diff --git a/app/db/drizzle-client.server.ts b/app/db/drizzle-client.server.ts
index 14eedc95d9..a4f829d1e8 100644
--- a/app/db/drizzle-client.server.ts
+++ b/app/db/drizzle-client.server.ts
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ const bookmarkEntries = mysqlTable("bookmarkEntries", {
   ...timestampColumns,
   //
   text: text("text").notNull(),
+  textCharacters: json<string[]>("textCharacters").notNull(),
   side: int("side").notNull(), // 0 | 1
   offset: int("offset").notNull(),
 });
diff --git a/app/db/migrations/20230511032932_bookmarkEntries-text-fulltext-key.ts b/app/db/migrations/20230511032932_bookmarkEntries-text-fulltext-key.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..977830cb29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/db/migrations/20230511032932_bookmarkEntries-text-fulltext-key.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import type { Knex } from "knex";
+
+export async function up(knex: Knex) {
+  await knex.raw(
+    "ALTER TABLE `bookmarkEntries` ADD COLUMN `textCharacters` json NOT NULL DEFAULT (json_array()) AFTER `text`, ADD KEY `bookmarkEntries_textCharacters_key` ((cast(`textCharacters` as char(1) array))), ADD FULLTEXT KEY `text` (`text`) /*!50100 WITH PARSER `ngram` */ ;"
+  );
+}
+
+export async function down(knex: Knex) {
+  await knex.raw(
+    "ALTER TABLE `bookmarkEntries` DROP COLUMN `textCharacters`, DROP KEY `bookmarkEntries_textCharacters_key`, DROP KEY `text`;"
+  );
+}
diff --git a/app/db/skeema/README.md b/app/db/skeema/README.md
index 8f774974ab..4875f1ebd8 100644
--- a/app/db/skeema/README.md
+++ b/app/db/skeema/README.md
@@ -3,27 +3,24 @@
 we started to experiment with skeema.
 we still use knex to apply migrations, but it's already useful enough during development.
 
-## generate knex migrations
+## generate up/down migrations
 
 ```
 # 0. update skeema/some-table.sql
 
-# 1. generate empty knex migration
-pnpm knex migrate:make some-migration
-
-# 2. diff for `up` knex migration
+# 1. diff for "up" migration
 pnpm skeema diff --allow-unsafe
 
-# 3. apply knex migration
-pnpm knex migrate:up
+# 2. apply "up"
+pnpm skeema push --allow-unsafe
 
-# 4. temporary revert skeema/some-table.sql
+# 3. temporary revert skeema/some-table.sql
 git stash
 
-# 5. diff for `down` knex migration
+# 4. diff for "down" migration
 pnpm skeema diff --allow-unsafe
 
-# 6. restore skeema/some-table.sql
+# 5. restore skeema/some-table.sql
 git stash pop
 ```
 
diff --git a/app/db/skeema/bookmarkEntries.sql b/app/db/skeema/bookmarkEntries.sql
index 4a50f21799..b9cb1a0fe6 100644
--- a/app/db/skeema/bookmarkEntries.sql
+++ b/app/db/skeema/bookmarkEntries.sql
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 CREATE TABLE `bookmarkEntries` (
   `id` bigint NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
   `text` text NOT NULL,
+  `textCharacters` json NOT NULL DEFAULT (json_array()),
   `side` int NOT NULL,
   `offset` int NOT NULL,
   `createdAt` datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
@@ -11,5 +12,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `bookmarkEntries` (
   PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
   KEY `bookmarkEntries_userId_createdAt_key` (`userId`,`createdAt`),
   KEY `bookmarkEntries_videoId_key` (`videoId`),
-  KEY `bookmarkEntries_captionEntryId_key` (`captionEntryId`)
+  KEY `bookmarkEntries_captionEntryId_key` (`captionEntryId`),
+  KEY `bookmarkEntries_textCharacters_key` ((cast(`textCharacters` as char(1) array))),
+  FULLTEXT KEY `text` (`text`) /*!50100 WITH PARSER `ngram` */ 
 ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci;
diff --git a/app/misc/cli.ts b/app/misc/cli.ts
index 9299116043..7e844b544a 100644
--- a/app/misc/cli.ts
+++ b/app/misc/cli.ts
@@ -525,6 +525,25 @@ async function fixBookmarkEntriesOffset(rawArgs: unknown) {
   console.log({ stats });
 }
 
+//
+// resetBookmarkEntriesTextChars
+//
+
+cli
+  .command(resetBookmarkEntriesTextCharacters.name)
+  .action(resetBookmarkEntriesTextCharacters);
+
+async function resetBookmarkEntriesTextCharacters() {
+  const rows = await db.select().from(T.bookmarkEntries);
+
+  for (const row of rows) {
+    await db
+      .update(T.bookmarkEntries)
+      .set({ textCharacters: Array.from(row.text), updatedAt: row.updatedAt })
+      .where(E.eq(T.bookmarkEntries.id, row.id));
+  }
+}
+
 //
 // main
 //
diff --git a/app/trpc/routes/bookmarks.ts b/app/trpc/routes/bookmarks.ts
index ce26f43915..8956e07104 100644
--- a/app/trpc/routes/bookmarks.ts
+++ b/app/trpc/routes/bookmarks.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ export const trpcRoutesBookmarks = {
       // insert with counter cache increment
       const [{ insertId }] = await db.insert(T.bookmarkEntries).values({
         ...input,
+        textCharacters: Array.from(input.text),
         userId: ctx.user.id,
       });
       await db
@@ -121,8 +122,16 @@ export const trpcRoutesBookmarks = {
         .where(
           E.and(
             E.eq(T.bookmarkEntries.userId, ctx.user.id),
-            // TODO: index
-            mapOption(input.q, (v) => E.like(T.bookmarkEntries.text, `%${v}%`))
+            mapOption(input.q, (q) => {
+              // default ngram size 2 doesn't support single character search,
+              // so we rely on JSON array multi-valued index.
+              if (q.length === 1) {
+                // https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/create-index.html#create-index-multi-valued
+                return sql`${q} MEMBER OF(${T.bookmarkEntries.textCharacters})`;
+              }
+              // https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/fulltext-boolean.html
+              return sql`MATCH (${T.bookmarkEntries.text}) AGAINST (${q} IN BOOLEAN MODE)`;
+            })
           )
         )
         .orderBy(E.desc(T.bookmarkEntries.createdAt))
diff --git a/app/utils/practice-system.test.ts b/app/utils/practice-system.test.ts
index 3fedd44af6..bd62371cae 100644
--- a/app/utils/practice-system.test.ts
+++ b/app/utils/practice-system.test.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ describe("PracticeSystem", () => {
       .insert(T.bookmarkEntries)
       .values({
         text: "Bonjour à tous",
+        textCharacters: [],
         side: 0,
         offset: 8,
         userId: hook.user.id,