diff --git a/src/pipeline/pass_parallel.c b/src/pipeline/pass_parallel.c
index eabd6ff84..a34b45eb9 100644
--- a/src/pipeline/pass_parallel.c
+++ b/src/pipeline/pass_parallel.c
@@ -2613,7 +2613,13 @@ static void resolve_file_usages(resolve_ctx_t *rc, resolve_worker_state_t *ws,
         if (!tgt || src->id == tgt->id) {
             continue;
         }
-        char uprops[CBM_SZ_256];
+        /* 512, matching the sequential twin in pass_usages.c. esc_ref holds up
+         * to 255 bytes and the {"callee":"..."} wrapper adds 13, so a 256-byte
+         * uprops truncates a long callable identifier mid-string -- cutting the
+         * closing quote-brace and persisting MALFORMED JSON. The two paths must
+         * also agree: the same repo indexed in parallel and sequentially has to
+         * produce byte-identical edge properties. */
+        char uprops[CBM_SZ_512];
         char esc_ref[CBM_SZ_256]; /* sliced source text: escape quotes/newlines */
         cbm_json_escape(esc_ref, sizeof(esc_ref), usage->ref_name);
         snprintf(uprops, sizeof(uprops), "{\"callee\":\"%s\"}", esc_ref);
diff --git a/src/pipeline/pipeline.c b/src/pipeline/pipeline.c
index 99ba265a8..30386269e 100644
--- a/src/pipeline/pipeline.c
+++ b/src/pipeline/pipeline.c
@@ -1316,14 +1316,20 @@ static int try_incremental_or_delete_db(cbm_pipeline_t *p, cbm_file_info_t *file
     cbm_log_info("pipeline.route", "path", "incremental_manifest");
     int rc = cbm_pipeline_run_incremental(p, db_path, files, file_count, baseline_manifest,
                                           baseline_count);
+    /* Delete the existing generation ONLY when we are about to rebuild it.
+     * On main this was guarded by an early `return rc` for the incremental
+     * path; this function has no such early return, so the delete must be
+     * conditional. Unconditionally removing it destroys the database on the
+     * no-op and successful-incremental routes -- the pipeline reports success
+     * while every later reader finds no store. */
     if (rc == CBM_PIPELINE_FORCE_FULL_REINDEX) {
         int adr_rc = capture_existing_adr(p, db_path);
         if (adr_rc != 0) {
             rc = adr_rc;
         }
+        (void)cbm_unlink(db_path);
+        (void)cbm_remove_db_sidecars(db_path);
     }
-    (void)cbm_unlink(db_path);
-    (void)cbm_remove_db_sidecars(db_path);
     free(db_path);
     return rc;
 }