diff --git a/.jules/bolt.md b/.jules/bolt.md
index 341c7c91..6efd4673 100644
--- a/.jules/bolt.md
+++ b/.jules/bolt.md
@@ -67,3 +67,6 @@
 ## 2025-02-12 - [Fast Path Execution in Directory Traversal and Log Parsing]
 **Learning:** Checking for string existence (`if "silence_" not in stderr`) before invoking regex matchers provides significant speed improvements when parsing large blocks of text. Similarly, moving expensive I/O operations like `os.path.realpath` inside conditional blocks prevents redundant disk access when configuration (like path exclusions) isn't utilized.
 **Action:** When working on large text processing or disk operations, verify if early exit conditions or conditional execution can bypass the expensive system or library calls.
+## 2024-06-25 - [Optimize Set Intersections in Hot Loops]
+**Learning:** Using the `&` operator for set intersections creates intermediate sets, leading to unnecessary memory allocations and performance degradation inside hot loops.
+**Action:** Use the in-place `.intersection_update()` method when sequentially intersecting sets to mutate the existing set directly, avoiding intermediate allocations.
diff --git a/transcript_search.py b/transcript_search.py
index 1660c1f2..3f1e1333 100644
--- a/transcript_search.py
+++ b/transcript_search.py
@@ -241,9 +241,11 @@ def search(self, query: str) -> list[Match]:
             postings = self._postings.get(term)
             if not postings:
                 return []
-            candidates = (
-                set(postings) if candidates is None else candidates & postings
-            )
+            if candidates is None:
+                candidates = set(postings)
+            else:
+                # ⚡ Bolt: Use .intersection_update() for in-place set intersection to avoid intermediate memory allocations and improve execution speed.
+                candidates.intersection_update(postings)
             if not candidates:
                 return []