diff --git a/scripts/lib/bench-config.js b/scripts/lib/bench-config.js
index bd354334..55306e70 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/bench-config.js
+++ b/scripts/lib/bench-config.js
@@ -134,6 +134,27 @@ export async function resolveBenchmarkSource() {
 		console.error(`Warning: failed to install native package: ${err.message}`);
 	}
 
+	// @huggingface/transformers is a devDependency (lazy-loaded for embeddings).
+	// It is not installed as a transitive dep in npm mode, so install it
+	// explicitly so the embedding benchmark workers can import it.
+	try {
+		const localPkg = JSON.parse(
+			fs.readFileSync(path.resolve(path.dirname(new URL(import.meta.url).pathname.replace(/^\/([A-Z]:)/, '$1')), '..', '..', 'package.json'), 'utf8'),
+		);
+		const hfVersion = localPkg.devDependencies?.['@huggingface/transformers'];
+		if (hfVersion) {
+			console.error(`Installing @huggingface/transformers@${hfVersion} for embedding benchmarks...`);
+			execFileSync('npm', ['install', `@huggingface/transformers@${hfVersion}`, '--no-audit', '--no-fund', '--no-save'], {
+				cwd: tmpDir,
+				stdio: 'pipe',
+				timeout: 120_000,
+			});
+			console.error('Installed @huggingface/transformers');
+		}
+	} catch (err) {
+		console.error(`Warning: failed to install @huggingface/transformers: ${err.message}`);
+	}
+
 	const srcDir = path.join(pkgDir, 'src');
 
 	if (!fs.existsSync(srcDir)) {
diff --git a/scripts/query-benchmark.js b/scripts/query-benchmark.js
index d08915f4..042c956d 100644
--- a/scripts/query-benchmark.js
+++ b/scripts/query-benchmark.js
@@ -111,8 +111,32 @@ function round1(n) {
 	return Math.round(n * 10) / 10;
 }
 
+// Pinned hub targets — stable function names that exist across versions.
+// Auto-selecting the most-connected node makes version-to-version comparison
+// meaningless when barrel/type files get added or removed.
+const PINNED_HUB_CANDIDATES = ['buildGraph', 'openDb', 'loadConfig'];
+
 function selectTargets() {
 	const db = new Database(dbPath, { readonly: true });
+	try {
+
+	// Try pinned candidates first for a stable hub across versions
+	let hub = null;
+	for (const candidate of PINNED_HUB_CANDIDATES) {
+		const row = db
+			.prepare(
+				`SELECT n.name FROM nodes n
+         JOIN edges e ON e.source_id = n.id OR e.target_id = n.id
+         WHERE n.name = ? AND n.file NOT LIKE '%test%' AND n.file NOT LIKE '%spec%'
+         LIMIT 1`,
+			)
+			.get(candidate);
+		if (row) {
+			hub = row.name;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+
 	const rows = db
 		.prepare(
 			`SELECT n.name, COUNT(e.id) AS cnt
@@ -123,14 +147,19 @@ function selectTargets() {
        ORDER BY cnt DESC`,
 		)
 		.all();
-	db.close();
 
 	if (rows.length === 0) throw new Error('No nodes with edges found in graph');
 
-	const hub = rows[0].name;
+	// Fall back to most-connected if no pinned candidate found
+	if (!hub) hub = rows[0].name;
+
 	const mid = rows[Math.floor(rows.length / 2)].name;
 	const leaf = rows[rows.length - 1].name;
 	return { hub, mid, leaf };
+
+	} finally {
+		db.close();
+	}
 }
 
 function benchDepths(fn, name, depths) {
diff --git a/scripts/update-embedding-report.js b/scripts/update-embedding-report.js
index 47e31d15..645c1844 100644
--- a/scripts/update-embedding-report.js
+++ b/scripts/update-embedding-report.js
@@ -26,6 +26,15 @@ if (arg) {
 }
 const entry = JSON.parse(jsonText);
 
+// Guard: reject empty benchmark results (all workers crashed or no symbols indexed)
+if (!entry.symbols || !entry.models || Object.keys(entry.models).length === 0) {
+	console.error(
+		`Embedding benchmark produced empty results (symbols=${entry.symbols}, models=${Object.keys(entry.models || {}).length}). ` +
+		'Skipping report update to avoid overwriting valid data. Check benchmark worker logs.',
+	);
+	process.exit(1);
+}
+
 // ── Paths ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 const reportPath = path.join(root, 'generated', 'benchmarks', 'EMBEDDING-BENCHMARKS.md');
 
diff --git a/src/domain/analysis/impact.js b/src/domain/analysis/impact.js
index c2ea3540..2ce1dbbf 100644
--- a/src/domain/analysis/impact.js
+++ b/src/domain/analysis/impact.js
@@ -24,6 +24,19 @@ import { findMatchingNodes } from './symbol-lookup.js';
 
 const INTERFACE_LIKE_KINDS = new Set(['interface', 'trait']);
 
+/**
+ * Check whether the graph contains any 'implements' edges.
+ * Cached per db handle so the query runs at most once per connection.
+ */
+const _hasImplementsCache = new WeakMap();
+function hasImplementsEdges(db) {
+  if (_hasImplementsCache.has(db)) return _hasImplementsCache.get(db);
+  const row = db.prepare("SELECT 1 FROM edges WHERE kind = 'implements' LIMIT 1").get();
+  const result = !!row;
+  _hasImplementsCache.set(db, result);
+  return result;
+}
+
 /**
  * BFS traversal to find transitive callers of a node.
  * When an interface/trait node is encountered (either as the start node or
@@ -40,6 +53,9 @@ export function bfsTransitiveCallers(
   startId,
   { noTests = false, maxDepth = 3, includeImplementors = true, onVisit } = {},
 ) {
+  // Skip all implementor lookups when the graph has no implements edges
+  const resolveImplementors = includeImplementors && hasImplementsEdges(db);
+
   const visited = new Set([startId]);
   const levels = {};
   let frontier = [startId];
@@ -47,7 +63,7 @@ export function bfsTransitiveCallers(
   // Seed: if start node is an interface/trait, include its implementors at depth 1.
   // Implementors go into a separate list so their callers appear at depth 2, not depth 1.
   const implNextFrontier = [];
-  if (includeImplementors) {
+  if (resolveImplementors) {
     const startNode = findNodeById(db, startId);
     if (startNode && INTERFACE_LIKE_KINDS.has(startNode.kind)) {
       const impls = findImplementors(db, startId);
@@ -88,7 +104,7 @@ export function bfsTransitiveCallers(
 
         // If a caller is an interface/trait, also pull in its implementors
         // Implementors are one extra hop away, so record at d+1
-        if (includeImplementors && INTERFACE_LIKE_KINDS.has(c.kind)) {
+        if (resolveImplementors && INTERFACE_LIKE_KINDS.has(c.kind)) {
           const impls = findImplementors(db, c.id);
           for (const impl of impls) {
             if (!visited.has(impl.id) && (!noTests || !isTestFile(impl.file))) {
diff --git a/src/infrastructure/config.js b/src/infrastructure/config.js
index e8439ab0..7f62083b 100644
--- a/src/infrastructure/config.js
+++ b/src/infrastructure/config.js
@@ -130,12 +130,19 @@ export const DEFAULTS = {
   },
 };
 
+// Per-cwd config cache — avoids re-reading the config file on every query call.
+// The config file rarely changes within a single process lifetime.
+const _configCache = new Map();
+
 /**
  * Load project configuration from a .codegraphrc.json or similar file.
- * Returns merged config with defaults.
+ * Returns merged config with defaults. Results are cached per cwd.
  */
 export function loadConfig(cwd) {
   cwd = cwd || process.cwd();
+  const cached = _configCache.get(cwd);
+  if (cached) return structuredClone(cached);
+
   for (const name of CONFIG_FILES) {
     const filePath = path.join(cwd, name);
     if (fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
@@ -148,13 +155,26 @@ export function loadConfig(cwd) {
           merged.query.excludeTests = Boolean(config.excludeTests);
         }
         delete merged.excludeTests;
-        return resolveSecrets(applyEnvOverrides(merged));
+        const result = resolveSecrets(applyEnvOverrides(merged));
+        _configCache.set(cwd, structuredClone(result));
+        return result;
       } catch (err) {
         debug(`Failed to parse config ${filePath}: ${err.message}`);
       }
     }
   }
-  return resolveSecrets(applyEnvOverrides({ ...DEFAULTS }));
+  const defaults = resolveSecrets(applyEnvOverrides({ ...DEFAULTS }));
+  _configCache.set(cwd, structuredClone(defaults));
+  return defaults;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Clear the config cache. Intended for long-running processes that need to
+ * pick up on-disk config changes, and for test isolation when tests share
+ * the same cwd.
+ */
+export function clearConfigCache() {
+  _configCache.clear();
 }
 
 const ENV_LLM_MAP = {