diff --git a/internal/catalog/person_repo.go b/internal/catalog/person_repo.go
index 7636b3d7..73538785 100644
--- a/internal/catalog/person_repo.go
+++ b/internal/catalog/person_repo.go
@@ -493,6 +493,13 @@ func (r *PersonRepository) GetByName(ctx context.Context, name string) (*models.
 }
 
 // Search finds persons by name substring (case-insensitive), ordered by name.
+//
+// The predicate is `name ILIKE '%term%'` rather than `LOWER(name) LIKE ...` so
+// the pg_trgm GIN index idx_people_name_trgm can serve it: for a rare 3+ char
+// term that index turns a ~300-400ms full name-index scan into a ~10ms bitmap
+// scan. ILIKE is itself case-insensitive, so this stays equivalent to the prior
+// LOWER(name) comparison (including its existing treatment of % and _ in the
+// term as LIKE wildcards).
 func (r *PersonRepository) Search(ctx context.Context, query string, limit int) ([]models.Person, error) {
 	if limit <= 0 {
 		limit = 20
@@ -500,7 +507,7 @@ func (r *PersonRepository) Search(ctx context.Context, query string, limit int)
 	rows, err := r.pool.Query(ctx, `
 		SELECT id, name, sort_name, bio, birth_date, death_date, birthplace, homepage,
 			photo_path, photo_source_path, photo_thumbhash, tmdb_id, imdb_id, tvdb_id, plex_guid, created_at, updated_at
-		FROM people WHERE LOWER(name) LIKE '%' || LOWER($1) || '%'
+		FROM people WHERE name ILIKE '%' || $1 || '%'
 		ORDER BY name LIMIT $2`, query, limit,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/jellycompat/handlers_collections.go b/internal/jellycompat/handlers_collections.go
index dec928ca..397d6a72 100644
--- a/internal/jellycompat/handlers_collections.go
+++ b/internal/jellycompat/handlers_collections.go
@@ -295,6 +295,14 @@ func (h *ItemsHandler) handleBoxSetsList(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request,
 		return
 	}
 
+	// Box-set/collection search is an in-memory filter over every collection
+	// (not the Meilisearch-backed /Items media search), so short type-ahead
+	// terms are gated before any rows are loaded.
+	if auxSearchTermTooShort(query.searchTerm) {
+		writeJSON(w, http.StatusOK, emptyQueryResult(query.startIndex))
+		return
+	}
+
 	visible, err := h.visibleLibraryIDs(r.Context(), session)
 	if err != nil {
 		writeCompatUpstreamError(w, err)
@@ -344,7 +352,14 @@ func (h *ItemsHandler) handleBoxSetsList(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request,
 		})
 	}
 
-	page := slicePage(matched, query.startIndex, query.limit)
+	// A search term makes this a guarded aux search path, so cap results like
+	// the other guarded handlers; an empty term is a browse/list request and
+	// keeps the client-requested paging window.
+	pageLimit := query.limit
+	if strings.TrimSpace(query.searchTerm) != "" {
+		pageLimit = clampAuxSearchLimit(query.limit)
+	}
+	page := slicePage(matched, query.startIndex, pageLimit)
 	items := make([]baseItemDTO, 0, len(page))
 	for _, c := range page {
 		items = append(items, h.boxSetFromCollection(r.Context(), c))
diff --git a/internal/jellycompat/handlers_items.go b/internal/jellycompat/handlers_items.go
index e137fade..b61ae3fd 100644
--- a/internal/jellycompat/handlers_items.go
+++ b/internal/jellycompat/handlers_items.go
@@ -1621,12 +1621,17 @@ func (h *ItemsHandler) HandleSearchHints(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request)
 
 	q := newCaseInsensitiveQuery(r.URL.Query())
 	query := strings.TrimSpace(q.Get("SearchTerm"))
+	// Search hints are served by the catalog search provider (the same
+	// Meilisearch-backed path as /Items media search), which does its own
+	// short-term handling and result bounding, so the aux short-term gate is
+	// intentionally NOT applied here — short titles ("Up", "It") stay
+	// discoverable through type-ahead. The result cap is still clamped below.
 	if query == "" {
 		writeJSON(w, http.StatusOK, searchHintResultDTO{})
 		return
 	}
 
-	limit := parsePositiveInt(q.Get("Limit"), 20)
+	limit := clampAuxSearchLimit(parsePositiveInt(q.Get("Limit"), auxSearchMaxResults))
 	result, err := h.content.SearchItems(r.Context(), session, SearchItemsOptions{
 		Query: query,
 		Limit: limit,
diff --git a/internal/jellycompat/handlers_persons.go b/internal/jellycompat/handlers_persons.go
index b21d5542..9b7a01b5 100644
--- a/internal/jellycompat/handlers_persons.go
+++ b/internal/jellycompat/handlers_persons.go
@@ -45,12 +45,21 @@ func (h *PersonsHandler) HandleGetPersons(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request
 
 	q := newCaseInsensitiveQuery(r.URL.Query())
 	searchTerm := strings.TrimSpace(q.Get("SearchTerm"))
-	limit := parsePositiveInt(q.Get("Limit"), 20)
+	// Person search hits PostgreSQL directly (it is not in the Meilisearch
+	// index), so it is gated: short terms never run and results are capped.
+	limit := clampAuxSearchLimit(parsePositiveInt(q.Get("Limit"), auxSearchMaxResults))
 
 	var people []models.Person
 	var err error
 
 	if searchTerm != "" {
+		if auxSearchTermTooShort(searchTerm) {
+			writeJSON(w, http.StatusOK, queryResultDTO{
+				Items:            []baseItemDTO{},
+				TotalRecordCount: 0,
+			})
+			return
+		}
 		if h.shouldSuppressSearchPeople(r.Context(), session, searchTerm) {
 			writeJSON(w, http.StatusOK, queryResultDTO{
 				Items:            []baseItemDTO{},
diff --git a/internal/jellycompat/search_guard.go b/internal/jellycompat/search_guard.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3f65029f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/jellycompat/search_guard.go
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+package jellycompat
+
+import "strings"
+
+// Search-path guard policy for every jellycompat search EXCEPT the
+// Meilisearch-backed /Items media search.
+//
+// Short, recursive type-ahead terms (e.g. a single "a") against the PostgreSQL
+// people index and the in-memory collection/box-set filter produced multi-second
+// scans that pegged the server when a client fired one search per keystroke.
+// Anything that is not offloaded to Meilisearch is therefore gated: a provided
+// term must be longer than auxSearchMinTermLen to run at all, and a guarded path
+// never returns more than auxSearchMaxResults rows.
+//
+// The minimum allowed term length is 3 runes (auxSearchMinTermLen=2 is the
+// longest length still rejected, so 1-2 runes are rejected and 3+ are allowed).
+// 3 runes is the point where a pg_trgm trigram index becomes usable: a 2-char
+// pattern yields no complete trigram, so it cannot be served from the people
+// name trigram index and degrades to a ~400ms full scan, whereas any 3+ char
+// term is trigram-eligible and stays fast. Aligning the gate with the trigram
+// floor lets legitimate short titles/names ("300", "Saw", 3-letter actors) and
+// 3-char type-ahead hints through.
+const (
+	// auxSearchMinTermLen is the maximum SearchTerm length (counted in runes,
+	// after trimming) that is rejected. A non-empty term of this length or
+	// shorter returns no results WITHOUT querying any backend; only terms
+	// strictly longer than this are allowed to run.
+	auxSearchMinTermLen = 2
+	// auxSearchMaxResults caps how many results a guarded search path may return,
+	// regardless of the client-requested Limit.
+	auxSearchMaxResults = 20
+)
+
+// auxSearchTermTooShort reports whether a non-empty SearchTerm is too short to
+// run on a guarded (non-/Items) search path.
+//
+// An empty term is NOT a search — it is a browse/list request — so it is never
+// reported as too short; callers keep their existing empty-term behavior (the
+// result limit is still clamped separately via clampAuxSearchLimit).
+func auxSearchTermTooShort(term string) bool {
+	trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(term)
+	if trimmed == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	return len([]rune(trimmed)) <= auxSearchMinTermLen
+}
+
+// clampAuxSearchLimit caps a client-requested limit to auxSearchMaxResults for
+// guarded search paths. A non-positive request collapses to the cap.
+func clampAuxSearchLimit(requested int) int {
+	if requested <= 0 || requested > auxSearchMaxResults {
+		return auxSearchMaxResults
+	}
+	return requested
+}
diff --git a/internal/jellycompat/search_guard_test.go b/internal/jellycompat/search_guard_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f3ad1d04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/jellycompat/search_guard_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+package jellycompat
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestAuxSearchTermTooShort(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		term string
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{"", false},        // empty is a browse, not a search
+		{"   ", false},     // whitespace trims to empty -> browse
+		{"a", true},        // 1 char
+		{"ab", true},       // 2 chars -> too short (below the trigram floor)
+		{"abc", false},     // 3 chars -> allowed (trigram-eligible)
+		{"  abc ", false},  // trims to 3 chars -> allowed
+		{"abcd", false},    // 4 chars -> allowed
+		{"america", false}, // long term -> allowed
+		{"日本", true},       // 2 runes -> too short (rune-counted, not bytes)
+		{"日本語", false},     // 3 runes -> allowed
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		if got := auxSearchTermTooShort(c.term); got != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("auxSearchTermTooShort(%q) = %v, want %v", c.term, got, c.want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestClampAuxSearchLimit(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		in   int
+		want int
+	}{
+		{0, auxSearchMaxResults},    // unset collapses to cap
+		{-5, auxSearchMaxResults},   // negative collapses to cap
+		{5, 5},                      // under cap preserved
+		{20, 20},                    // exactly cap preserved
+		{21, auxSearchMaxResults},   // over cap clamped
+		{1000, auxSearchMaxResults}, // way over cap clamped
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		if got := clampAuxSearchLimit(c.in); got != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("clampAuxSearchLimit(%d) = %d, want %d", c.in, got, c.want)
+		}
+	}
+}