diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.logic.ts b/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.logic.ts
--- a/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.logic.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.logic.ts
@@ -51,10 +51,8 @@
 export function filterBrowseEntries(input: {
   browseEntries: ReadonlyArray<FilesystemBrowseEntry>;
   browseFilterQuery: string;
-  highlightedItemValue: string | null;
 }): {
   filteredEntries: FilesystemBrowseEntry[];
-  highlightedEntry: FilesystemBrowseEntry | null;
   exactEntry: FilesystemBrowseEntry | null;
 } {
   const lowerFilter = input.browseFilterQuery.toLowerCase();
@@ -66,18 +64,12 @@
       (showHidden || !entry.name.startsWith(".")),
   );
 
-  let highlightedEntry: FilesystemBrowseEntry | null = null;
-  if (input.highlightedItemValue?.startsWith("browse:")) {
-    const highlightedPath = input.highlightedItemValue.slice("browse:".length);
-    highlightedEntry = filteredEntries.find((entry) => entry.fullPath === highlightedPath) ?? null;
-  }
-
   const exactEntry =
     input.browseFilterQuery.length > 0
       ? (filteredEntries.find((entry) => entry.name === input.browseFilterQuery) ?? null)
       : null;
 
-  return { filteredEntries, highlightedEntry, exactEntry };
+  return { filteredEntries, exactEntry };
 }
 
 export function getBrowsePrefetchPaths(input: {

diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.tsx b/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.tsx
--- a/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.tsx
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.tsx
@@ -369,8 +369,8 @@
   });
   const browseEntries = browseResult?.entries ?? EMPTY_BROWSE_ENTRIES;
   const { filteredEntries: filteredBrowseEntries, exactEntry: exactBrowseEntry } = useMemo(
-    () => filterBrowseEntries({ browseEntries, browseFilterQuery, highlightedItemValue }),
-    [browseEntries, browseFilterQuery, highlightedItemValue],
+    () => filterBrowseEntries({ browseEntries, browseFilterQuery }),
+    [browseEntries, browseFilterQuery],
   );
 
   const prefetchBrowsePath = useCallback(

diff --git a/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.logic.test.ts b/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.logic.test.ts
--- a/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.logic.test.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/components/CommandPalette.logic.test.ts
@@ -167,26 +167,36 @@
 });
 
 describe("getBrowsePrefetchPaths", () => {
-  it("prefetches the parent path and an exact typed child path", () => {
+  it("prefetches child path when query has no trailing separator and an exact entry matches", () => {
     expect(
       getBrowsePrefetchPaths({
         browseQuery: "~/Downloads",
-        canBrowseUp: true,
+        canBrowseUp: false,
         exactEntry: {
           name: "Downloads",
           fullPath: "/Users/test/Downloads",
         },
       }),
-    ).toEqual(["~/", "~/Downloads/"]);
+    ).toEqual(["~/Downloads/"]);
   });
 
-  it("does not prefetch a child path when the user only has a highlighted browse row", () => {
+  it("prefetches parent path when query has a trailing separator", () => {
     expect(
       getBrowsePrefetchPaths({
-        browseQuery: "~/Do",
+        browseQuery: "~/Downloads/",
         canBrowseUp: true,
         exactEntry: null,
       }),
     ).toEqual(["~/"]);
   });
+
+  it("returns no paths for a partial query with no exact match", () => {
+    expect(
+      getBrowsePrefetchPaths({
+        browseQuery: "~/Do",
+        canBrowseUp: false,
+        exactEntry: null,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual([]);
+  });
 });