feat(search): M4 tier-weighted BM25 re-rank (infra#72)

The eval set under brain/eval/qa-2026-05.md showed BM25 top-1 at 20%
with 5 of the missing slugs being short focused knowledge entries
that lost to long aggregate docs on raw term-frequency. Tier weighting
addresses that without touching the BM25 algorithm itself.

How

- Result struct gains a Tier field, populated during the file walk
  via extractTier (frontmatter wins, path prefix as fallback —
  mirrors the graph.inferTierFromPath logic so the two callers stay
  in lockstep).
- After the existing sort (and optional hybridMerge), do a final
  stable re-sort by float64(Score) * tierWeight(Tier). Knowledge
  ×1.5, note ×1.0, inbox ×0.3, unknown ×1.0.
- hydrate() (vector-only hits) also fills Tier so re-ranking covers
  the hybrid path.

Test covers the load-bearing case: a long note-tier doc with raw=10
loses to a short knowledge-tier doc with raw=8 after weighting
(8×1.5=12 vs 10×1.0=10).

Measurement gate is in infra#72: re-run brain/eval/score.py against
the live brain after this image lands; close the issue when top-1
hit rate lifts by ≥10 absolute points.

ingestion/internal/search/search.go

@@ -43,6 +43,30 @@ type Result struct {
 	Score   int    `json:"score"`
 	Wing    string `json:"wing,omitempty"`
 	Hall    string `json:"hall,omitempty"`
+	// Tier is the DIKW classification used for retrieval weighting
+	// (infra#72). Read from frontmatter when present, otherwise
+	// inferred from the parent directory.
+	Tier string `json:"tier,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// tierWeight maps the DIKW tier to a score multiplier applied right
+// before the final truncation. Knowledge entries (focused lessons that
+// age well) get boosted; inbox entries (raw captures, sessions, clips)
+// get demoted. Empty / unknown tiers keep the original BM25 score
+// (multiplier 1.0). See infra#72 for the failure mode this addresses:
+// short focused entries lose to long aggregate dump-files under
+// raw BM25 ranking.
+func tierWeight(tier string) float64 {
+	switch tier {
+	case "knowledge":
+		return 1.5
+	case "note":
+		return 1.0
+	case "inbox":
+		return 0.3
+	default:
+		return 1.0
+	}
 }
 
 // QueryOptions configures a search.
@@ -120,6 +144,7 @@ func QueryContext(ctx context.Context, brainDir string, opts QueryOptions) ([]Re
 			}
 			rel = filepath.ToSlash(rel)
 			wing, hall := extractWingHall(string(content), rel)
+			tier := extractTier(string(content), rel)
 			results = append(results, Result{
 				Path:    rel,
 				Title:   extractTitle(string(content), d.Name()),
@@ -127,6 +152,7 @@ func QueryContext(ctx context.Context, brainDir string, opts QueryOptions) ([]Re
 				Score:   score,
 				Wing:    wing,
 				Hall:    hall,
+				Tier:    tier,
 			})
 			return nil
 		})
@@ -150,6 +176,15 @@ func QueryContext(ctx context.Context, brainDir string, opts QueryOptions) ([]Re
 		}
 	}
 
+	// Tier-weighted final re-rank (infra#72). Knowledge tier entries
+	// boost ×1.5, inbox demote ×0.3, note stays at ×1.0. Applied after
+	// hybridMerge so RRF ranking still drives candidate generation;
+	// the tier weight only re-orders the merged set.
+	sort.SliceStable(results, func(i, j int) bool {
+		return float64(results[i].Score)*tierWeight(results[i].Tier) >
+			float64(results[j].Score)*tierWeight(results[j].Tier)
+	})
+
 	if len(results) > opts.Limit {
 		results = results[:opts.Limit]
 	}
@@ -235,12 +270,14 @@ func hydrate(brainDir, relPath string) (Result, error) {
 		return Result{}, err
 	}
 	wing, hall := extractWingHall(string(content), relPath)
+	tier := extractTier(string(content), relPath)
 	return Result{
 		Path:    relPath,
 		Title:   extractTitle(string(content), filepath.Base(relPath)),
 		Excerpt: excerpt(string(content), 300),
 		Wing:    wing,
 		Hall:    hall,
+		Tier:    tier,
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -269,6 +306,50 @@ func resolveRoots(brainDir, wing, hall string) ([]string, error) {
 	}, nil
 }
 
+// extractTier reads the DIKW tier from frontmatter first, falling back
+// to the path prefix mapping (infra#72). Mirrors graph.inferTierFromPath
+// so the two callers stay in lockstep — frontmatter is canonical,
+// path inference is the migration-window fallback.
+func extractTier(content, relPath string) string {
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(strings.NewReader(content))
+	inFrontmatter := false
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		line := scanner.Text()
+		if strings.TrimSpace(line) == "---" {
+			if !inFrontmatter {
+				inFrontmatter = true
+				continue
+			}
+			break
+		}
+		if !inFrontmatter {
+			continue
+		}
+		key, val, ok := strings.Cut(line, ":")
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		if strings.TrimSpace(key) == "tier" {
+			return strings.Trim(strings.TrimSpace(val), `"'`)
+		}
+	}
+	parts := strings.Split(relPath, "/")
+	if len(parts) == 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	switch parts[0] {
+	case "inbox", "raw", "sessions", "clips":
+		return "inbox"
+	case "notes":
+		return "note"
+	case "wiki":
+		return "note"
+	case "knowledge":
+		return "knowledge"
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
 // extractWingHall reads wing/hall from frontmatter first, falling back to
 // path segments brain/wiki/<wing>/<hall>/.
 func extractWingHall(content, relPath string) (wing, hall string) {

ingestion/internal/search/search_test.go

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/mathiasbq/hyperguild/ingestion/internal/search"
@@ -130,6 +131,29 @@ func TestSearch_ReturnsMatchingPages(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Contains(t, results[0].Excerpt, "Retry")
 }
 
+func TestSearch_TierWeightingReordersResults(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	// A long note-tier dump mentions the keyword many times (high raw
+	// BM25 score); a short knowledge entry mentions it three times.
+	// Raw BM25 prefers the dump; tier weighting (knowledge ×1.5 vs
+	// note ×1.0) flips the order if the score gap is within reach.
+	// note raw = 5 × 2 terms = 10 hits, weight 1.0 → 10
+	// knowledge raw = 4 × 2 terms = 8 hits, weight 1.5 → 12 (overtakes)
+	noteBody := "---\ntier: note\n---\n" + strings.Repeat("scram trap. ", 5)
+	knowledgeBody := "---\ntier: knowledge\n---\n" + strings.Repeat("scram trap. ", 4)
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources"), 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(dir, "knowledge"), 0o755))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, "wiki", "sources", "dump.md"), []byte(noteBody), 0o644))
+	require.NoError(t, os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, "knowledge", "trap.md"), []byte(knowledgeBody), 0o644))
+
+	results, err := search.Query(dir, search.QueryOptions{Query: "scram trap", Limit: 5})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.GreaterOrEqual(t, len(results), 2)
+	assert.Equal(t, "knowledge/trap.md", results[0].Path, "knowledge tier weight should beat note tier")
+	assert.Equal(t, "knowledge", results[0].Tier)
+	assert.Equal(t, "note", results[1].Tier)
+}
+
 func TestSearch_WingHallScoping(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := t.TempDir()
 	for _, p := range []struct{ rel, body string }{