diff --git a/src/components/WikilinkChatInput.tsx b/src/components/WikilinkChatInput.tsx
index 183c3509..c87167cc 100644
--- a/src/components/WikilinkChatInput.tsx
+++ b/src/components/WikilinkChatInput.tsx
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { useState, useRef, useMemo, useEffect } from 'react'
 import type { VaultEntry } from '../types'
 import type { NoteReference } from '../utils/ai-context'
 import { getTypeColor, getTypeLightColor, buildTypeEntryMap } from '../utils/typeColors'
+import { bestSearchRank } from '../utils/fuzzyMatch'
 
 const MAX_SUGGESTIONS = 20
 const MIN_QUERY_LENGTH = 1
@@ -46,13 +47,16 @@ function matchEntries(
 ): SuggestionEntry[] {
   if (query.length < MIN_QUERY_LENGTH) return []
   const lower = query.toLowerCase()
-  const matches = entries.filter(e =>
-    !e.trashed && !e.archived && (
-      e.title.toLowerCase().includes(lower) ||
-      e.aliases.some(a => a.toLowerCase().includes(lower))
-    ),
-  )
-  return matches.slice(0, MAX_SUGGESTIONS).map(e => {
+  const matches = entries
+    .filter(e =>
+      !e.trashed && !e.archived && (
+        e.title.toLowerCase().includes(lower) ||
+        e.aliases.some(a => a.toLowerCase().includes(lower))
+      ),
+    )
+    .map(e => ({ entry: e, rank: bestSearchRank(query, e.title, e.aliases) }))
+    .sort((a, b) => a.rank - b.rank)
+  return matches.slice(0, MAX_SUGGESTIONS).map(({ entry: e }) => {
     const te = typeEntryMap[e.isA ?? '']
     return {
       title: e.title,
diff --git a/src/hooks/useNoteSearch.test.ts b/src/hooks/useNoteSearch.test.ts
index c440d4ef..ccaef793 100644
--- a/src/hooks/useNoteSearch.test.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/useNoteSearch.test.ts
@@ -175,6 +175,38 @@ describe('useNoteSearch', () => {
     expect(preventDefaultSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
   })
 
+  it('ranks exact title match first, prefix second, fuzzy third', () => {
+    const ranked: VaultEntry[] = [
+      makeEntry({ path: '/vault/ri.md', title: 'Refactoring Ideas', modifiedAt: 1700000003 }),
+      makeEntry({ path: '/vault/rk.md', title: 'Refactoring Key Ideas', modifiedAt: 1700000002 }),
+      makeEntry({ path: '/vault/r.md', title: 'Refactoring', modifiedAt: 1700000001 }),
+    ]
+    const { result } = renderHook(() => useNoteSearch(ranked, 'Refactoring'))
+    expect(result.current.results.map(r => r.title)).toEqual([
+      'Refactoring',
+      'Refactoring Ideas',
+      'Refactoring Key Ideas',
+    ])
+  })
+
+  it('ranks case-insensitive exact match first', () => {
+    const ranked: VaultEntry[] = [
+      makeEntry({ path: '/vault/qi.md', title: 'Quarter Ideas', modifiedAt: 1700000002 }),
+      makeEntry({ path: '/vault/q.md', title: 'Quarter', modifiedAt: 1700000001 }),
+    ]
+    const { result } = renderHook(() => useNoteSearch(ranked, 'quarter'))
+    expect(result.current.results[0].title).toBe('Quarter')
+  })
+
+  it('boosts note whose alias is an exact match', () => {
+    const ranked: VaultEntry[] = [
+      makeEntry({ path: '/vault/ri.md', title: 'Refactoring Ideas', modifiedAt: 1700000002 }),
+      makeEntry({ path: '/vault/rn.md', title: 'Refactoring Notes', aliases: ['ref'], modifiedAt: 1700000001 }),
+    ]
+    const { result } = renderHook(() => useNoteSearch(ranked, 'ref'))
+    expect(result.current.results[0].title).toBe('Refactoring Notes')
+  })
+
   it('resolves custom type color from Type entries', () => {
     const withTypes: VaultEntry[] = [
       makeEntry({ path: '/vault/t/recipe.md', title: 'Recipe', isA: 'Type', color: 'orange', icon: 'cooking-pot' }),
diff --git a/src/hooks/useNoteSearch.ts b/src/hooks/useNoteSearch.ts
index 6c58c99c..b0559159 100644
--- a/src/hooks/useNoteSearch.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/useNoteSearch.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { useState, useMemo, useCallback, useEffect } from 'react'
 import type { VaultEntry } from '../types'
-import { fuzzyMatch } from '../utils/fuzzyMatch'
+import { fuzzyMatch, bestSearchRank } from '../utils/fuzzyMatch'
 import { getTypeColor, getTypeLightColor, buildTypeEntryMap } from '../utils/typeColors'
 import { getTypeIcon } from '../components/NoteItem'
 import type { NoteSearchResultItem } from '../components/NoteSearchList'
@@ -45,9 +45,13 @@ export function useNoteSearch(entries: VaultEntry[], query: string, maxResults =
         .map(mapResult)
     }
     return searchableEntries
-      .map((e) => ({ entry: e, ...fuzzyMatch(query, e.title) }))
+      .map((e) => ({
+        entry: e,
+        ...fuzzyMatch(query, e.title),
+        rank: bestSearchRank(query, e.title, e.aliases),
+      }))
       .filter((r) => r.match)
-      .sort((a, b) => b.score - a.score)
+      .sort((a, b) => a.rank - b.rank || b.score - a.score)
       .slice(0, maxResults)
       .map((r) => mapResult(r.entry))
   }, [searchableEntries, query, maxResults, typeEntryMap])
diff --git a/src/utils/fuzzyMatch.test.ts b/src/utils/fuzzyMatch.test.ts
index 59dc41d9..b8b65764 100644
--- a/src/utils/fuzzyMatch.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/fuzzyMatch.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest'
-import { fuzzyMatch } from './fuzzyMatch'
+import { fuzzyMatch, searchRank, bestSearchRank } from './fuzzyMatch'
 
 describe('fuzzyMatch', () => {
   it('matches exact string', () => {
@@ -44,3 +44,43 @@ describe('fuzzyMatch', () => {
     expect(fuzzyMatch('a', '').match).toBe(false)
   })
 })
+
+describe('searchRank', () => {
+  it('returns 0 for exact match', () => {
+    expect(searchRank('Refactoring', 'Refactoring')).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  it('returns 0 for case-insensitive exact match', () => {
+    expect(searchRank('refactoring', 'Refactoring')).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  it('returns 1 for prefix match', () => {
+    expect(searchRank('Refactoring', 'Refactoring Ideas')).toBe(1)
+  })
+
+  it('returns 1 for case-insensitive prefix match', () => {
+    expect(searchRank('quarter', 'Quarter Review')).toBe(1)
+  })
+
+  it('returns 2 for non-prefix fuzzy match', () => {
+    expect(searchRank('Ideas', 'Refactoring Ideas')).toBe(2)
+  })
+})
+
+describe('bestSearchRank', () => {
+  it('returns best rank across title and aliases', () => {
+    expect(bestSearchRank('ref', 'Refactoring Notes', ['ref'])).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  it('returns title rank when no aliases match better', () => {
+    expect(bestSearchRank('Refactoring', 'Refactoring', [])).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  it('prefers alias exact match over title prefix match', () => {
+    expect(bestSearchRank('ref', 'Reference Manual', ['ref'])).toBe(0)
+  })
+
+  it('returns 2 when nothing matches as exact or prefix', () => {
+    expect(bestSearchRank('ideas', 'Refactoring Ideas', ['thoughts'])).toBe(2)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/utils/fuzzyMatch.ts b/src/utils/fuzzyMatch.ts
index d3cfda05..6be47fa4 100644
--- a/src/utils/fuzzyMatch.ts
+++ b/src/utils/fuzzyMatch.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,22 @@
+/** Search rank tier: 0 = exact match, 1 = prefix match, 2 = fuzzy only. Lower is better. */
+export function searchRank(query: string, target: string): number {
+  const q = query.toLowerCase()
+  const t = target.toLowerCase()
+  if (t === q) return 0
+  if (t.startsWith(q)) return 1
+  return 2
+}
+
+/** Best rank across a title and its aliases. */
+export function bestSearchRank(query: string, title: string, aliases: string[]): number {
+  let rank = searchRank(query, title)
+  for (const alias of aliases) {
+    rank = Math.min(rank, searchRank(query, alias))
+    if (rank === 0) break
+  }
+  return rank
+}
+
 /** Fuzzy match: all query chars must appear in order in the target. */
 export function fuzzyMatch(query: string, target: string): { match: boolean; score: number } {
   const q = query.toLowerCase()