diff --git a/scripts/repo_gate.py b/scripts/repo_gate.py
index 7c403bd5..1a1fbead 100644
--- a/scripts/repo_gate.py
+++ b/scripts/repo_gate.py
@@ -168,12 +168,12 @@ def check_sha_pin(root: Path, files: list[str]) -> list[str]:
                 unread += 1
             else:
                 resolved += 1
-    if resolved or foreign or unowned or unread:
-        # One fixed shape every run, so a zero in any position is as visible as a count.
-        NOTES.append(f'resolved {resolved} pin(s) against GitHub. Read for shape only: '
-                     f'{foreign} under another owner, {unowned} whose owner could not be '
-                     f"compared because this checkout's origin is unreadable, "
-                     f'{unread} GitHub did not answer for.')
+    # Unconditional, so an all-zero run is as visible as a count rather than a clean line.
+    # A guard on a non-zero counter hides the run that resolved nothing, which is this one.
+    NOTES.append(f'resolved {resolved} pin(s) against GitHub. Read for shape only: '
+                 f'{foreign} under another owner, {unowned} whose owner could not be '
+                 f"compared because this checkout's origin is unreadable, "
+                 f'{unread} GitHub did not answer for.')
     return bad
 
 
diff --git a/scripts/test_repo_gate.py b/scripts/test_repo_gate.py
index 63d4b89d..b31e9c91 100644
--- a/scripts/test_repo_gate.py
+++ b/scripts/test_repo_gate.py
@@ -174,6 +174,20 @@ def test_the_note_carries_every_count_including_the_zeroes(self) -> None:
             with self.subTest(fragment=fragment):
                 self.assertIn(fragment, repo_gate.NOTES[0])
 
+    def test_the_note_prints_where_every_count_is_zero(self) -> None:
+        """The all-zero run is the one the note exists for, and it was the one it skipped.
+
+        Guarded on a non-zero counter, the note went silent on a repository carrying no workflow
+        at all, which is exactly the clean line the docstring says nobody should have to infer
+        the check's narrowness from.
+        """
+        repo_gate.check_sha_pin(self.tmp, [])
+        self.assertEqual(1, len(repo_gate.NOTES))
+        for fragment in ('resolved 0 pin(s)', '0 under another owner',
+                         '0 whose owner could not be compared', '0 GitHub did not answer for'):
+            with self.subTest(fragment=fragment):
+                self.assertIn(fragment, repo_gate.NOTES[0])
+
     def test_a_pin_github_did_not_answer_for_is_skipped_rather_than_failed(self) -> None:
         """Offline, unauthenticated and rate-limited all read as nothing learned, not as absent."""
         self.answers({f'repos/{self.OWNER}/Fleet/commits/{PINNED}': None})