diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/queue/migrations.py b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/queue/migrations.py
index 6cb01525..c7fde7e7 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/queue/migrations.py
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/queue/migrations.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import sqlalchemy as sa
-from sqlalchemy.engine import make_url
+from sqlalchemy.engine import URL, make_url
 from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncEngine, create_async_engine
 
 from haiku.rag.config.models import QueueConfig
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ def make_engine(config: QueueConfig) -> AsyncEngine:
     else:
         path = config.path.expanduser().resolve()
         path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        url = make_url(f"sqlite+aiosqlite:///{path}")
+        # URL.create keeps the path literal — building a string and reparsing
+        # would treat `?`/`#` in the filename as query/fragment.
+        url = URL.create("sqlite+aiosqlite", database=str(path))
 
     if url.get_backend_name() == "sqlite":
         engine = create_async_engine(url, pool_size=1, max_overflow=0)
diff --git a/tests/ingester/test_queue.py b/tests/ingester/test_queue.py
index c7d9529b..058b4f77 100644
--- a/tests/ingester/test_queue.py
+++ b/tests/ingester/test_queue.py
@@ -44,6 +44,19 @@ async def test_open_queue_creates_file_and_schema(tmp_path):
         await eng.dispose()
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_open_queue_handles_path_with_url_chars(tmp_path):
+    """A `?` (or `#`) is a valid POSIX filename char but has URL meaning.
+    The queue must open the literal file, not a truncated one."""
+    path = tmp_path / "queue?weird.db"
+    eng = await open_queue(QueueConfig(path=path))
+    try:
+        assert path.exists()
+        assert not (tmp_path / "queue").exists()
+    finally:
+        await eng.dispose()
+
+
 # --- enqueue ---