diff --git a/src/explore.zig b/src/explore.zig
index a1049db..dab1b06 100644
--- a/src/explore.zig
+++ b/src/explore.zig
@@ -1010,19 +1010,59 @@ pub const Explorer = struct {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Rebuild the inverted word index from stored contents.
-    /// Used after fast snapshot restore, which intentionally avoids per-file tokenization.
+    /// Rebuild the inverted word index from cached contents when complete, or
+    /// by streaming source files from the project root when the content cache
+    /// was capped during fast snapshot restore.
     pub fn rebuildWordIndex(self: *Explorer) !void {
-        self.mu.lock();
-        defer self.mu.unlock();
+        const source_paths = blk: {
+            self.mu.lockShared();
+            defer self.mu.unlockShared();
 
-        self.word_index.deinit();
-        self.word_index = WordIndex.init(self.allocator);
+            if (self.contents.count() == self.outlines.count()) break :blk null;
+            if (self.io == null or self.root_dir == null) return error.WordIndexIncomplete;
 
-        var iter = self.contents.iterator();
-        while (iter.next()) |entry| {
-            try self.word_index.indexFile(entry.key_ptr.*, entry.value_ptr.*);
+            var paths: std.ArrayList([]u8) = .empty;
+            errdefer {
+                for (paths.items) |path| self.allocator.free(path);
+                paths.deinit(self.allocator);
+            }
+            try paths.ensureTotalCapacity(self.allocator, self.outlines.count());
+            var iter = self.outlines.keyIterator();
+            while (iter.next()) |path_ptr| {
+                paths.appendAssumeCapacity(try self.allocator.dupe(u8, path_ptr.*));
+            }
+            break :blk try paths.toOwnedSlice(self.allocator);
+        };
+        defer if (source_paths) |paths| {
+            for (paths) |path| self.allocator.free(path);
+            self.allocator.free(paths);
+        };
+
+        var rebuilt = WordIndex.init(self.allocator);
+        errdefer rebuilt.deinit();
+
+        if (source_paths) |paths| {
+            const io = self.io orelse return error.WordIndexIncomplete;
+            const dir = self.root_dir orelse return error.WordIndexIncomplete;
+            for (paths) |path| {
+                const content = try dir.readFileAlloc(io, path, self.allocator, .limited(64 * 1024 * 1024));
+                errdefer self.allocator.free(content);
+                try rebuilt.indexFile(path, content);
+                self.allocator.free(content);
+            }
+        } else {
+            self.mu.lockShared();
+            defer self.mu.unlockShared();
+            var iter = self.contents.iterator();
+            while (iter.next()) |entry| {
+                try rebuilt.indexFile(entry.key_ptr.*, entry.value_ptr.*);
+            }
         }
+
+        self.mu.lock();
+        defer self.mu.unlock();
+        self.word_index.deinit();
+        self.word_index = rebuilt;
         self.word_index_generation +%= 1;
         self.word_index_complete = true;
         self.word_index_can_load_from_disk = false;
@@ -1623,7 +1663,8 @@ pub const Explorer = struct {
     /// Search for a word using the inverted word index. O(1) lookup.
     pub fn searchWord(self: *Explorer, word: []const u8, allocator: std.mem.Allocator) ![]const idx.WordHit {
         self.mu.lockShared();
-        const needs_rebuild = !self.word_index_complete and self.contents.count() > 0;
+        const needs_rebuild = !self.word_index_complete and
+            (self.contents.count() > 0 or (self.io != null and self.root_dir != null));
         self.mu.unlockShared();
         if (needs_rebuild) {
             try self.rebuildWordIndex();
diff --git a/src/tests.zig b/src/tests.zig
index 6361b21..ae23043 100644
--- a/src/tests.zig
+++ b/src/tests.zig
@@ -3657,7 +3657,18 @@ test "snapshot: writer streams uncached file contents for large repos" {
     defer testing.allocator.free(snap_path);
     try snapshot_mod.writeSnapshot(io, &exp, dir_path, snap_path, testing.allocator);
 
+    var loaded_without_root = Explorer.init(testing.allocator);
+    defer loaded_without_root.deinit();
+    var store_without_root = Store.init(testing.allocator);
+    defer store_without_root.deinit();
+
+    try testing.expect(snapshot_mod.loadSnapshot(io, snap_path, &loaded_without_root, &store_without_root, testing.allocator));
+    try testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 1002), loaded_without_root.outlines.count());
+    try testing.expect(loaded_without_root.contents.count() < loaded_without_root.outlines.count());
+    try testing.expectError(error.WordIndexIncomplete, loaded_without_root.searchWord("func_1001", testing.allocator));
+
     var loaded = Explorer.init(testing.allocator);
+    loaded.setRoot(io, dir_path);
     defer loaded.deinit();
     var store = Store.init(testing.allocator);
     defer store.deinit();
@@ -3665,6 +3676,12 @@ test "snapshot: writer streams uncached file contents for large repos" {
     try testing.expect(snapshot_mod.loadSnapshot(io, snap_path, &loaded, &store, testing.allocator));
     try testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 1002), loaded.outlines.count());
     try testing.expect(loaded.contents.count() < loaded.outlines.count());
+
+    const hits = try loaded.searchWord("func_1001", testing.allocator);
+    defer testing.allocator.free(hits);
+    try testing.expectEqual(@as(usize, 1), hits.len);
+    try testing.expectEqualStrings("src/file_1001.zig", loaded.word_index.hitPath(hits[0]));
+    try testing.expect(loaded.wordIndexIsComplete());
 }
 
 test "issue-220: partial word index state rebuilds before search" {