diff --git a/packages/core/src/utils/filesearch/fileSearch.test.ts b/packages/core/src/utils/filesearch/fileSearch.test.ts
index 2deea82d..316f17ec 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/utils/filesearch/fileSearch.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/utils/filesearch/fileSearch.test.ts
@@ -566,6 +566,35 @@ describe('FileSearch', () => {
     expect(limitedResults).toEqual(['file1.js', 'file2.js']);
   });
 
+  it('should handle file paths with special characters that need escaping', async () => {
+    tmpDir = await createTmpDir({
+      src: {
+        'file with (special) chars.txt': '',
+        'another-file.txt': '',
+      },
+    });
+
+    const fileSearch = FileSearchFactory.create({
+      projectRoot: tmpDir,
+      useGitignore: false,
+      useGeminiignore: false,
+      ignoreDirs: [],
+      cache: false,
+      cacheTtl: 0,
+      enableRecursiveFileSearch: true,
+    });
+
+    await fileSearch.initialize();
+
+    // Search for the file using a pattern that contains special characters.
+    // The `unescapePath` function should handle the escaped path correctly.
+    const results = await fileSearch.search(
+      'src/file with \\(special\\) chars.txt',
+    );
+
+    expect(results).toEqual(['src/file with (special) chars.txt']);
+  });
+
   describe('DirectoryFileSearch', () => {
     it('should search for files in the current directory', async () => {
       tmpDir = await createTmpDir({
diff --git a/packages/core/src/utils/filesearch/fileSearch.ts b/packages/core/src/utils/filesearch/fileSearch.ts
index fa36dab4..876d37f0 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/utils/filesearch/fileSearch.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/utils/filesearch/fileSearch.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import { Ignore, loadIgnoreRules } from './ignore.js';
 import { ResultCache } from './result-cache.js';
 import { crawl } from './crawler.js';
 import { AsyncFzf, FzfResultItem } from 'fzf';
+import { unescapePath } from '../paths.js';
 
 export interface FileSearchOptions {
   projectRoot: string;
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ class RecursiveFileSearch implements FileSearch {
       throw new Error('Engine not initialized. Call initialize() first.');
     }
 
-    pattern = pattern || '*';
+    pattern = unescapePath(pattern) || '*';
 
     let filteredCandidates;
     const { files: candidates, isExactMatch } =