diff --git a/__tests__/extraction.test.ts b/__tests__/extraction.test.ts
index b497af6a9..733512bed 100644
--- a/__tests__/extraction.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/extraction.test.ts
@@ -3393,6 +3393,37 @@ describe('Directory Exclusion', () => {
     expect(files[0]).toBe('src/components/Button.tsx');
     expect(files[0]).not.toContain('\\');
   });
+
+  it('should index tracked files under CJK directories in git repos (issue #541)', async () => {
+    const { execFileSync } = await import('child_process');
+    const git = (cwd: string, ...args: string[]) =>
+      execFileSync('git', args, { cwd, stdio: 'pipe' });
+
+    const root = path.join(tempDir, 'cjk-root');
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.join(root, 'src', 'english'), { recursive: true });
+    fs.mkdirSync(path.join(root, 'src', '中文目录'), { recursive: true });
+
+    git(root, 'init', '-q');
+    git(root, 'config', 'user.email', 'test@test.com');
+    git(root, 'config', 'user.name', 'Test');
+
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(root, 'src', 'english', 'Foo.cs'),
+      'namespace Demo;\npublic class Foo { public void Bar() {} }\n'
+    );
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(root, 'src', '中文目录', 'Baz.cs'),
+      'namespace Demo;\npublic class Baz { public void Qux() {} }\n'
+    );
+
+    git(root, 'add', '-A');
+    git(root, 'commit', '-q', '-m', 'cjk paths');
+
+    const files = scanDirectory(root);
+
+    expect(files).toContain('src/english/Foo.cs');
+    expect(files).toContain('src/中文目录/Baz.cs');
+  });
 });
 
 describe('Git Submodules', () => {
diff --git a/__tests__/sync.test.ts b/__tests__/sync.test.ts
index 708a92a42..71c9d4611 100644
--- a/__tests__/sync.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/sync.test.ts
@@ -225,6 +225,41 @@ describe('Sync Module', () => {
       expect(nodes.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
     });
 
+    it('should detect new untracked files under CJK directories via git', async () => {
+      fs.mkdirSync(path.join(testDir, 'src', '中文目录'), { recursive: true });
+      fs.writeFileSync(
+        path.join(testDir, 'src', '中文目录', 'new.ts'),
+        `export function cjkFunc() { return 42; }`
+      );
+
+      const result = await cg.sync();
+
+      expect(result.filesAdded).toBe(1);
+      expect(result.changedFilePaths).toContain('src/中文目录/new.ts');
+      expect(cg.searchNodes('cjkFunc').length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    });
+
+    it('should detect modified tracked files under CJK directories via git', async () => {
+      const cjkDir = path.join(testDir, 'src', '中文目录');
+      const filePath = path.join(cjkDir, 'tracked.ts');
+      fs.mkdirSync(cjkDir, { recursive: true });
+      fs.writeFileSync(filePath, `export function cjkTracked() { return 1; }`);
+      git('add', '-A');
+      git('commit', '-m', 'add cjk tracked file');
+      await cg.sync();
+
+      fs.writeFileSync(filePath, `export function renamedCjkTracked() { return 7; }`);
+
+      const changes = cg.getChangedFiles();
+      expect(changes.modified).toContain('src/中文目录/tracked.ts');
+
+      const result = await cg.sync();
+      expect(result.filesModified).toBe(1);
+      expect(result.changedFilePaths).toContain('src/中文目录/tracked.ts');
+      expect(cg.searchNodes('renamedCjkTracked').length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      expect(cg.searchNodes('cjkTracked').length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    });
+
     it('should stop reporting untracked files once they are indexed (issue #206)', async () => {
       // Untracked files stay `??` in git status even after codegraph indexes
       // them. Change detection must compare them against the DB by hash, not
diff --git a/src/extraction/index.ts b/src/extraction/index.ts
index 42037d7f6..30cc7252c 100644
--- a/src/extraction/index.ts
+++ b/src/extraction/index.ts
@@ -198,32 +198,32 @@ function collectGitFiles(repoDir: string, prefix: string, files: Set<string>): v
   // Without this, monorepos using submodules index 0 files. (See issue #147.)
   // Note: --recurse-submodules only supports -c/--cached and --stage modes — it
   // can't be combined with -o, so untracked files are gathered separately below.
-  const tracked = execFileSync('git', ['ls-files', '-c', '--recurse-submodules'], gitOpts);
-  for (const line of tracked.split('\n')) {
-    const trimmed = line.trim();
-    if (trimmed) {
-      files.add(normalizePath(prefix + trimmed));
+  const tracked = execFileSync('git', ['ls-files', '-z', '-c', '--recurse-submodules'], gitOpts);
+  for (const entry of tracked.split('\0')) {
+    const filePath = entry.trim();
+    if (filePath) {
+      files.add(normalizePath(prefix + filePath));
     }
   }
 
   // Untracked files (submodules manage their own untracked state). Embedded git
   // repos surface here as a single "subdir/" entry that git refuses to descend
   // into — recurse into those as their own repos so their source gets indexed.
-  const untracked = execFileSync('git', ['ls-files', '-o', '--exclude-standard'], gitOpts);
-  for (const line of untracked.split('\n')) {
-    const trimmed = line.trim();
-    if (!trimmed) continue;
-    if (trimmed.endsWith('/')) {
+  const untracked = execFileSync('git', ['ls-files', '-z', '-o', '--exclude-standard'], gitOpts);
+  for (const entry of untracked.split('\0')) {
+    const filePath = entry.trim();
+    if (!filePath) continue;
+    if (filePath.endsWith('/')) {
       // git only emits a trailing-slash directory entry for an embedded repo.
       // Guard with a .git check anyway, and skip anything else exactly as git
       // itself skips it (we never descend into a non-repo opaque dir).
-      const childDir = path.join(repoDir, trimmed);
+      const childDir = path.join(repoDir, filePath);
       if (fs.existsSync(path.join(childDir, '.git'))) {
-        collectGitFiles(childDir, prefix + trimmed, files);
+        collectGitFiles(childDir, prefix + filePath, files);
       }
       continue;
     }
-    files.add(normalizePath(prefix + trimmed));
+    files.add(normalizePath(prefix + filePath));
   }
 }
 
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ function getGitChangedFiles(rootDir: string): GitChanges | null {
   try {
     const output = execFileSync(
       'git',
-      ['status', '--porcelain', '--no-renames'],
+      ['status', '--porcelain', '-z', '--no-renames'],
       { cwd: rootDir, encoding: 'utf-8', timeout: 10000, stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'pipe'], windowsHide: true }
     );
 
@@ -298,11 +298,11 @@ function getGitChangedFiles(rootDir: string): GitChanges | null {
     const added: string[] = [];
     const deleted: string[] = [];
 
-    for (const line of output.split('\n')) {
-      if (line.length < 4) continue; // Minimum: "XY file"
+    for (const entry of output.split('\0')) {
+      if (entry.length < 4) continue; // Minimum: "XY file"
 
-      const statusCode = line.substring(0, 2);
-      const filePath = normalizePath(line.substring(3));
+      const statusCode = entry.substring(0, 2);
+      const filePath = normalizePath(entry.substring(3));
 
       // Skip non-source files (git status already omits .gitignored paths).
       if (!isSourceFile(filePath)) continue;