diff --git a/server/src/nest/maps/maps.service.ts b/server/src/nest/maps/maps.service.ts
index ccfcda4cb..79f91cfc8 100644
--- a/server/src/nest/maps/maps.service.ts
+++ b/server/src/nest/maps/maps.service.ts
@@ -1697,10 +1697,16 @@ export class MapsService {
       osmAnswer = osm;
       const places = mergeSearchResults(found.map(toPlaceRecord), osm);
       if (places.length > 0) {
-        return {
-          places,
-          source: osm.length > 0 ? 'trek-places+openstreetmap' : 'trek-places',
-        };
+        // Names the sources that actually contributed, not the ones that were
+        // asked. Either side can come back empty — the index turns down a common
+        // single word without coordinates, and OpenStreetMap can be down — and
+        // the search log writes this into the corpus a candidate index is later
+        // scored against, so a list that is entirely OpenStreetMap must not be
+        // recorded as though the index had a hand in it.
+        const source = found.length > 0
+          ? (osm.length > 0 ? 'trek-places+openstreetmap' : 'trek-places')
+          : 'openstreetmap';
+        return { places, source };
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/server/tests/unit/nest/maps.search-merge.test.ts b/server/tests/unit/nest/maps.search-merge.test.ts
index 24a5aa2c9..3a9608029 100644
--- a/server/tests/unit/nest/maps.search-merge.test.ts
+++ b/server/tests/unit/nest/maps.search-merge.test.ts
@@ -134,6 +134,24 @@ describe('MapsService.searchPlaces — the merged path', () => {
     expect(mockNominatim).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
   });
 
+  it('MAPS-SEARCH-009: names the sources that answered, not the ones that were asked', async () => {
+    // Either side can come back empty in ordinary use: the index turns down a
+    // common single word without coordinates, and OpenStreetMap can be down. The
+    // search log writes this field into the corpus a candidate index is scored
+    // against later, so a list that is entirely OpenStreetMap must not be
+    // recorded as though the index had a hand in it.
+    mockSearch.mockRejectedValue(new Error('refused'));
+    mockNominatim.mockResolvedValue(osmAnswer([osmRow('Museum')]));
+    expect((await make().searchPlaces(1, 'museum')).source).toBe('openstreetmap');
+
+    mockSearch.mockResolvedValue([indexHit("L'Osteria")]);
+    mockNominatim.mockResolvedValue(osmAnswer([]));
+    expect((await make().searchPlaces(1, "L'Osteria")).source).toBe('trek-places');
+
+    mockNominatim.mockResolvedValue(osmAnswer([osmRow('Steinstrasse', 36.5, 12.2)]));
+    expect((await make().searchPlaces(1, "L'Osteria")).source).toBe('trek-places+openstreetmap');
+  });
+
   it('MAPS-SEARCH-005: both empty asks nobody a second time', async () => {
     mockSearch.mockResolvedValue([]);
     mockNominatim.mockResolvedValue(osmAnswer([]));
diff --git a/server/tests/unit/nest/maps.service.test.ts b/server/tests/unit/nest/maps.service.test.ts
index 4c43cd1e2..a67158511 100644
--- a/server/tests/unit/nest/maps.service.test.ts
+++ b/server/tests/unit/nest/maps.service.test.ts
@@ -120,16 +120,26 @@ vi.mock('../../../src/config', () => ({
   ENCRYPTION_KEY: '0'.repeat(64),
 }));
 
-// pois() asks the index before Overpass and trekPlacesEnabled fails open, so a
-// case that reaches it with no fetch stub in place leaves the runner for
-// places.liketrek.com. Only the one export pois() calls is replaced; the rest of
-// the client stays real. The index path itself is covered in maps.pois.test.ts.
-const { mockNearby } = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+// pois(), searchPlaces() and autocompletePlaces() all ask the index before the
+// old path, and trekPlacesEnabled fails open — so a case that reaches one of
+// them with no fetch stub in place leaves the runner for places.liketrek.com.
+//
+// Search is stubbed for a second reason. The fetch stubs in this file answer
+// with `json()` and no `text()`, which is not what the index client reads, so
+// the index branch was entered and then failed on the stub. That made the cases
+// pass for the wrong reason — 'uses Nominatim when user has no API key' was
+// really testing that a stub is incomplete — and it left the client's circuit
+// breaker counting real consecutive failures, which is process state and leaks
+// into whatever file runs next. The index paths themselves are covered in
+// maps.pois.test.ts, maps.autocomplete.test.ts and maps.search-merge.test.ts.
+const { mockNearby, mockSearch } = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   mockNearby: vi.fn(async (): Promise<unknown[]> => []),
+  mockSearch: vi.fn(async (): Promise<unknown[]> => []),
 }));
 vi.mock('../../../src/nest/maps/trek-places.client', async (importOriginal) => ({
   ...(await importOriginal<typeof import('../../../src/nest/maps/trek-places.client')>()),
   trekPlacesNearby: mockNearby,
+  trekPlacesSearch: mockSearch,
 }));
 
 // Injected stub since the photo-cache fold (was a path mock of the module).