diff --git a/gitnexus-shared/src/pipeline.ts b/gitnexus-shared/src/pipeline.ts
index 5f7e61c57..70b8645da 100644
--- a/gitnexus-shared/src/pipeline.ts
+++ b/gitnexus-shared/src/pipeline.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ export type PipelinePhase =
   | 'idle'
   | 'extracting'
   | 'structure'
+  | 'hydrate'
   | 'parsing'
   | 'imports'
   | 'calls'
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/hydrate.ts b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/hydrate.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a0c00c2ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/hydrate.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+/**
+ * Phase: hydrate
+ *
+ * In incremental-indexing mode, populates `ctx.graph` with all nodes and
+ * relationships belonging to files OUTSIDE the current closure (i.e., files
+ * that didn't change). This way the parse phase only needs to re-emit nodes
+ * and edges for the closure files, while downstream phases (mro, communities,
+ * processes) see a fully-populated graph and produce results equivalent to a
+ * full rebuild.
+ *
+ * No-op in full-rebuild mode: when `ctx.options.filesToParse` is unset,
+ * the pipeline starts with an empty graph and parses every file (existing
+ * behavior).
+ *
+ * @deps    structure
+ * @reads   allPaths (from structure)
+ * @writes  graph (every node/edge belonging to unchanged files)
+ */
+
+import type { PipelinePhase, PipelineContext, PhaseResult } from './types.js';
+import { getPhaseOutput } from './types.js';
+import type { StructureOutput } from './structure.js';
+import { loadGraphFromLbug } from '../../lbug/lbug-adapter.js';
+import { isDev } from '../utils/env.js';
+import { logger } from '../../logger.js';
+
+export interface HydrateOutput {
+  /** True when this run actually loaded prior state (incremental). */
+  readonly hydrated: boolean;
+  /** Number of nodes loaded from DB (0 in full-rebuild mode). */
+  readonly nodesLoaded: number;
+  /** Number of relationships loaded from DB (0 in full-rebuild mode). */
+  readonly edgesLoaded: number;
+}
+
+export const hydratePhase: PipelinePhase<HydrateOutput> = {
+  name: 'hydrate',
+  deps: ['structure'],
+
+  async execute(
+    ctx: PipelineContext,
+    deps: ReadonlyMap<string, PhaseResult<unknown>>,
+  ): Promise<HydrateOutput> {
+    const filesToParse = ctx.options?.filesToParse;
+
+    // Full-rebuild mode: nothing to hydrate.
+    if (!filesToParse) {
+      return { hydrated: false, nodesLoaded: 0, edgesLoaded: 0 };
+    }
+
+    const { allPaths, totalFiles } = getPhaseOutput<StructureOutput>(deps, 'structure');
+
+    // Compute the unchanged complement: every scanned path NOT in the closure.
+    const unchanged = new Set<string>();
+    for (const p of allPaths) {
+      if (!filesToParse.has(p)) unchanged.add(p);
+    }
+
+    ctx.onProgress({
+      phase: 'hydrate',
+      percent: 22,
+      message: `Hydrating ${unchanged.size} unchanged files from index...`,
+      stats: { filesProcessed: 0, totalFiles, nodesCreated: ctx.graph.nodeCount },
+    });
+
+    const result = await loadGraphFromLbug(ctx.graph, unchanged);
+
+    if (isDev) {
+      logger.info(
+        `💧 Hydrate: ${result.nodesLoaded} nodes, ${result.edgesLoaded} edges loaded for ${unchanged.size} unchanged files (closure: ${filesToParse.size})`,
+      );
+    }
+
+    ctx.onProgress({
+      phase: 'hydrate',
+      percent: 25,
+      message: `Hydrated ${result.nodesLoaded} nodes from previous index`,
+      stats: {
+        filesProcessed: unchanged.size,
+        totalFiles,
+        nodesCreated: ctx.graph.nodeCount,
+      },
+    });
+
+    return {
+      hydrated: true,
+      nodesLoaded: result.nodesLoaded,
+      edgesLoaded: result.edgesLoaded,
+    };
+  },
+};
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/index.ts b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/index.ts
index b1dcf9082..908d6c0a7 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/index.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/index.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 export { scanPhase, type ScanOutput } from './scan.js';
 export { structurePhase, type StructureOutput } from './structure.js';
+export { hydratePhase, type HydrateOutput } from './hydrate.js';
 export { markdownPhase, type MarkdownOutput } from './markdown.js';
 export { cobolPhase, type CobolOutput } from './cobol.js';
 export { parsePhase, type ParseOutput } from './parse.js';
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/parse.ts b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/parse.ts
index a20d1e4b0..d0217d033 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/parse.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline-phases/parse.ts
@@ -96,9 +96,18 @@ export const parsePhase: PipelinePhase<ParseOutput> = {
       'structure',
     );
 
+    // Incremental-indexing filter: when `filesToParse` is set, only the
+    // closure files get parsed in this run. Files outside the closure had
+    // their nodes/edges pre-loaded by the `hydrate` phase. See
+    // docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-10-incremental-indexing-design.md.
+    const filesToParse = ctx.options?.filesToParse;
+    const targetScanned = filesToParse
+      ? scannedFiles.filter((f) => filesToParse.has(f.path))
+      : scannedFiles;
+
     const result = await runChunkedParseAndResolve(
       ctx.graph,
-      scannedFiles,
+      targetScanned,
       allPaths,
       totalFiles,
       ctx.repoPath,
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline.ts b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline.ts
index c220ea224..e93444352 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/pipeline.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import {
   getPhaseOutput,
   scanPhase,
   structurePhase,
+  hydratePhase,
   markdownPhase,
   cobolPhase,
   parsePhase,
@@ -55,6 +56,18 @@ export interface PipelineOptions {
     minFiles?: number;
     minBytes?: number;
   };
+  /**
+   * Incremental-indexing mode: when set, the parse phase only re-parses
+   * files in this set, and the new `hydrate` phase pre-loads node/edge
+   * state for everything else from the existing LadybugDB index.
+   *
+   * Unset (the default) → full-rebuild mode: parse phase processes every
+   * scanned file and hydrate is a no-op. Set by `runFullAnalysis` when it
+   * detects an eligible incremental run; never set by callers directly.
+   *
+   * See `docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-10-incremental-indexing-design.md`.
+   */
+  filesToParse?: ReadonlySet<string>;
 }
 
 // ── Phase registry ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -74,6 +87,7 @@ function buildPhaseList(options?: PipelineOptions): PipelinePhase[] {
   const phases: PipelinePhase[] = [
     scanPhase,
     structurePhase,
+    hydratePhase,
     markdownPhase,
     cobolPhase,
     parsePhase,