diff --git a/alembic/versions/0099_scrub_secrets_from_retrieval_logs.py b/alembic/versions/0099_scrub_secrets_from_retrieval_logs.py
index c643d21..d2c5f9f 100644
--- a/alembic/versions/0099_scrub_secrets_from_retrieval_logs.py
+++ b/alembic/versions/0099_scrub_secrets_from_retrieval_logs.py
@@ -50,14 +50,34 @@ branch_labels = None
 depends_on = None
 
 # Vendor-prefixed credentials — the prefix IS the tell, so no entropy guessing.
+#
+# `\m` IS LOAD-BEARING AND IS NOT `\b`. It anchors the prefix to the START OF
+# A WORD, which the Python twin spells `\b`. Two separate mistakes were made
+# porting this and they compounded:
+#
+#   1. The boundary was dropped entirely, so `sk-` matched inside any word
+#      containing it. `<task-notification>` — a string that appears in
+#      thousands of these rows — became `<ta[redacted:token]>`, because
+#      `sk-` + `notification` is a prefix followed by twelve word characters.
+#   2. Writing `\b` would not have fixed it. In Postgres ARE `\b` is a
+#      BACKSPACE character, not a word boundary; `\m` (start of word) and
+#      `\y` (either edge) are the spellings that mean what Python's `\b`
+#      means.
+#
+# Both were live for one run of this migration, on one install, and the cost
+# is recorded rather than papered over: the mangled rows cannot be restored,
+# because the original text is what the UPDATE overwrote. The live scrubber in
+# services/retrieval_telemetry.py was never affected — its `\b` is Python's
+# and behaves correctly, which is why rows written after the deploy are intact
+# and only migration-rewritten ones were damaged.
 _TOKEN = (
-    r"(fmcp_|flt_|ghp_|gho_|ghs_|ghu_|github_pat_|glpat-|xox[abprs]-"
+    r"\m(fmcp_|flt_|ghp_|gho_|ghs_|ghu_|github_pat_|glpat-|xox[abprs]-"
     r"|sk-[A-Za-z0-9]*-?|AKIA|ASIA)[A-Za-z0-9_\-]{12,}"
 )
 # A value handed to a secret-NAMED variable, in shell, env, YAML, JSON or a
 # query string. The NAME identifies it, so the value can be anything.
 _ASSIGNED = (
-    r"([A-Za-z0-9_]*(token|secret|password|passwd|api[_-]?key|access[_-]?key)"
+    r"\m([A-Za-z0-9_]*(token|secret|password|passwd|api[_-]?key|access[_-]?key)"
     r"[A-Za-z0-9_]*)(\s*[:=]\s*[\"']?)([^\s\"'&]{8,})"
 )
 _AUTH_HEADER = r"(authorization\s*:\s*(bearer|basic|token)\s+)(\S+)"
diff --git a/tests/test_retrieval_query_scrubbing.py b/tests/test_retrieval_query_scrubbing.py
index c4a13ed..d1aa18d 100644
--- a/tests/test_retrieval_query_scrubbing.py
+++ b/tests/test_retrieval_query_scrubbing.py
@@ -133,3 +133,42 @@ def test_the_write_path_scrubs_rather_than_the_read_path():
     assert "[redacted" in payload["query"]
     # The rest of the command survives, or the row stops being evidence.
     assert "git push" in payload["query"]
+
+
+# ── the SQL twin has its own word-boundary spelling (#3925) ─────────────
+#
+# Migration 0099 carries an inlined copy of these patterns, deliberately: a
+# migration is a frozen record of what already ran, and importing the live
+# ones would mean it quietly did something different next year.
+#
+# Frozen is not the same as correct, and the first cut was neither. The
+# boundary was dropped in the port, so `sk-` matched inside any word
+# containing it — `<task-notification>` became `<ta[redacted:token]>` across
+# thousands of rows on the one install that ran it. And writing `\b` would not
+# have saved it: in Postgres ARE `\b` is a BACKSPACE, not a word boundary.
+# `\m` (start of word) is the spelling that means what Python's `\b` means.
+#
+# So this pins the property no reader can eyeball, and it is a PRESENCE check
+# on a token that must appear rather than an absence check on prose (#3352).
+
+def test_the_migrations_patterns_anchor_to_a_word_start_the_postgres_way():
+    """`\\m`, never `\\b` — the two are unrelated in Postgres."""
+    import pathlib
+
+    src = (pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+           / "alembic" / "versions"
+           / "0099_scrub_secrets_from_retrieval_logs.py").read_text()
+
+    for name in ("_TOKEN", "_ASSIGNED"):
+        line = src.split(f"{name} = (")[1].split(")")[0]
+        assert r"\m" in line, (
+            f"migration 0099's {name} no longer anchors to a word start. "
+            f"Without it a vendor prefix matches INSIDE a word — `sk-` in "
+            f"`task-notification` is the case that actually happened — and "
+            f"the UPDATE overwrites the only copy of the text it mangles."
+        )
+        assert r"\b" not in line, (
+            f"migration 0099's {name} uses `\\b`, which is a BACKSPACE in "
+            f"Postgres ARE rather than a word boundary. Python's `\\b` and "
+            f"Postgres's `\\m` look interchangeable and are not."
+        )