diff --git a/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
index a1620ce..5ec389c 100644
--- a/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "scribe",
   "description": "Scribe for Claude Code: connects the scribe MCP server, adds the hooks that deliver live project state and relevant records at the right moment, ships the shared client-neutral Scribe skills (using-scribe, writing-plans, reporting-back, systematic-debugging, verification, brainstorming, reusing-code, shape-accounting), and syncs your saved Scribe Processes as skills (/scribe:sync).",
-  "version": "2026.09.23.2007",
+  "version": "2026.09.23.2008",
   "author": {
     "name": "Bryan Van Deusen"
   },
diff --git a/plugin/hooks/scribe_defs.sh b/plugin/hooks/scribe_defs.sh
index 661d58a..675cfab 100644
--- a/plugin/hooks/scribe_defs.sh
+++ b/plugin/hooks/scribe_defs.sh
@@ -151,7 +151,10 @@ scribe_recent_context() {
       ' 2>/dev/null \
     | scribe_json_unescape \
     | tr '\n\t' '  ' \
-    | awk '{ n = length($0); print (n > 600 ? substr($0, n - 599) : $0) }'
+    | awk '{ sub(/[ ]+$/, ""); n = length($0); if (n) print (n > 600 ? substr($0, n - 599) : $0) }'
+  # A transcript with no reply yet is an answer ("nothing"), not a failure —
+  # under pipefail the grep that matched nothing would otherwise be the status.
+  return 0
 }
 
 # $1 flat text, $2 exact path → the decoded scalar, or "" if absent.