diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0dfc0e9..fb61a44 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ and adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- A long-lived index no longer drifts away from what a fresh `codegraph index` would produce. When a file gained or lost a symbol, references to that name in files the sync never touched kept pointing at the definition that was correct before the change, and — because nothing distinguished two same-named definitions — the winner could come down to the order files happened to be written, which differs between a full index and a sync. On this project's own repository, replaying 80 commits through `sync` left 5.7% of connections wrong; it is now 1.3%, and the wrong-answers-still-being-asserted half drops by 99.7%. Since call edges are what flow questions follow and what `codegraph_explore` ranks files by, this quietly degraded answers as an index aged, with nothing to indicate it. Syncing is unchanged in speed, and an edit that only changes a function's body does no extra work at all. Set `CODEGRAPH_NO_REBIND=1` to opt out.
 - `codegraph_explore` now concentrates its answer on the code that actually answers your question instead of spreading it across files that merely share a word with it, so more of the answer arrives in a single call. Thanks @LeDuyViet for the detailed measurements and reproduction. (#1500)
 - Files only weakly related to your question now come back as a name, symbol and line number instead of spending the answer on their source — name one of them in a follow-up `codegraph_explore` to get it back in full. (#1500)
 - A generated CRUD or protobuf layer no longer crowds out the hand-written code sitting beside it: generated files are now recognized by the `// Code generated by … DO NOT EDIT.` style banner written at the top of the file, not just by a filename that looks generated. Re-index after upgrading to pick up the new detection. (#1500)
diff --git a/__tests__/sync-rebuild-convergence.test.ts b/__tests__/sync-rebuild-convergence.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78ce4dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/__tests__/sync-rebuild-convergence.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,271 @@
+/**
+ * Incremental sync must converge to a full rebuild (CG-33).
+ *
+ * A long-lived, auto-synced index silently diverged from a clean rebuild of the
+ * identical tree: 4.3% of distinct edges wrong, in BOTH directions, on
+ * codegraph's own repo. Two mechanisms, both exercised here:
+ *
+ * 1. Resolution binds a reference to one of the same-named definitions
+ *    PROJECT-WIDE, so adding or removing a definition changes the answer for
+ *    references in files the sync never touches. Those references resolved once
+ *    and their rows were deleted, so nothing revisited them — the index kept an
+ *    answer that was only correct against an older graph.
+ * 2. When nothing disambiguated the candidates, the winner was whichever row
+ *    the index scan reached first — i.e. the order files were WRITTEN. A full
+ *    index writes in scan order; a sync appends each file as it changes, so the
+ *    same tree resolved differently depending on how the index was built.
+ *
+ * The assertions here compare the whole edge SET, never counts: the divergence
+ * is bidirectional and nets out of a total (raw rows differed by 0.7% while
+ * 4.3% of edges were wrong), so a count check passes on a broken index.
+ */
+
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import * as fs from 'fs';
+import * as path from 'path';
+import * as os from 'os';
+import CodeGraph from '../src/index';
+import { createDatabase } from '../src/db/sqlite-adapter';
+
+describe('Incremental sync converges to a full rebuild (CG-33)', () => {
+  let testDir: string;
+  let cg: CodeGraph;
+
+  const write = (rel: string, content: string) => {
+    const full = path.join(testDir, rel);
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(full), { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(full, content);
+  };
+
+  /**
+   * Every edge as a `source|target|kind` triple, read from the database with a
+   * second read-only connection. Node ids are `sha256(filePath:kind:name:line)`,
+   * so for an identical tree they are identical across a sync and a rebuild —
+   * which is what makes the two sets directly comparable.
+   */
+  const edgeSet = (): Set<string> => {
+    const { db } = createDatabase(path.join(testDir, '.codegraph', 'codegraph.db'), { readOnly: true });
+    try {
+      const rows = db.prepare('SELECT source, target, kind FROM edges').all() as Array<{
+        source: string;
+        target: string;
+        kind: string;
+      }>;
+      return new Set(rows.map((r) => `${r.source}|${r.target}|${r.kind}`));
+    } finally {
+      db.close();
+    }
+  };
+
+  /** Human-readable diff, so a failure names the edges instead of just a count. */
+  const describeDiff = (synced: Set<string>, rebuilt: Set<string>): string => {
+    const missing = [...rebuilt].filter((e) => !synced.has(e));
+    const stale = [...synced].filter((e) => !rebuilt.has(e));
+    return `missing from synced: ${missing.length}, stale in synced: ${stale.length}`;
+  };
+
+  /**
+   * Rebuild the index from scratch over the CURRENT tree and return its edge
+   * set. `indexAll` recreates the database file, so this is the same ground
+   * truth a user gets from `codegraph index`.
+   */
+  const rebuildEdgeSet = async (): Promise<Set<string>> => {
+    await cg.indexAll();
+    return edgeSet();
+  };
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    testDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'codegraph-cg33-'));
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    cg?.destroy();
+    if (fs.existsSync(testDir)) fs.rmSync(testDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * The originating shape. `caller.ts` calls `pct` with no import, so it binds
+   * by name; at index time `zeta.ts` is the only definition. A later sync adds
+   * `alpha.ts`, which sorts FIRST and is therefore the rebuild's answer — but
+   * `caller.ts` never changes, so nothing re-resolves it.
+   */
+  it('rebinds references in UNCHANGED files when a sync adds a competing definition', async () => {
+    write('src/caller.ts', `export function run(): number {\n  return pct(1);\n}\n`);
+    write('src/zeta.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n;\n}\n`);
+    cg = CodeGraph.initSync(testDir, { config: { include: ['**/*.ts'], exclude: [] } });
+    await cg.indexAll();
+
+    write('src/alpha.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n * 2;\n}\n`);
+    const result = await cg.sync();
+    expect(result.filesAdded).toBe(1);
+    expect(result.definitionDelta).toContain('pct');
+
+    const synced = edgeSet();
+    const rebuilt = await rebuildEdgeSet();
+    expect(describeDiff(synced, rebuilt)).toBe('missing from synced: 0, stale in synced: 0');
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * The mirror direction: removing a definition narrows the candidate set too,
+   * so the delta must include names the sync DROPPED, not just names it added.
+   *
+   * This one already converged before the fix — a removal cascades the edge
+   * away and the #1240 removal path resurrects it, so the reference gets
+   * re-resolved for free. It is here as a standing guard on the invariant, and
+   * because the removal half of the delta has no other coverage: an
+   * implementation that only sampled post-sync names would still pass every
+   * other test in this file.
+   */
+  it('rebinds references in UNCHANGED files when a sync removes a competing definition', async () => {
+    write('src/caller.ts', `export function run(): number {\n  return pct(1);\n}\n`);
+    write('src/alpha.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n;\n}\n`);
+    write('src/zeta.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n * 2;\n}\n`);
+    cg = CodeGraph.initSync(testDir, { config: { include: ['**/*.ts'], exclude: [] } });
+    await cg.indexAll();
+
+    fs.rmSync(path.join(testDir, 'src', 'alpha.ts'));
+    const result = await cg.sync();
+    expect(result.filesRemoved).toBe(1);
+
+    const synced = edgeSet();
+    const rebuilt = await rebuildEdgeSet();
+    expect(describeDiff(synced, rebuilt)).toBe('missing from synced: 0, stale in synced: 0');
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * The delta must be computed per FILE. Comparing one name set across the whole
+   * changed batch cancels a name that is added in one changed file while another
+   * changed file already defined it — which is precisely the shape a commit that
+   * splits a module out has, and it was the largest residual class in the first
+   * measurement of this fix.
+   */
+  it('flags a name added in one changed file even when another changed file already defines it', async () => {
+    write('src/caller.ts', `export function run(): number {\n  return pct(1);\n}\n`);
+    write('src/zeta.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n;\n}\nexport function keep(): number {\n  return 0;\n}\n`);
+    cg = CodeGraph.initSync(testDir, { config: { include: ['**/*.ts'], exclude: [] } });
+    await cg.indexAll();
+
+    // One commit: a NEW file gains `pct`, and the file that already had `pct`
+    // is edited too (so a batch-wide name set would see `pct` on both sides).
+    write('src/alpha.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n * 2;\n}\n`);
+    write('src/zeta.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n + 1;\n}\nexport function keep(): number {\n  return 0;\n}\n`);
+    const result = await cg.sync();
+    expect(result.definitionDelta).toContain('pct');
+
+    const synced = edgeSet();
+    const rebuilt = await rebuildEdgeSet();
+    expect(describeDiff(synced, rebuilt)).toBe('missing from synced: 0, stale in synced: 0');
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * The realistic case the issue was filed from: many edits driven through sync
+   * one after another, the way a watcher or a `git pull` applies them. Drift
+   * accumulated across syncs, so a single-edit test would not have caught it.
+   */
+  it('stays converged across a sequence of adds, edits, renames and deletes', async () => {
+    write('src/caller.ts', `export function run(): number {\n  return pct(1) + fmt(2) + collect(3);\n}\n`);
+    write('src/util/zeta.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n;\n}\n`);
+    write('src/util/omega.ts', `export function fmt(n: number): number {\n  return n;\n}\n`);
+    cg = CodeGraph.initSync(testDir, { config: { include: ['**/*.ts'], exclude: [] } });
+    await cg.indexAll();
+
+    // 1. add a competing `pct` that sorts before the existing one
+    write('src/util/alpha.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n * 2;\n}\n`);
+    await cg.sync();
+
+    // 2. body-only edit — must produce NO definition delta, so the common sync
+    //    pays nothing for this machinery
+    write('src/util/alpha.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n * 3;\n}\n`);
+    const bodyOnly = await cg.sync();
+    expect(bodyOnly.filesModified).toBe(1);
+    expect(bodyOnly.definitionDelta).toBeUndefined();
+
+    // 3. a rename: `fmt` moves out of omega.ts into a file that sorts first
+    write('src/util/omega.ts', `export function other(n: number): number {\n  return n;\n}\n`);
+    write('src/util/beta.ts', `export function fmt(n: number): number {\n  return n;\n}\n`);
+    await cg.sync();
+
+    // 4. a symbol appears for a reference that never resolved at all
+    write('src/util/gamma.ts', `export function collect(n: number): number {\n  return n;\n}\n`);
+    await cg.sync();
+
+    // 5. delete the current `pct` winner, so the reference must fall back...
+    fs.rmSync(path.join(testDir, 'src', 'util', 'alpha.ts'));
+    await cg.sync();
+
+    // 6. ...and then a later sync introduces a new winner ahead of it again.
+    //    Ending here rather than on the delete matters: after the delete the
+    //    binding happens to land back where it started, which a broken index
+    //    also reaches. The final state must be one only re-resolution reaches.
+    write('src/util/aaa.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n * 5;\n}\n`);
+    await cg.sync();
+
+    const synced = edgeSet();
+    expect(synced.size).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    const rebuilt = await rebuildEdgeSet();
+    expect(describeDiff(synced, rebuilt)).toBe('missing from synced: 0, stale in synced: 0');
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * Guards the escape hatch itself: with the rebind pass off, the same sequence
+   * must still produce a structurally sound index (no lost or orphaned edges) —
+   * just a drifted one. If this ever fails, the pass is doing something the
+   * kill switch cannot undo.
+   */
+  it('CODEGRAPH_NO_REBIND=1 disables the pass without corrupting the index', async () => {
+    write('src/caller.ts', `export function run(): number {\n  return pct(1);\n}\n`);
+    write('src/zeta.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n;\n}\n`);
+    cg = CodeGraph.initSync(testDir, { config: { include: ['**/*.ts'], exclude: [] } });
+    await cg.indexAll();
+    const before = edgeSet();
+
+    process.env.CODEGRAPH_NO_REBIND = '1';
+    try {
+      write('src/alpha.ts', `export function pct(n: number): number {\n  return n * 2;\n}\n`);
+      await cg.sync();
+    } finally {
+      delete process.env.CODEGRAPH_NO_REBIND;
+    }
+
+    const after = edgeSet();
+    // Every edge that existed before is still there — the pass is the only
+    // thing that would have re-opened them, and it did not run.
+    for (const edge of before) expect(after.has(edge)).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
+
+/**
+ * Resolution's candidate order must be a property of the CODE, not of the order
+ * rows were written. This is the half of CG-33 that a re-resolution pass alone
+ * cannot fix: without it, re-resolving a reference against the very same graph
+ * can still pick a different winner than a rebuild does.
+ */
+describe('Same-name candidate order is content-derived, not insertion-derived (CG-33)', () => {
+  let testDir: string;
+  let cg: CodeGraph;
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    cg?.destroy();
+    if (fs.existsSync(testDir)) fs.rmSync(testDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  it('getNodesByName orders by (file_path, start_line) even when rows were written in another order', async () => {
+    testDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'codegraph-cg33-order-'));
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.join(testDir, 'src'), { recursive: true });
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(testDir, 'src', 'mid.ts'), `export function pad(): void {}\nexport function dup(): number {\n  return 2;\n}\n`);
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(testDir, 'src', 'zeta.ts'), `export function dup(): number {\n  return 1;\n}\n`);
+    cg = CodeGraph.initSync(testDir, { config: { include: ['**/*.ts'], exclude: [] } });
+    await cg.indexAll();
+
+    // A sync APPENDS this file's nodes, so `alpha.ts` gets the highest rowids
+    // despite sorting first — exactly the divergence a full index never has,
+    // and the reason candidate order cannot come from the physical row order.
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(testDir, 'src', 'alpha.ts'), `export function dup(): number {\n  return 3;\n}\n`);
+    await cg.sync();
+
+    const keys = cg.getNodesByName('dup').map((n) => `${n.filePath}:${String(n.startLine).padStart(6, '0')}`);
+    expect(keys.length).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(3);
+    expect(keys).toEqual([...keys].sort());
+    expect(keys[0]).toContain('src/alpha.ts');
+  });
+});
diff --git a/docs/benchmarks/index-drift-cg33.md b/docs/benchmarks/index-drift-cg33.md
index 548e793..58fdce4 100644
--- a/docs/benchmarks/index-drift-cg33.md
+++ b/docs/benchmarks/index-drift-cg33.md
@@ -46,19 +46,98 @@ no duplicate nodes, no orphan edges, no nodes referencing a missing file row.
 
 Nothing accumulates. Cross-file **resolution** goes stale.
 
-## Likely mechanism
+## Mechanism — two causes, both confirmed
 
-`ReferenceResolver` resolves calls and imports by name-matching and the import
-graph across the **whole** project. Incremental sync re-parses and re-resolves
-only the changed file, so:
+`ReferenceResolver` binds a reference to one of the same-named definitions
+**project-wide**. Two things follow, and the drift needed both to be fixed.
 
-- edges from *other* files into changed symbols are never recomputed → stale
-  edges retained (the 476);
-- edges that should newly form from unchanged files into changed symbols are
-  never created → missing edges (the 751).
+**1. Scope.** Incremental sync re-resolves only the references *in* the changed
+files. Adding or removing a definition of `pct` changes the correct answer for
+every `pct(...)` reference in the repo, including references in files the sync
+never touches — and those references resolved successfully once, which *deletes*
+their `unresolved_refs` row, so nothing existed to revisit them with. (The #1240
+retry only revisits refs parked as `status='failed'`.) The index kept an answer
+that was correct against an older graph.
 
-Start in `src/sync/` and `src/resolution/` — specifically what scope is
-re-resolved on a single-file change.
+**2. Tie-break.** When nothing disambiguated the candidates, `findBestMatch`
+kept the first one, and `getNodesByName` had no `ORDER BY` — so the winner was
+decided by rowid, i.e. by the order files happened to be **written**. A full
+index writes in scan order; a sync appends each file as it changes. The same
+tree therefore resolved to different edges depending on how the index was built,
+and no amount of re-resolution could converge, because re-resolving against the
+identical graph still picked a different candidate.
+
+### The fix
+
+- `getNodesByName` orders by `(file_path, start_line)` — a property of the code,
+  not of the write order (`src/db/queries.ts`).
+- `sync` returns a `definitionDelta`: the names whose set of definitions the sync
+  changed, computed as the symmetric difference of `file\0name` pairs sampled
+  before and after the store phase (`ExtractionOrchestrator.sync`).
+- For each delta name, `resurrectStaleResolutionEdges` deletes the resolution
+  edges targeting a symbol of that name whose source is in an *unchanged* file,
+  and re-inserts each as the reference that created it (the `metadata.refName`
+  stamp). The existing orphan sweep then resolves them against the post-sync
+  graph — the same input a rebuild resolves from. Kill switch:
+  `CODEGRAPH_NO_REBIND=1`.
+
+The delta is compared **per file**, not as one name set over the whole batch: a
+commit that adds `collect` to a new file while an unrelated changed file already
+defines `collect` cancels out of a batch-wide name set, and that miss was the
+largest residual class in the first measurement of this fix.
+
+Conservative by construction, because a wrong deletion is a permanent edge loss
+while a missed rebind is only residual drift: an edge with no `refName` stamp
+(synthesized, or built by an older engine) is never touched, edges whose source
+file the sync already re-extracted are skipped, and a per-name ceiling of 500
+edges declines the generic names.
+
+### Result
+
+Replaying real commits of this repo through `sync` one at a time, then diffing
+against a clean rebuild of the final tree:
+
+| replay | baseline (`main`) | + ORDER BY only | + rebind pass (shipped) |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| 16 commits | 48 (24 missing / 24 stale) | 20 | **0 — converged** |
+| 80 commits | 1,634 (963 / 671) | 890 | **361 (359 / 2)** |
+
+The direction that actively misleads — **stale** edges the index keeps asserting
+— drops from 671 to **2** over 80 commits, a 99.7% reduction.
+
+Index and sync wall-clock are unchanged (392-file repo: index 1.88–2.02s in both
+arms, single-file sync 0.183s in both). The `ORDER BY` costs 18% per *uncached*
+name lookup in a tight loop (237ms → 280ms over 10,127 lookups), which does not
+reach wall-clock because `ReferenceResolver` memoizes the lookup per name. A
+composite `(name, file_path, start_line)` index would make the sort free, but it
+would widen every node index entry with a full path string on the write-heavy
+indexing path — not worth 43ms.
+
+### The residual, and why it is not chased
+
+At 80 commits, 357 of the 361 remaining edges are a single pre-existing class:
+references to very generic names (`push` 260, `join` 97) that failed at index
+time and stay parked because `getRetryableFailedReferences` declines any name
+with more than 500 failed refs (1,412 for `push`, 2,346 for `join`). That
+ceiling is #1240/#999 policy, it is present on `main`, and what it declines to
+create is cross-language garbage: a TypeScript test file "calling" an R method
+named `push`, or a Rust method named `join`. **The full rebuild is the wrong one
+here** — converging would mean teaching sync to manufacture thousands of wrong
+edges. Left as is, deliberately.
+
+### `codegraph status` — decided: no drift metric
+
+The issue asked whether `status` should surface divergence. Decision: **no**.
+
+A drift number cannot be computed without the full rebuild it would be
+recommending, so anything cheap enough to run on `status` would be an estimate —
+and an honest estimate is not available. Shipping a proxy would violate the
+product rule that a screen must not overclaim, and post-fix it would fire on the
+generic-name residual above, training users to ignore it. (`status` already
+refuses to warn on parked failed refs for the same reason: every repo with
+external-library imports has them, so the warning would be permanent noise.)
+
+The check that *is* exact stays available and is documented below.
 
 ## Why it degrades retrieval
 
@@ -93,6 +172,13 @@ node scripts/agent-eval/diff-index-drift.mjs /tmp/live.db .codegraph/codegraph.d
 Exit code is 0 when converged, 1 when drifted. To re-confirm determinism, diff
 two consecutive rebuilds — that must report 0.
 
+To reproduce the *regression* rather than measure a live index, replay real
+commits through `sync`: clone the repo, check out `HEAD~N`, index, then
+`git checkout <sha> && codegraph sync` for each commit in order, snapshot the
+database, and diff it against a rebuild of the final tree. That is what produced
+the table above, and the unit-scale version of it is
+`__tests__/sync-rebuild-convergence.test.ts`.
+
 ## Note on probing an index
 
 The index file is `.codegraph/codegraph.db`. There is no `graph.db`. `sqlite3`
diff --git a/src/db/queries.ts b/src/db/queries.ts
index bad4a26..a0ab11f 100644
--- a/src/db/queries.ts
+++ b/src/db/queries.ts
@@ -1113,11 +1113,28 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
   }
 
   /**
-   * Get nodes by exact name match (uses idx_nodes_name index)
+   * Get nodes by exact name match (uses idx_nodes_name index).
+   *
+   * This is resolution's candidate list, and the ORDER BY is load-bearing for
+   * index correctness, not cosmetic (CG-33). When a reference names a symbol
+   * that several files define and nothing disambiguates them, resolution binds
+   * to the first candidate — so without an ORDER BY the winner was decided by
+   * rowid, i.e. by the order files happened to be WRITTEN. A full index writes
+   * them in scan order; an incremental sync appends each file as it changes, so
+   * the same tree resolved to different edges depending on how the index was
+   * built, and a long-lived synced index drifted away from a rebuild of itself
+   * (measured at 4.3% of distinct edges, mostly `calls`).
+   *
+   * `(file_path, start_line)` is a property of the CODE, so both paths now pick
+   * the same candidate. The sort is paid once per distinct name per resolution
+   * run — ReferenceResolver memoizes this in its nameCache — and the population
+   * is capped by AMBIGUOUS_NAME_CEILING (#999).
    */
   getNodesByName(name: string): Node[] {
     if (!this.stmts.getNodesByName) {
-      this.stmts.getNodesByName = this.db.prepare('SELECT * FROM nodes WHERE name = ?');
+      this.stmts.getNodesByName = this.db.prepare(
+        'SELECT * FROM nodes WHERE name = ? ORDER BY file_path, start_line'
+      );
     }
     const rows = this.stmts.getNodesByName.all(name) as NodeRow[];
     return rows.map(rowToNode);
@@ -2445,6 +2462,99 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
     }));
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Resolution edges whose TARGET symbol is named one of `names` — the edges a
+   * sync must re-resolve after `names` gained or lost a definition (CG-33).
+   *
+   * Resolution binds a reference to a node whose name matches the reference's
+   * tail, and it picks among ALL same-named definitions project-wide. So adding
+   * or removing one definition of `pct` changes the answer for every `pct(...)`
+   * reference in the repo — including references in files this sync never
+   * touches, whose edges nothing else revisits. Those edges' current target is,
+   * by that same rule, a node named `pct`, which is why the target's name is a
+   * sufficient (and index-backed, via idx_nodes_name) way to find them without
+   * a schema change or a scan of edge metadata.
+   *
+   * Returns the source file/language alongside each edge so the caller can
+   * resurrect it as its original reference. Excludes `provenance='heuristic'`
+   * (synthesized dispatch edges are not resolution output and carry no refName
+   * stamp to resurrect from — deleting one would be a permanent loss).
+   *
+   * Names matching more than `perNameCeiling` edges are skipped entirely, same
+   * rationale and same default as {@link getRetryableFailedReferences}: at that
+   * population the name is generic (`get`, `clear`, …), one definition changing
+   * won't flip most of them, and rebinding an arbitrary subset is both wasted
+   * work and incoherent coverage.
+   */
+  getResolutionEdgesByTargetName(
+    names: string[],
+    perNameCeiling: number = 500
+  ): Array<Edge & { edgeId: number; sourceFilePath: string; sourceLanguage: Language }> {
+    if (names.length === 0) return [];
+
+    // Pass 1: per-name edge counts, chunked under the SQLite parameter limit.
+    const keep: string[] = [];
+    for (let i = 0; i < names.length; i += SQLITE_PARAM_CHUNK_SIZE) {
+      const chunk = names.slice(i, i + SQLITE_PARAM_CHUNK_SIZE);
+      const placeholders = chunk.map(() => '?').join(',');
+      const counts = this.db
+        .prepare(
+          `SELECT tgt.name AS name, COUNT(*) AS count
+             FROM edges e
+             JOIN nodes tgt ON tgt.id = e.target
+            WHERE tgt.name IN (${placeholders})
+              AND (e.provenance IS NULL OR e.provenance != 'heuristic')
+            GROUP BY tgt.name`
+        )
+        .all(...chunk) as Array<{ name: string; count: number }>;
+      for (const row of counts) {
+        if (row.count <= perNameCeiling) keep.push(row.name);
+      }
+    }
+    if (keep.length === 0) return [];
+
+    // Pass 2: load the surviving edges with the source file context a
+    // resurrection needs.
+    const out: Array<Edge & { edgeId: number; sourceFilePath: string; sourceLanguage: Language }> = [];
+    for (let i = 0; i < keep.length; i += SQLITE_PARAM_CHUNK_SIZE) {
+      const chunk = keep.slice(i, i + SQLITE_PARAM_CHUNK_SIZE);
+      const placeholders = chunk.map(() => '?').join(',');
+      const rows = this.db
+        .prepare(
+          `SELECT e.*, src.file_path AS source_file_path, src.language AS source_language
+             FROM edges e
+             JOIN nodes tgt ON tgt.id = e.target
+             JOIN nodes src ON src.id = e.source
+            WHERE tgt.name IN (${placeholders})
+              AND (e.provenance IS NULL OR e.provenance != 'heuristic')`
+        )
+        .all(...chunk) as Array<EdgeRow & { source_file_path: string; source_language: Language }>;
+      for (const row of rows) {
+        out.push({
+          ...rowToEdge(row),
+          edgeId: row.id,
+          sourceFilePath: row.source_file_path,
+          sourceLanguage: row.source_language,
+        });
+      }
+    }
+    return out;
+  }
+
+  /** Delete edges by primary key — the rebind pass's half of a re-resolution. */
+  deleteEdgesByIds(edgeIds: number[]): number {
+    if (edgeIds.length === 0) return 0;
+    let changed = 0;
+    this.db.transaction(() => {
+      for (let i = 0; i < edgeIds.length; i += SQLITE_PARAM_CHUNK_SIZE) {
+        const chunk = edgeIds.slice(i, i + SQLITE_PARAM_CHUNK_SIZE);
+        const placeholders = chunk.map(() => '?').join(',');
+        changed += this.db.prepare(`DELETE FROM edges WHERE id IN (${placeholders})`).run(...chunk).changes;
+      }
+    })();
+    return changed;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Distinct node names present in the given files — the symbol names a sync
    * pass uses to look up retryable failed refs after those files changed.
@@ -2463,6 +2573,33 @@ export class QueryBuilder {
     return [...names];
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Distinct `file\0name` pairs defined by the given files — the shape sync's
+   * definition delta needs (CG-33).
+   *
+   * Deliberately NOT `getNodeNamesByFiles`: a bare name set is taken over the
+   * WHOLE changed batch, so a name that moves between two files in one commit
+   * (or exists in one changed file and is newly added to another) appears on
+   * both sides and cancels out of the symmetric difference — even though a
+   * definition genuinely appeared or vanished and every reference to that name
+   * repo-wide may now bind elsewhere. Keying by file makes each definition its
+   * own fact, so the move is seen as one removal plus one addition.
+   */
+  getNodeNamePairsByFiles(filePaths: string[]): Set<string> {
+    const pairs = new Set<string>();
+    if (filePaths.length === 0) return pairs;
+    for (let i = 0; i < filePaths.length; i += SQLITE_PARAM_CHUNK_SIZE) {
+      const chunk = filePaths.slice(i, i + SQLITE_PARAM_CHUNK_SIZE);
+      const placeholders = chunk.map(() => '?').join(',');
+      const rows = this.db
+        .prepare(`SELECT DISTINCT file_path, name FROM nodes WHERE file_path IN (${placeholders})`)
+        .all(...chunk) as Array<{ file_path: string; name: string }>;
+      // NUL-joined: a path or a symbol name can contain a space, never a NUL.
+      for (const row of rows) pairs.add(`${row.file_path}\0${row.name}`);
+    }
+    return pairs;
+  }
+
   // ===========================================================================
   // Statistics
   // ===========================================================================
diff --git a/src/extraction/index.ts b/src/extraction/index.ts
index 4e4af4a..22108d1 100644
--- a/src/extraction/index.ts
+++ b/src/extraction/index.ts
@@ -116,6 +116,20 @@ export interface SyncResult {
   nodesUpdated: number;
   durationMs: number;
   changedFilePaths?: string[];
+  /**
+   * Symbol names whose set of definitions this sync CHANGED — names the synced
+   * files gained or lost, as the symmetric difference of their `file\0name`
+   * definition pairs before and after the store phase (per file, so a name
+   * moving between two changed files does not cancel itself out).
+   * Resolution picks among all same-named definitions project-wide,
+   * so these are exactly the names whose already-resolved edges — in files this
+   * sync never touched — may now bind elsewhere and must be re-resolved for the
+   * index to stay convergent with a full rebuild (CG-33).
+   *
+   * A body-only edit leaves this empty, which is the common case and costs
+   * nothing downstream.
+   */
+  definitionDelta?: string[];
 }
 
 /**
@@ -2491,6 +2505,64 @@ export class ExtractionOrchestrator {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Re-open, for re-resolution, every resolution edge whose answer this sync
+   * may have changed — the fix for index drift (CG-33).
+   *
+   * Incremental sync re-resolves only the references IN the changed files, but
+   * resolution's answer is a function of the WHOLE graph: a reference binds to
+   * one of the same-named definitions project-wide, so adding or removing a
+   * definition of `pct` can change which `pct` every other file's `pct(...)`
+   * should bind to. Those other files are never revisited, and their references
+   * resolved successfully once and were deleted from `unresolved_refs`, so
+   * nothing existed to revisit them with — the index kept an answer that was
+   * correct against an older graph. Measured on codegraph's own long-lived
+   * index: 4.3% of distinct edges differed from a clean rebuild, in BOTH
+   * directions, overwhelmingly `calls`. See docs/benchmarks/index-drift-cg33.md.
+   *
+   * This deletes each affected edge and re-inserts it as the reference that
+   * created it (the refName/refKind stamp), status='pending', for the sync's
+   * resolution sweep to bind against the post-sync graph — the same input a
+   * full rebuild resolves from, which is what makes the two converge.
+   *
+   * Deliberately conservative in three ways, because a wrong deletion is a
+   * permanent edge loss while a missed rebind is only residual drift:
+   * - an edge with no refName stamp (synthesized, or built by an engine older
+   *   than the stamp) is left ALONE rather than reconstructed from the target's
+   *   plain name, same rule as `resurrectRefFromDroppedEdge`;
+   * - edges whose source is in a file this sync already re-extracted are
+   *   skipped — their references were re-resolved from scratch moments ago;
+   * - very common names are skipped by the per-name ceiling in
+   *   `getResolutionEdgesByTargetName`.
+   *
+   * Returns the number of references resurrected.
+   */
+  resurrectStaleResolutionEdges(definitionDelta: string[], changedFilePaths: string[]): number {
+    if (definitionDelta.length === 0) return 0;
+    const alreadyFresh = new Set(changedFilePaths);
+    const candidates = this.queries.getResolutionEdgesByTargetName(definitionDelta);
+
+    const edgeIds: number[] = [];
+    const refs: UnresolvedReference[] = [];
+    for (const e of candidates) {
+      if (alreadyFresh.has(e.sourceFilePath)) continue;
+      const ref = resurrectRefFromDroppedEdge(e);
+      if (!ref) continue; // no stamp — never delete what we cannot restore
+      edgeIds.push(e.edgeId);
+      refs.push(ref);
+    }
+    if (refs.length === 0) return 0;
+
+    // Delete first. The sweep re-inserts whichever edge resolution now picks,
+    // and `insertEdges` is INSERT OR IGNORE against idx_edges_identity — so a
+    // rebind to the same target is a clean no-op, but leaving the old row in
+    // place for a rebind ELSEWHERE would keep both, turning drift into
+    // duplication.
+    this.queries.deleteEdgesByIds(edgeIds);
+    this.queries.insertUnresolvedRefsBatch(refs);
+    return refs.length;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Sync the index with the current file state.
    *
@@ -2520,6 +2592,10 @@ export class ExtractionOrchestrator {
     let filesRemoved = 0;
     let nodesUpdated = 0;
     const changedFilePaths: string[] = [];
+    // `file\0name` definition pairs for the files this sync touches, sampled
+    // BEFORE their nodes are replaced/deleted. Compared against the post-store
+    // pairs below to derive `definitionDelta` (CG-33).
+    const pairsBefore = new Set<string>();
 
     onProgress?.({
       phase: 'scanning',
@@ -2585,6 +2661,9 @@ export class ExtractionOrchestrator {
         // failed until the symbol reappears somewhere. (A deleted file whose
         // CALLERS are also being deleted is fine: their nodes cascade later
         // in this loop and take the resurrected rows with them.)
+        // Every name this file defined is about to stop existing here, which
+        // narrows the candidate set for that name repo-wide (CG-33).
+        for (const pair of this.queries.getNodeNamePairsByFiles([tracked.path])) pairsBefore.add(pair);
         const incoming = this.queries.getCrossFileIncomingEdgesWithTarget(tracked.path);
         if (incoming.length > 0) {
           const resurrected = incoming
@@ -2651,6 +2730,14 @@ export class ExtractionOrchestrator {
       }
     }
 
+    // Sampled here — after the add/modify classification, before any file is
+    // re-extracted — because `storeExtractionResult` deletes a file's nodes
+    // before inserting the new ones, so this is the last point the pre-edit
+    // definition set is readable (CG-33).
+    if (filesToIndex.length > 0) {
+      for (const pair of this.queries.getNodeNamePairsByFiles(filesToIndex)) pairsBefore.add(pair);
+    }
+
     // Load only grammars needed for changed files
     if (filesToIndex.length > 0) {
       const overrides = loadExtensionOverrides(this.rootDir);
@@ -2677,6 +2764,25 @@ export class ExtractionOrchestrator {
       nodesUpdated += result.nodes.length;
     }
 
+    // Names whose definition set this sync changed: a `file\0name` pair present
+    // before but not after (removed/renamed away) or after but not before
+    // (added). A pair on both sides is untouched as far as resolution's
+    // candidate set is concerned — only its node id moved, which
+    // reattachCrossFileEdges already follows — so an edit that only changes
+    // bodies yields an empty delta and no downstream rebind work (CG-33).
+    //
+    // Compared per FILE, not as one name set over the whole batch: a commit
+    // that adds `collect` to a new file while an unrelated changed file already
+    // defined `collect` must still flag the name, and a bare name set cancels
+    // exactly that case out. That miss left the largest residual class in the
+    // first measurement of this fix.
+    const pairsAfter = this.queries.getNodeNamePairsByFiles(filesToIndex);
+    const deltaNames = new Set<string>();
+    const nameOf = (pair: string) => pair.slice(pair.indexOf('\0') + 1);
+    for (const pair of pairsBefore) if (!pairsAfter.has(pair)) deltaNames.add(nameOf(pair));
+    for (const pair of pairsAfter) if (!pairsBefore.has(pair)) deltaNames.add(nameOf(pair));
+    const definitionDelta = [...deltaNames];
+
     return {
       filesChecked,
       filesAdded,
@@ -2685,6 +2791,7 @@ export class ExtractionOrchestrator {
       nodesUpdated,
       durationMs: Date.now() - startTime,
       changedFilePaths: changedFilePaths.length > 0 ? changedFilePaths : undefined,
+      definitionDelta: definitionDelta.length > 0 ? definitionDelta : undefined,
     };
   }
 
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 86dae6c..e8d5377 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -883,6 +883,32 @@ export class CodeGraph {
           }
         }
 
+        // Re-open resolution edges this sync may have invalidated ELSEWHERE in
+        // the repo (CG-33). Everything above re-resolves references in the
+        // changed files; this covers the opposite direction — references in
+        // files the sync never touched whose answer depended on a definition
+        // that just appeared or disappeared. Without it a synced index never
+        // converges to a full rebuild: measured at 4.3% of distinct edges wrong
+        // on codegraph's own index, in both directions, mostly `calls`. The
+        // resurrected refs are pending rows, so the orphan sweep immediately
+        // below is what resolves them — batched, yielding, multi-pass, exactly
+        // as a full index resolves.
+        //
+        // `definitionDelta` is empty for a body-only edit, so the overwhelmingly
+        // common sync pays one branch. CODEGRAPH_NO_REBIND=1 disables it.
+        if (result.definitionDelta && process.env.CODEGRAPH_NO_REBIND !== '1') {
+          const tRebind = Date.now();
+          const rebound = this.orchestrator.resurrectStaleResolutionEdges(
+            result.definitionDelta,
+            result.changedFilePaths ?? []
+          );
+          if (process.env.CODEGRAPH_SYNTH_TIMINGS) {
+            console.error(
+              `[phase-timing] sync-rebind: ${Date.now() - tRebind}ms (${result.definitionDelta.length} changed names, ${rebound} edges re-opened)`
+            );
+          }
+        }
+
         // Orphan sweep (#1187). A resolution pass that dies mid-run — the #850
         // daemon liveness watchdog's SIGKILL (#1122), Ctrl-C, a crash — leaves
         // the refs it never reached in unresolved_refs, and the git-scoped fast