diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index d0123ce..08f4de0 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3511,7 +3511,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "vestige-mcp"
-version = "1.1.0"
+version = "1.1.1"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "chrono",
diff --git a/crates/vestige-core/src/codebase/git.rs b/crates/vestige-core/src/codebase/git.rs
index 998351b..1353f29 100644
--- a/crates/vestige-core/src/codebase/git.rs
+++ b/crates/vestige-core/src/codebase/git.rs
@@ -540,8 +540,10 @@ impl GitAnalyzer {
 
         // Extract the description (first line, removing the prefix)
         let first_line = message.lines().next().unwrap_or("");
-        let symptom = if let Some(colon_pos) = first_line.find(':') {
-            first_line[colon_pos + 1..].trim().to_string()
+        let symptom = if let Some(colon_byte_pos) = first_line.find(':') {
+            // Convert byte position to char position for safe slicing
+            let colon_char_pos = first_line[..colon_byte_pos].chars().count();
+            first_line.chars().skip(colon_char_pos + 1).collect::<String>().trim().to_string()
         } else {
             first_line.to_string()
         };
@@ -574,10 +576,13 @@ impl GitAnalyzer {
                 || line_lower.contains("closes #")
                 || line_lower.contains("resolves #")
             {
-                // Extract issue number
-                if let Some(hash_pos) = line.find('#') {
-                    let issue_num: String = line[hash_pos + 1..]
+                // Extract issue number (using char-aware iteration)
+                if let Some(hash_byte_pos) = line.find('#') {
+                    // Convert byte position to char position for safe slicing
+                    let hash_char_pos = line[..hash_byte_pos].chars().count();
+                    let issue_num: String = line
                         .chars()
+                        .skip(hash_char_pos + 1)
                         .take_while(|c| c.is_ascii_digit())
                         .collect();
                     if !issue_num.is_empty() {
diff --git a/crates/vestige-core/src/neuroscience/prospective_memory.rs b/crates/vestige-core/src/neuroscience/prospective_memory.rs
index 7fce8fb..5ed5045 100644
--- a/crates/vestige-core/src/neuroscience/prospective_memory.rs
+++ b/crates/vestige-core/src/neuroscience/prospective_memory.rs
@@ -959,23 +959,26 @@ impl IntentionParser {
         original: &str,
     ) -> Result<(IntentionTrigger, String)> {
         // Check for "remind me to X when Y" pattern
-        if let Some(when_idx) = text_lower.find(" when ") {
-            let content_part = if text_lower.starts_with("remind me to ") {
-                &original[13..when_idx]
+        if let Some(when_byte_idx) = text_lower.find(" when ") {
+            // Convert byte index to char index for safe slicing
+            let when_char_idx = text_lower[..when_byte_idx].chars().count();
+
+            let content_part: String = if text_lower.starts_with("remind me to ") {
+                original.chars().skip(13).take(when_char_idx.saturating_sub(13)).collect()
             } else if text_lower.starts_with("remind me ") {
-                &original[10..when_idx]
+                original.chars().skip(10).take(when_char_idx.saturating_sub(10)).collect()
             } else {
-                &original[..when_idx]
+                original.chars().take(when_char_idx).collect()
             };
 
-            let condition_part = &original[when_idx + 6..];
+            let condition_part: String = original.chars().skip(when_char_idx + 6).collect();
 
             return Ok((
                 IntentionTrigger::EventBased {
-                    condition: condition_part.to_string(),
-                    pattern: TriggerPattern::contains(condition_part),
+                    condition: condition_part.clone(),
+                    pattern: TriggerPattern::contains(&condition_part),
                 },
-                content_part.to_string(),
+                content_part,
             ));
         }
 
@@ -992,10 +995,11 @@ impl IntentionParser {
             // For now, treat as a simple event trigger
             let parts: Vec<&str> = original.splitn(2, " at ").collect();
             if parts.len() == 2 {
-                let content = if parts[0].to_lowercase().starts_with("remind me to ") {
-                    parts[0][13..].to_string()
-                } else if parts[0].to_lowercase().starts_with("remind me ") {
-                    parts[0][10..].to_string()
+                let part0_lower = parts[0].to_lowercase();
+                let content: String = if part0_lower.starts_with("remind me to ") {
+                    parts[0].chars().skip(13).collect()
+                } else if part0_lower.starts_with("remind me ") {
+                    parts[0].chars().skip(10).collect()
                 } else {
                     parts[0].to_string()
                 };
@@ -1014,14 +1018,15 @@ impl IntentionParser {
             || text_lower.starts_with("don't forget to ")
             || text_lower.starts_with("remember to ")
         {
-            let content = if text_lower.starts_with("i should ") {
-                original[9..].to_string()
+            // Use char-aware slicing to avoid UTF-8 boundary issues
+            let content: String = if text_lower.starts_with("i should ") {
+                original.chars().skip(9).collect()
             } else if text_lower.starts_with("i need to ") {
-                original[10..].to_string()
+                original.chars().skip(10).collect()
             } else if text_lower.starts_with("don't forget to ") {
-                original[16..].to_string()
+                original.chars().skip(16).collect()
             } else {
-                original[12..].to_string()
+                original.chars().skip(12).collect()
             };
 
             // Extract entity if mentioned
diff --git a/crates/vestige-core/src/search/keyword.rs b/crates/vestige-core/src/search/keyword.rs
index 9ffba81..d554b7f 100644
--- a/crates/vestige-core/src/search/keyword.rs
+++ b/crates/vestige-core/src/search/keyword.rs
@@ -18,12 +18,8 @@ const FTS5_OPERATORS: &[&str] = &["OR", "AND", "NOT", "NEAR"];
 /// - Prefix/suffix wildcards for data extraction
 /// - DoS via complex query patterns
 pub fn sanitize_fts5_query(query: &str) -> String {
-    // Limit query length to prevent DoS
-    let limited = if query.len() > 1000 {
-        &query[..1000]
-    } else {
-        query
-    };
+    // Limit query length to prevent DoS (char-aware to avoid UTF-8 boundary issues)
+    let limited: String = query.chars().take(1000).collect();
 
     // Remove FTS5 special characters and operators
     let mut sanitized = limited.to_string();
@@ -44,12 +40,16 @@ pub fn sanitize_fts5_query(query: &str) -> String {
         sanitized = sanitized.replace(&pattern, " ");
         sanitized = sanitized.replace(&pattern.to_lowercase(), " ");
 
-        // Handle operators at start/end
-        if sanitized.to_uppercase().starts_with(&format!("{} ", op)) {
-            sanitized = sanitized[op.len()..].to_string();
+        // Handle operators at start/end (using char-aware operations)
+        let upper = sanitized.to_uppercase();
+        let start_pattern = format!("{} ", op);
+        if upper.starts_with(&start_pattern) {
+            sanitized = sanitized.chars().skip(op.len()).collect();
         }
-        if sanitized.to_uppercase().ends_with(&format!(" {}", op)) {
-            sanitized = sanitized[..sanitized.len() - op.len()].to_string();
+        let end_pattern = format!(" {}", op);
+        if upper.ends_with(&end_pattern) {
+            let char_count = sanitized.chars().count();
+            sanitized = sanitized.chars().take(char_count.saturating_sub(op.len())).collect();
         }
     }
 
@@ -170,15 +170,18 @@ impl KeywordSearcher {
             let lower_text = result.to_lowercase();
             let lower_term = term.to_lowercase();
 
-            if let Some(pos) = lower_text.find(&lower_term) {
-                let matched = &result[pos..pos + term.len()];
+            if let Some(byte_pos) = lower_text.find(&lower_term) {
+                // Convert byte position to char position for safe slicing
+                let char_pos = lower_text[..byte_pos].chars().count();
+                let term_char_len = lower_term.chars().count();
+
+                // Extract matched portion using char indices
+                let prefix: String = result.chars().take(char_pos).collect();
+                let matched: String = result.chars().skip(char_pos).take(term_char_len).collect();
+                let suffix: String = result.chars().skip(char_pos + term_char_len).collect();
+
                 let highlighted = format!("**{}**", matched);
-                result = format!(
-                    "{}{}{}",
-                    &result[..pos],
-                    highlighted,
-                    &result[pos + term.len()..]
-                );
+                result = format!("{}{}{}", prefix, highlighted, suffix);
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/crates/vestige-mcp/Cargo.toml b/crates/vestige-mcp/Cargo.toml
index b3d6c8a..a690e55 100644
--- a/crates/vestige-mcp/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/vestige-mcp/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ keywords = ["mcp", "ai", "memory", "fsrs", "neuroscience", "cognitive-science",
 categories = ["command-line-utilities", "database"]
 repository = "https://github.com/samvallad33/vestige"
 
+[features]
+default = ["embeddings", "vector-search"]
+embeddings = ["vestige-core/embeddings"]
+vector-search = ["vestige-core/vector-search"]
+
 [[bin]]
 name = "vestige-mcp"
 path = "src/main.rs"
@@ -27,7 +32,7 @@ path = "src/bin/cli.rs"
 # ============================================================================
 # Includes: FSRS-6, spreading activation, synaptic tagging, hippocampal indexing,
 # memory states, context memory, importance signals, dreams, and more
-vestige-core = { version = "1.0.0", path = "../vestige-core", features = ["full"] }
+vestige-core = { version = "1.0.0", path = "../vestige-core" }
 
 # ============================================================================
 # MCP Server Dependencies
diff --git a/crates/vestige-mcp/src/protocol/stdio.rs b/crates/vestige-mcp/src/protocol/stdio.rs
index 61fefd1..86492e4 100644
--- a/crates/vestige-mcp/src/protocol/stdio.rs
+++ b/crates/vestige-mcp/src/protocol/stdio.rs
@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ impl StdioTransport {
                         }
                         Err(e) => {
                             error!("Failed to serialize error response: {}", e);
+                            // Send a minimal error response so client doesn't hang
+                            let fallback = r#"{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":null,"error":{"code":-32603,"message":"Internal error"}}"#;
+                            let _ = writeln!(stdout, "{}", fallback);
+                            let _ = stdout.flush();
                         }
                     }
                     continue;
@@ -68,6 +72,10 @@ impl StdioTransport {
                     }
                     Err(e) => {
                         error!("Failed to serialize response: {}", e);
+                        // Send a minimal error response so client doesn't hang
+                        let fallback = r#"{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":null,"error":{"code":-32603,"message":"Internal error"}}"#;
+                        let _ = writeln!(stdout, "{}", fallback);
+                        let _ = stdout.flush();
                     }
                 }
             }