diff --git a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/language-config.ts b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/language-config.ts
index 9836dc0af..1a5257ec7 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/language-config.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/language-config.ts
@@ -574,6 +574,37 @@ function findZonBlockEnd(text: string, start: number): number {
   return -1;
 }
 
+/**
+ * `body` with every nested `{ … }` block (string-aware) replaced by spaces of
+ * equal length, so a regex over the result only sees the block's DIRECT
+ * fields and offsets still line up with the original text.
+ */
+function zonBlankNestedBlocks(body: string): string {
+  const out = body.split('');
+  let depth = 0;
+  let inString = false;
+  for (let i = 0; i < body.length; i++) {
+    const ch = body[i];
+    if (inString) {
+      if (ch === '\\') {
+        if (depth > 0 && i + 1 < body.length) out[i + 1] = ' ';
+        i++;
+      } else if (ch === '"') inString = false;
+      if (depth > 0) out[i] = ' ';
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (ch === '"') inString = true;
+    else if (ch === '{') depth++;
+    else if (ch === '}' && depth > 0) {
+      depth--;
+      out[i] = ' ';
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (depth > 0) out[i] = ' ';
+  }
+  return out.join('');
+}
+
 /**
  * Per-offset "is inside a `"…"` literal" mask for comment-stripped ZON text,
  * so header regexes can reject a match that merely LOOKS like a field
@@ -644,9 +675,19 @@ export function parseZigBuildZon(raw: string): ZigBuildZonConfig | null {
     const bodyStart = m.index + m[0].length;
     const bodyEnd = findZonBlockEnd(text, bodyStart);
     if (bodyEnd < 0 || bodyEnd > end) break;
-    const body = text.slice(bodyStart, bodyEnd);
     cursor = bodyEnd + 1;
-    const pathMatch = body.match(/\.path\s*=\s*"([^"\n]+)"/);
+    // Only a `.path` that is a DIRECT field of the entry counts: a nested
+    // object inside the entry (`.foo = .{ .url = "…", .x = .{ .path = "…" } }`)
+    // must not turn a URL dep into a path dep. Blank nested blocks first and
+    // reject a match that starts inside a string literal.
+    const body = zonBlankNestedBlocks(text.slice(bodyStart, bodyEnd));
+    const pathMatch = matchZonHeader(
+      body,
+      /\.path\s*=\s*"([^"\n]+)"/g,
+      mask.subarray(bodyStart, bodyEnd),
+      0,
+      body.length,
+    );
     if (pathMatch) {
       pathDeps.set(depName, pathMatch[1]);
     }
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/integration/tree-sitter-languages.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/integration/tree-sitter-languages.test.ts
index 3fcf9045c..cdd3c155f 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/integration/tree-sitter-languages.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/integration/tree-sitter-languages.test.ts
@@ -715,23 +715,46 @@ describe('Tree-sitter multi-language parsing', () => {
     });
 
     it('reports Zig unavailable and throws "Unsupported language" when the grammar is absent', async () => {
-      // Force the absent-binding path instead of hoping the package is missing:
-      // the loader's runtime opt-out (`GITNEXUS_SKIP_OPTIONAL_GRAMMARS`) makes a
-      // userSkippable grammar report exactly as an absent binding does. A fresh
-      // module copy is needed because the loader memoizes load results.
-      const ENV = 'GITNEXUS_SKIP_OPTIONAL_GRAMMARS';
-      const previous = process.env[ENV];
-      process.env[ENV] = 'zig';
+      // Exercise the loader's real absent-binding branch (the `source.load()`
+      // catch in `loadGrammar`), not the `GITNEXUS_SKIP_OPTIONAL_GRAMMARS`
+      // opt-out, which is a separate code path with its own test
+      // (parser-loader-skip-optional.test.ts). The Zig row loads through the
+      // module-scoped `createRequire(import.meta.url)`, so stand in for
+      // `node:module` with a require that reports the package missing and
+      // delegates everything else. A fresh module copy is needed because the
+      // loader memoizes load results.
+      const ZIG_PKG = '@tree-sitter-grammars/tree-sitter-zig';
+      vi.doMock('node:module', async (importOriginal) => {
+        const actual = await importOriginal<typeof import('node:module')>();
+        return {
+          ...actual,
+          createRequire: (url: string | URL) => {
+            const real = actual.createRequire(url);
+            const stub = ((id: string) => {
+              if (id === ZIG_PKG) {
+                const err = new Error(`Cannot find module '${id}'`) as NodeJS.ErrnoException;
+                err.code = 'MODULE_NOT_FOUND';
+                throw err;
+              }
+              return real(id);
+            }) as unknown as NodeJS.Require;
+            return Object.assign(stub, real);
+          },
+        };
+      });
+      vi.resetModules();
       try {
-        vi.resetModules();
         const fresh = await import('../../src/core/tree-sitter/parser-loader.js');
+        // Not the opt-out path: the env is untouched.
+        expect(fresh.isGrammarRuntimeSkipped(SupportedLanguages.Zig)).toBe(false);
         expect(fresh.isLanguageAvailable(SupportedLanguages.Zig)).toBe(false);
         await expect(fresh.loadLanguage(SupportedLanguages.Zig)).rejects.toThrow(
           /Unsupported language/,
         );
+        // Optional-grammar failure is non-fatal: the other grammars still load.
+        expect(fresh.isLanguageAvailable(SupportedLanguages.TypeScript)).toBe(true);
       } finally {
-        if (previous === undefined) delete process.env[ENV];
-        else process.env[ENV] = previous;
+        vi.doUnmock('node:module');
         vi.resetModules();
       }
     });
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/zig-extractors.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/zig-extractors.test.ts
index 0598b8fac..afa2a0272 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/unit/zig-extractors.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/zig-extractors.test.ts
@@ -116,6 +116,28 @@ const Counter = struct {
     expect(make.isStatic).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  it('reads the return type from function_declaration’s `type:` field (there is no `return_type`)', () => {
+    // tree-sitter-zig 1.1.2 labels the type after `)` as the `type` field on
+    // function_declaration — the same field NAME parameter nodes use, but on
+    // a different node. There is no `return_type` field: reading that would
+    // drop every Zig return type. Pin both the grammar fact and the extractor.
+    const root = parse(`
+const Counter = struct {
+    n: u32,
+    pub fn add(self: *Counter, by: u32) void { self.n += by; }
+    pub fn make(n: u32) !*Counter { return error.Nope; }
+};
+`).rootNode;
+    const addDecl = find(root, 'function_declaration', 'pub fn add');
+    expect(addDecl.childForFieldName('return_type')).toBeNull();
+    expect(addDecl.childForFieldName('type')?.text).toBe('void');
+
+    const result = extractor.extract(find(root, 'struct_declaration'), ctx);
+    const byName = new Map(result!.methods.map((m) => [m.name, m]));
+    expect(byName.get('add')!.returnType).toBe('void');
+    expect(byName.get('make')!.returnType).toBe('!*Counter');
+  });
+
   it('only a FIRST parameter named self is the receiver', () => {
     const root = parse(`
 const S = struct {
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/zig-import-resolver.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/zig-import-resolver.test.ts
index 4b90a2552..db732d432 100644
--- a/gitnexus/test/unit/zig-import-resolver.test.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/zig-import-resolver.test.ts
@@ -214,6 +214,27 @@ describe('parseZigBuildZon', () => {
     expect(parseZigBuildZon(raw)).toBeNull();
   });
 
+  it('ignores a `.path` nested inside an entry — only a direct field makes a path dep', () => {
+    // A URL dep whose body carries a nested object with its own `.path` must
+    // not be reported as a path dep: the resolver would otherwise add an
+    // import edge to an unrelated `<root>/<nested path>` for `@import("only_url")`.
+    const raw = `
+.{
+    .dependencies = .{
+        .only_url = .{
+            .url = "https://x",
+            .hash = "1220y",
+            .meta = .{ .path = "vendor/unrelated" },
+        },
+        .real = .{ .path = "vendor/real", .extra = .{ .path = "vendor/nested" } },
+    },
+}
+`;
+    const cfg = parseZigBuildZon(raw);
+    expect(cfg).not.toBeNull();
+    expect([...cfg!.pathDeps.entries()]).toEqual([['real', 'vendor/real']]);
+  });
+
   it('returns null when the deps block has no `.path` entries', () => {
     const raw = `
 .{