +678,13 @@ class QueryBuilder(
                     }
 
                     if (mustJoinSearch) {
-                        append(" INNER JOIN ${fts.tableName} ON ${fts.tableName}.${fts.eventHeaderRowIdName} = event_tags.event_header_row_id")
+                        append(" INNER JOIN ${fts.tableName} ON ${fts.tableName}.${fts.rowIdName} = event_tags.event_header_row_id")
                     }
                 } else if (mustJoinSearch) {
-                    append("SELECT ${fts.tableName}.${fts.eventHeaderRowIdName} as row_id FROM ${fts.tableName}")
+                    append("SELECT ${fts.tableName}.${fts.rowIdName} as row_id FROM ${fts.tableName}")
 
                     if (hasHeaders) {
-                        append(" INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = ${fts.tableName}.${fts.eventHeaderRowIdName}")
+                        append(" INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = ${fts.tableName}.${fts.rowIdName}")
                     }
                 } else {
                     // no tags and no search.
@@ -864,7 +864,7 @@ class QueryBuilder(
         val sql =
             buildString {
                 append("SELECT event_headers.id, event_headers.pubkey, event_headers.created_at, event_headers.kind, event_headers.tags, event_headers.content, event_headers.sig FROM event_headers")
-                append("\nINNER JOIN ${fts.tableName} ON event_headers.row_id = ${fts.tableName}.${fts.eventHeaderRowIdName}")
+                append("\nINNER JOIN ${fts.tableName} ON event_headers.row_id = ${fts.tableName}.${fts.rowIdName}")
                 if (clause.conditions.isNotEmpty()) {
                     append("\nWHERE ${clause.conditions}")
                 }
diff --git a/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/SQLiteEventStore.kt b/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/SQLiteEventStore.kt
index e67f7b4646..31758b9da1 100644
--- a/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/SQLiteEventStore.kt
+++ b/quartz/src/commonMain/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/SQLiteEventStore.kt
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ class SQLiteEventStore(
     val numReaders: Int = 4,
 ) {
     companion object {
-        const val DATABASE_VERSION = 2
+        const val DATABASE_VERSION = 3
     }
 
     val seedModule = SeedModule()
@@ -164,6 +164,41 @@ class SQLiteEventStore(
                     modules.reversed().forEach { it.drop(db) }
                     modules.forEach { it.create(db) }
                 }
+                2 -> {
+                    // Upgrade from version 2 to 3
+                    // The full-text index dropped its dedicated foreign-key
+                    // column and now aligns the FTS rowid with
+                    // event_headers.row_id. Rebuild only the FTS index in place
+                    // so the cached events themselves survive the upgrade.
+                    fullTextSearchModule.drop(db)
+                    fullTextSearchModule.create(db)
+                    reindexFullText(db)
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Repopulates [FullTextSearchModule] from the events already stored in
+     * event_headers. Used by migrations that recreate the FTS table without
+     * touching the source events. Reading event_headers while inserting into
+     * event_fts is safe because they are different tables.
+     */
+    private fun reindexFullText(db: SQLiteConnection) {
+        db.prepare("SELECT row_id, id, pubkey, created_at, kind, tags, content, sig FROM event_headers").use { stmt ->
+            while (stmt.step()) {
+                val rowId = stmt.getLong(0)
+                val event =
+                    EventFactory.create<Event>(
+                        stmt.getText(1),
+                        stmt.getText(2),
+                        stmt.getLong(3),
+                        stmt.getInt(4),
+                        OptimizedJsonMapper.fromJsonToTagArray(stmt.getText(5)),
+                        stmt.getText(6),
+                        stmt.getText(7),
+                    )
+                fullTextSearchModule.insert(event, rowId, db)
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/quartz/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/QueryAssemblerTest.kt b/quartz/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/QueryAssemblerTest.kt
index 32621025e3..f3995f7b8f 100644
--- a/quartz/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/QueryAssemblerTest.kt
+++ b/quartz/src/commonTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/quartz/nip01Core/store/sqlite/QueryAssemblerTest.kt
@@ -238,9 +238,9 @@ class QueryAssemblerTest : BaseDBTest() {
                     INNER JOIN (
                         SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_headers.row_id as row_id FROM event_headers ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 10)
                         UNION
-                        SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_fts.event_header_row_id as row_id FROM event_fts INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.event_header_row_id WHERE (event_headers.kind IN ("1", "1111")) AND (event_headers.pubkey = "7c5eb72a4584fdaaeaa145b25c92ea9917704224951219dbd43acef9e91fb88d") AND (event_fts MATCH "keywords") ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 100)
+                        SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_fts.rowid as row_id FROM event_fts INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.rowid WHERE (event_headers.kind IN ("1", "1111")) AND (event_headers.pubkey = "7c5eb72a4584fdaaeaa145b25c92ea9917704224951219dbd43acef9e91fb88d") AND (event_fts MATCH "keywords") ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 100)
                         UNION
-                        SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_fts.event_header_row_id as row_id FROM event_fts INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.event_header_row_id WHERE (event_headers.kind = "20") AND (event_fts MATCH "cats") ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 30)
+                        SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_fts.rowid as row_id FROM event_fts INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.rowid WHERE (event_headers.kind = "20") AND (event_fts MATCH "cats") ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 30)
                     ) AS filtered
                     ON event_headers.row_id = filtered.row_id
                     ORDER BY $orderBy
@@ -252,13 +252,13 @@ class QueryAssemblerTest : BaseDBTest() {
                     │       │   └── SCAN (subquery-1)
                     │       ├── UNION USING TEMP B-TREE
                     │       │   ├── CO-ROUTINE (subquery-3)
-                    │       │   │   ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M2
+                    │       │   │   ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M1
                     │       │   │   ├── SEARCH event_headers USING INTEGER PRIMARY KEY (rowid=?)
                     │       │   │   └── USE TEMP B-TREE FOR ORDER BY
                     │       │   └── SCAN (subquery-3)
                     │       └── UNION USING TEMP B-TREE
                     │           ├── CO-ROUTINE (subquery-5)
-                    │           │   ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M2
+                    │           │   ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M1
                     │           │   ├── SEARCH event_headers USING INTEGER PRIMARY KEY (rowid=?)
                     │           │   └── USE TEMP B-TREE FOR ORDER BY
                     │           └── SCAN (subquery-5)
@@ -275,9 +275,9 @@ class QueryAssemblerTest : BaseDBTest() {
                     INNER JOIN (
                         SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_headers.row_id as row_id FROM event_headers ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 10)
                         UNION
-                        SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_fts.event_header_row_id as row_id FROM event_fts INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.event_header_row_id WHERE (event_headers.kind IN ("1", "1111")) AND (event_headers.pubkey = "7c5eb72a4584fdaaeaa145b25c92ea9917704224951219dbd43acef9e91fb88d") AND (event_fts MATCH "keywords") ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 100)
+                        SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_fts.rowid as row_id FROM event_fts INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.rowid WHERE (event_headers.kind IN ("1", "1111")) AND (event_headers.pubkey = "7c5eb72a4584fdaaeaa145b25c92ea9917704224951219dbd43acef9e91fb88d") AND (event_fts MATCH "keywords") ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 100)
                         UNION
-                        SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_fts.event_header_row_id as row_id FROM event_fts INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.event_header_row_id WHERE (event_headers.kind = "20") AND (event_fts MATCH "cats") ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 30)
+                        SELECT row_id FROM (SELECT event_fts.rowid as row_id FROM event_fts INNER JOIN event_headers ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.rowid WHERE (event_headers.kind = "20") AND (event_fts MATCH "cats") ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC LIMIT 30)
                     ) AS filtered
                     ON event_headers.row_id = filtered.row_id
                     ORDER BY $orderBy
@@ -290,13 +290,13 @@ class QueryAssemblerTest : BaseDBTest() {
                     │       │   └── SCAN (subquery-1)
                     │       ├── UNION USING TEMP B-TREE
                     │       │   ├── CO-ROUTINE (subquery-3)
-                    │       │   │   ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M2
+                    │       │   │   ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M1
                     │       │   │   ├── SEARCH event_headers USING INTEGER PRIMARY KEY (rowid=?)
                     │       │   │   └── USE TEMP B-TREE FOR ORDER BY
                     │       │   └── SCAN (subquery-3)
                     │       └── UNION USING TEMP B-TREE
                     │           ├── CO-ROUTINE (subquery-5)
-                    │           │   ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M2
+                    │           │   ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M1
                     │           │   ├── SEARCH event_headers USING INTEGER PRIMARY KEY (rowid=?)
                     │           │   └── USE TEMP B-TREE FOR ORDER BY
                     │           └── SCAN (subquery-5)
@@ -712,10 +712,10 @@ class QueryAssemblerTest : BaseDBTest() {
                 assertEquals(
                     """
                     SELECT event_headers.id, event_headers.pubkey, event_headers.created_at, event_headers.kind, event_headers.tags, event_headers.content, event_headers.sig FROM event_headers
-                    INNER JOIN event_fts ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.event_header_row_id
+                    INNER JOIN event_fts ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.rowid
                     WHERE (event_fts MATCH "keywords") AND (event_headers.pubkey IN ("7c5eb72a4584fdaaeaa145b25c92ea9917704224951219dbd43acef9e91fb88d", "f3ac434d61bc0f491a814782ccfdf9c439dae1f0bde9097ad4a245f4c495cd14", "12ae0fd81c85e1e7d9ed096397dc3129849425fe6f8afce7213ebf38ddfc6ca9"))
                     ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC, event_headers.id ASC
-                    ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M2
+                    ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M1
                     ├── SEARCH event_headers USING INTEGER PRIMARY KEY (rowid=?)
                     └── USE TEMP B-TREE FOR ORDER BY
                     """.trimIndent(),
@@ -725,10 +725,10 @@ class QueryAssemblerTest : BaseDBTest() {
                 assertEquals(
                     """
                     SELECT event_headers.id, event_headers.pubkey, event_headers.created_at, event_headers.kind, event_headers.tags, event_headers.content, event_headers.sig FROM event_headers
-                    INNER JOIN event_fts ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.event_header_row_id
+                    INNER JOIN event_fts ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.rowid
                     WHERE (event_fts MATCH "keywords") AND (event_headers.pubkey IN ("7c5eb72a4584fdaaeaa145b25c92ea9917704224951219dbd43acef9e91fb88d", "f3ac434d61bc0f491a814782ccfdf9c439dae1f0bde9097ad4a245f4c495cd14", "12ae0fd81c85e1e7d9ed096397dc3129849425fe6f8afce7213ebf38ddfc6ca9"))
                     ORDER BY event_headers.created_at DESC
-                    ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M2
+                    ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M1
                     ├── SEARCH event_headers USING INTEGER PRIMARY KEY (rowid=?)
                     └── USE TEMP B-TREE FOR ORDER BY
                     """.trimIndent(),
@@ -745,10 +745,10 @@ class QueryAssemblerTest : BaseDBTest() {
             assertEquals(
                 """
                 SELECT event_headers.id, event_headers.pubkey, event_headers.created_at, event_headers.kind, event_headers.tags, event_headers.content, event_headers.sig FROM event_headers
-                INNER JOIN event_fts ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.event_header_row_id
+                INNER JOIN event_fts ON event_headers.row_id = event_fts.rowid
                 WHERE (event_fts MATCH "keywords") AND (event_headers.kind IN ("1", "1111", "10000"))
                 ORDER BY $orderBy
-                ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M2
+                ├── SCAN event_fts VIRTUAL TABLE INDEX 0:M1
                 ├── SEARCH event_headers USING INTEGER PRIMARY KEY (rowid=?)
                 └── USE TEMP B-TREE FOR ORDER BY
                 """.trimIndent(),