diff --git a/lib/galaxy/tool_source_store/search.py b/lib/galaxy/tool_source_store/search.py
index fe028b6ebf5..bb95df3e5d6 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/tool_source_store/search.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/tool_source_store/search.py
@@ -238,10 +238,13 @@ class ToolWhooshIndex:
                 writer.delete_by_term("id", stale_id)
         return written
 
-    def search(self, query: str, limit: int = 50) -> list[str]:
+    def search(self, query: str, limit: int | None = None) -> list[str]:
         """Return tool ids ranked for ``query`` (most-relevant first).
 
-        ``limit`` matches the cap on the existing hand-rolled scorer.
+        ``limit=None`` returns every match — the eager
+        ``ToolPanelViewSearch`` searches unlimited, and capped results
+        truncate uniform-score hits arbitrarily (a tag query fanning out to
+        23 tools would silently lose the last 3 in doc-insertion order).
         """
         if not query or not query.strip():
             return []
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/tools/search/__init__.py b/lib/galaxy/tools/search/__init__.py
index 53135bc9cdb..62e93eacd4b 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/tools/search/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/tools/search/__init__.py
@@ -170,7 +170,9 @@ class LazyToolboxSearch(ToolBoxSearch):
         if index_dir is None:
             return []
         searcher = ToolWhooshIndex(index_dir=index_dir, tuning=ToolSearchTuning.from_config(config))
-        return searcher.search(q, limit=int(config.tool_search_limit))
+        # limit=None matches ToolPanelViewSearch below, which searches
+        # unlimited — capping here would truncate uniform-score matches.
+        return searcher.search(q, limit=None)
 
 
 class ToolPanelViewSearch: