diff --git a/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/community/e2b_sandbox/e2b_sandbox.py b/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/community/e2b_sandbox/e2b_sandbox.py
index ceb79b621b..c03f6adb0a 100644
--- a/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/community/e2b_sandbox/e2b_sandbox.py
+++ b/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/community/e2b_sandbox/e2b_sandbox.py
@@ -462,8 +462,14 @@ class E2BSandbox(Sandbox):
         case_sensitive: bool = False,
         max_results: int = 100,
     ) -> tuple[list[GrepMatch], bool]:
-        regex_source = re.escape(pattern) if literal else pattern
-        re.compile(regex_source, 0 if case_sensitive else re.IGNORECASE)
+        # Sanity-check a regex pattern as a Python regex at the boundary (grep uses
+        # POSIX ERE, but this catches gross errors); a literal needs no validation.
+        # grep receives the RAW pattern: -F matches it literally, -E as a regex.
+        # Escaping it first would double-escape -- fixed-string grep would then
+        # search for the added backslashes as text (``alpha\.beta``) and never
+        # match the exact line (#5626).
+        if not literal:
+            re.compile(pattern, 0 if case_sensitive else re.IGNORECASE)
 
         resolved = self._resolve_path(path)
         # Build a portable ``grep`` invocation:
@@ -492,7 +498,7 @@ class E2BSandbox(Sandbox):
         total_cap = max(max_results * 4, max_results + 50)
         flags.append(f"-m{per_file_cap}")
 
-        search = "grep " + " ".join(flags) + f" -- {shlex.quote(regex_source)} {shlex.quote(resolved)} 2>/dev/null"
+        search = "grep " + " ".join(flags) + f" -- {shlex.quote(pattern)} {shlex.quote(resolved)} 2>/dev/null"
 
         with self._lock:
             client = self._client
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_sandbox_search_contract.py b/backend/tests/test_sandbox_search_contract.py
index 80b668ad90..a46146709b 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_sandbox_search_contract.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_sandbox_search_contract.py
@@ -235,6 +235,32 @@ def test_grep_case_insensitive_and_file_scope(provider, tree):
     assert truncated is False
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("pattern", "line"),
+    [
+        ("alpha.beta", "alpha.beta"),
+        ("hello world", "hello world"),
+        ("x[0]", "x[0]"),
+        ("path\\file", "path\\file"),
+        ("a+b", "a+b"),
+    ],
+    ids=["dot", "space", "brackets", "backslash", "plus"],
+)
+def test_grep_literal_matches_regex_metacharacters(provider, tmp_path, pattern, line):
+    # A literal pattern is matched verbatim: the sandbox must hand the RAW
+    # pattern to ``grep -F``. Re-escaping it first (``alpha\.beta``) makes
+    # fixed-string grep search for the backslash as part of the text, so an
+    # exact line never matches (#5626).
+    root = tmp_path / "literal"
+    root.mkdir()
+    (root / "sample.txt").write_text(f"header\n{line}\ntrailer\n", encoding="utf-8")
+
+    matches, truncated = provider.sandbox.grep(str(root), pattern, literal=True)
+
+    assert [(m.line_number, m.line) for m in matches] == [(2, line)]
+    assert truncated is False
+
+
 def test_grep_glob_filter_is_root_relative(provider, tree):
     matches, truncated = provider.sandbox.grep(str(tree), "needle", glob="nested/*.txt")
     assert [(m.path, m.line_number) for m in matches] == [(str(tree / "nested" / "result.txt"), 1)]