diff --git a/internal/infrastructure/chunker/heading_splitter.go b/internal/infrastructure/chunker/heading_splitter.go
index c9242d91..35555bfa 100644
--- a/internal/infrastructure/chunker/heading_splitter.go
+++ b/internal/infrastructure/chunker/heading_splitter.go
@@ -148,10 +148,11 @@ func coalesceTinyChunks(in []Chunk, chunkSize int) []Chunk {
 	for i := 1; i < len(in); i++ {
 		next := in[i]
 		nextLen := utf8.RuneCountInString(next.Content)
+		sharedHeader := commonHeadingPrefix(cur.ContextHeader, next.ContextHeader)
 		// Adjacent + still-small + would not blow the size budget → merge.
-		if cur.End == next.Start && curLen < target && curLen+nextLen <= chunkSize {
+		if sharedHeader != "" && cur.End == next.Start && curLen < target && curLen+nextLen <= chunkSize {
 			cur.Content += next.Content
-			cur.ContextHeader = commonHeadingPrefix(cur.ContextHeader, next.ContextHeader)
+			cur.ContextHeader = sharedHeader
 			cur.End = next.End
 			curLen += nextLen
 			continue
@@ -274,4 +275,3 @@ func observeSubHeadings(runes []rune, primaryLevel int, h *HeadingHierarchy) {
 		}
 	}
 }
-
diff --git a/internal/infrastructure/chunker/heading_splitter_test.go b/internal/infrastructure/chunker/heading_splitter_test.go
index 82e1509d..fb629ee8 100644
--- a/internal/infrastructure/chunker/heading_splitter_test.go
+++ b/internal/infrastructure/chunker/heading_splitter_test.go
@@ -202,6 +202,27 @@ embedding 表缺列。`
 	}
 }
 
+func TestSplitByHeadings_DoesNotCoalesceDistinctTopLevelHeadings(t *testing.T) {
+	doc := `# Intro
+short intro.
+
+# Usage
+short usage.
+
+# FAQ
+short faq.`
+	cfg := SplitterConfig{ChunkSize: 500, ChunkOverlap: 0}
+	chunks := splitByHeadingsImpl(doc, cfg, nil)
+	if len(chunks) != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected one chunk per top-level heading, got %d:\n%v", len(chunks), chunks)
+	}
+	for i, heading := range []string{"# Intro", "# Usage", "# FAQ"} {
+		if !strings.Contains(chunks[i].Content, heading) {
+			t.Errorf("chunk %d should contain heading %q, got:\n%s", i, heading, chunks[i].Content)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // TestSplitByHeadings_CoalescePreservesPositionInvariant guards the
 // End-Start == len([]rune(Content)) invariant after merging. Adjacent
 // chunks (cur.End == next.Start) must concatenate cleanly; the merge must
diff --git a/internal/infrastructure/chunker/strategy_test.go b/internal/infrastructure/chunker/strategy_test.go
index 48a8803e..205bf276 100644
--- a/internal/infrastructure/chunker/strategy_test.go
+++ b/internal/infrastructure/chunker/strategy_test.go
@@ -48,6 +48,27 @@ func TestSplit_AutoStrategy_PicksHeadingForMarkdownDoc(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestSplit_HeadingStrategyKeepsDistinctTopLevelHeadings(t *testing.T) {
+	doc := `# Intro
+short intro.
+
+# Usage
+short usage.
+
+# FAQ
+short faq.`
+	cfg := SplitterConfig{ChunkSize: 500, ChunkOverlap: 0, Strategy: StrategyHeading}
+	chunks := Split(doc, cfg)
+	if len(chunks) != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected one chunk per top-level heading, got %d:\n%v", len(chunks), chunks)
+	}
+	for i, heading := range []string{"# Intro", "# Usage", "# FAQ"} {
+		if !strings.Contains(chunks[i].Content, heading) {
+			t.Errorf("chunk %d should contain heading %q, got:\n%s", i, heading, chunks[i].Content)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 // TestSplit_PreservesPositionInvariantAcrossTiers ensures every chunk's
 // (Start, End, Content) triple stays consistent — End-Start must equal the
 // rune length of Content, and runes[Start:End] must equal Content. This is