diff --git a/plugin/pi/index.ts b/plugin/pi/index.ts
index 33a5523d..5dfbd8fa 100644
--- a/plugin/pi/index.ts
+++ b/plugin/pi/index.ts
@@ -190,6 +190,17 @@ function takeLastFetchTimeoutMethod(): string | undefined {
   return method;
 }
 
+// Whether the most recent engramFetch actually got a 2xx back from the server. engramFetch returns
+// null both for an unreachable server and for a reachable server that answered with a null JSON body
+// (an empty result set); this out-of-band flag lets the tool layer tell those two apart.
+let lastFetchReachedServer = false;
+
+function takeLastFetchReachedServer(): boolean {
+  const reached = lastFetchReachedServer;
+  lastFetchReachedServer = false;
+  return reached;
+}
+
 async function engramFetch<TResponse = unknown>(path: string, opts: FetchOptions = {}): Promise<TResponse | null> {
   const method = opts.method ?? "GET";
   // This call's outcome supersedes any earlier one. A tool call can issue several fetches
@@ -197,6 +208,7 @@ async function engramFetch<TResponse = unknown>(path: string, opts: FetchOptions
   // on the first leg would mislabel an unrelated failure on the second as "may already have
   // been applied", telling the agent not to retry a write that never left the machine.
   lastFetchTimeoutMethod = undefined;
+  lastFetchReachedServer = false;
   let res: Response | undefined;
   let timedOut = false;
   for (let attempt = 0; attempt < ENGRAM_FETCH_MAX_ATTEMPTS; attempt += 1) {
@@ -241,6 +253,10 @@ async function engramFetch<TResponse = unknown>(path: string, opts: FetchOptions
     throw new EngramHttpError(message, res.status, data);
   }
 
+  // The server answered with a 2xx. Record that out-of-band so the tool layer can tell a genuine
+  // empty response (a JSON null body, e.g. a no-hit search) apart from an unreachable server —
+  // engramFetch returns null for both, and only the latter should surface as an outage.
+  lastFetchReachedServer = true;
   return data as TResponse;
 }
 
@@ -821,10 +837,14 @@ async function executeMemoryTool(toolName: string, params: Record<string, unknow
 
   try {
     const data = await callMemoryTool(toolName, params, ctx);
-    if (data === null) {
+    if (data === null && !takeLastFetchReachedServer()) {
+      // A null with no 2xx behind it is a genuine transport failure (unreachable/timeout), not an
+      // empty result. Surface it as an outage; a reachable-but-empty response falls through.
       throw new Error(unreachableMessage(takeLastFetchTimeoutMethod()));
     }
-    const result = { content: [{ type: "text" as const, text: textResult(data) }], details: { data } };
+    // A no-hit search comes back as a null JSON body; render it as an empty list, not "{}".
+    const rendered = data === null && toolName === "mem_search" ? [] : data;
+    const result = { content: [{ type: "text" as const, text: textResult(rendered) }], details: { data: rendered } };
     if (toolName === "mem_doctor" && data && typeof data === "object" && "status" in data && data.status === "error") {
       const errorResult = { ...result, isError: true };
       ctx.ui?.setStatus?.("engram", `🧠 ${project} · ${compactResultStatus(toolName, errorResult)}`);
diff --git a/plugin/pi/test/index-source.test.mjs b/plugin/pi/test/index-source.test.mjs
index 4246eaae..608991b4 100644
--- a/plugin/pi/test/index-source.test.mjs
+++ b/plugin/pi/test/index-source.test.mjs
@@ -56,10 +56,11 @@ function buildEngramFetchForTest({
       ${extractFunctionBody("isTimeoutError", "{\n  return error instanceof Error")}
     }
     let lastFetchTimeoutMethod;
+    let lastFetchReachedServer = false;
     const engramFetch = async function engramFetch(path, opts = {}) {
       ${body}
     };
-    return { engramFetch, timedOutMethod: () => lastFetchTimeoutMethod };
+    return { engramFetch, timedOutMethod: () => lastFetchTimeoutMethod, reachedServer: () => lastFetchReachedServer };
   `,
   );
   return factory(
diff --git a/plugin/pi/test/native-tool-contract.test.mjs b/plugin/pi/test/native-tool-contract.test.mjs
index 459273e2..5baeefa3 100644
--- a/plugin/pi/test/native-tool-contract.test.mjs
+++ b/plugin/pi/test/native-tool-contract.test.mjs
@@ -78,3 +78,87 @@ test("registered Pi-native mem_search reports native provider transport failure"
     await rm(NODE_MODULES, { recursive: true, force: true });
   }
 });
+
+function jsonResponse(status, body) {
+  return { ok: status >= 200 && status < 300, status, json: async () => body };
+}
+
+// Runs mem_search against a stubbed Engram HTTP server. `searchResponder` returns the Response-like
+// object for the /search request; every other endpoint the extension touches during init/project
+// detection gets a permissive 200 so the search path is what the assertions actually exercise.
+async function runMemSearch(searchResponder) {
+  const originalFetch = globalThis.fetch;
+  const originalUrl = process.env.ENGRAM_URL;
+  process.env.ENGRAM_URL = "http://127.0.0.1:17437";
+  globalThis.fetch = async (url) => {
+    const target = String(url);
+    if (target.includes("/search")) return searchResponder();
+    if (target.includes("/project/current")) return jsonResponse(200, { project: "gentle-agent-state" });
+    return jsonResponse(200, {});
+  };
+
+  try {
+    await installRuntimeStubs();
+    const registeredTools = new Map();
+    const pluginUrl = pathToFileURL(join(ROOT, "index.ts"));
+    pluginUrl.search = `?contract=${Date.now()}-${Math.random()}`;
+    const { default: registerEngram } = await import(pluginUrl.href);
+    registerEngram({
+      registerTool(tool) {
+        registeredTools.set(tool.name, tool);
+      },
+      on() {},
+    });
+
+    const memSearch = registeredTools.get("mem_search");
+    assert.ok(memSearch, "mem_search tool should be registered");
+
+    return await memSearch.execute(
+      "tool-call-search",
+      { query: "state markers", project: "gentle-agent-state" },
+      undefined,
+      undefined,
+      {
+        cwd: ROOT,
+        sessionManager: { getSessionId: () => "test-session" },
+        ui: { setStatus() {} },
+      },
+    );
+  } finally {
+    globalThis.fetch = originalFetch;
+    if (originalUrl === undefined) delete process.env.ENGRAM_URL;
+    else process.env.ENGRAM_URL = originalUrl;
+    await rm(NODE_MODULES, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+}
+
+test("mem_search treats a JSON null (no-hit) response as an empty result, not an outage", async () => {
+  const result = await runMemSearch(() => jsonResponse(200, null));
+
+  assert.notEqual(result.isError, true);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(result.content[0].text, /could not reach the Engram HTTP server/);
+  assert.deepEqual(result.details.data, []);
+});
+
+test("mem_search preserves an existing empty array response", async () => {
+  const result = await runMemSearch(() => jsonResponse(200, []));
+
+  assert.notEqual(result.isError, true);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(result.content[0].text, /could not reach the Engram HTTP server/);
+  assert.deepEqual(result.details.data, []);
+});
+
+test("mem_search returns populated results unchanged", async () => {
+  const hits = [{ id: 1, title: "state markers", type: "discovery" }];
+  const result = await runMemSearch(() => jsonResponse(200, hits));
+
+  assert.notEqual(result.isError, true);
+  assert.deepEqual(result.details.data, hits);
+});
+
+test("mem_search surfaces an HTTP non-2xx response as an error", async () => {
+  const result = await runMemSearch(() => jsonResponse(500, { error: "search index offline" }));
+
+  assert.equal(result.isError, true);
+  assert.match(result.content[0].text, /search index offline/);
+});