diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.ps1 b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.ps1
index 10b13f0f..02ed77e5 100644
--- a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.ps1
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.ps1
@@ -85,10 +85,6 @@ function Get-QueueState {
         $state = "$($Payload.state)".ToLowerInvariant()
     }
 
-    if ($pending -contains $state) { return "pending" }
-    if ($failure -contains $state) { return "terminal-failure" }
-    if ($success -contains $state) { return "terminal-success" }
-
     $values = @()
     $statuses = @()
     if ($null -ne $Payload.statuses) { $statuses = @($Payload.statuses) }
@@ -101,7 +97,15 @@ function Get-QueueState {
         if (-not [string]::IsNullOrEmpty($v)) { $values += $v }
     }
 
-    if ($values.Count -eq 0 -and [string]::IsNullOrEmpty($state)) { return "no-status" }
+    # Zero contexts is classified FIRST: Gitea reports a synthetic aggregate
+    # state of "pending" alongside statuses:null / total_count:0 (a commit
+    # with no CI at all), and honoring that aggregate would poll to the
+    # timeout. With zero contexts there is nothing to wait on.
+    if ($values.Count -eq 0) { return "no-status" }
+
+    if ($pending -contains $state) { return "pending" }
+    if ($failure -contains $state) { return "terminal-failure" }
+    if ($success -contains $state) { return "terminal-success" }
     if (($values | Where-Object { $pending -contains $_ }).Count -gt 0) { return "pending" }
     if (($values | Where-Object { $failure -contains $_ }).Count -gt 0) { return "terminal-failure" }
     if ($values.Count -gt 0 -and ($values | Where-Object { -not ($success -contains $_) }).Count -eq 0) { return "terminal-success" }
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.sh
index d4f49b87..4d3c18ef 100755
--- a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.sh
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/ci-queue-wait.sh
@@ -52,7 +52,11 @@ except Exception:
     print("malformed")
     raise SystemExit(0)
 
+# Gitea returns "statuses": null (not []) for a commit with zero status
+# contexts -- e.g. any repo with no CI configured. Treat null as empty.
 raw_statuses = payload.get("statuses", [])
+if raw_statuses is None:
+    raw_statuses = []
 raw_state = payload.get("state", "")
 if not isinstance(raw_statuses, list) or not isinstance(raw_state, str):
     print("malformed")
@@ -75,14 +79,18 @@ for item in statuses:
         raise SystemExit(0)
     values.append(raw_value.lower())
 
-if any(value in pending_values for value in values) or state in pending_values:
+# Zero contexts is classified FIRST: Gitea reports a synthetic aggregate
+# state of "pending" alongside total_count:0, and an aggregate with no
+# contexts behind it must not read as an in-flight pipeline (it would poll
+# to the timeout). With zero contexts there is nothing to wait on.
+if not values:
+    print("no-status")
+elif any(value in pending_values for value in values) or state in pending_values:
     print("pending")
 elif any(value in failure_values for value in values) or state in failure_values:
     print("terminal-failure")
-elif values and all(value in success_values for value in values) and state in {"", "success"}:
+elif all(value in success_values for value in values) and state in {"", "success"}:
     print("terminal-success")
-elif not values:
-    print("no-status")
 else:
     print("unknown")
 '
@@ -465,9 +473,18 @@ while true; do
         no-status)
             if [[ "$REQUIRE_STATUS" -eq 1 ]]; then
                 echo "Error: ASSERTED_NOT_READY state=no-status; --require-status was set for ${BRANCH}." >&2
-            else
-                echo "Error: ASSERTED_NOT_READY state=no-status purpose=${PURPOSE} branch=${BRANCH}." >&2
+                exit 3
             fi
+            # A head with zero status contexts has no CI queue to wait on.
+            # For push, that is queue-clear (a repo with no CI must remain
+            # pushable) -- mirroring record_cannot_assert's dispositions
+            # (push=degraded-pass, merge=hold). Merge stays fail-closed:
+            # no-status there may just mean CI has not reported yet.
+            if [[ "$PURPOSE" == "push" ]]; then
+                echo "[ci-queue-wait] no status contexts on ${BRANCH} head (state=no-status) — no CI queue to wait on; queue clear."
+                exit 0
+            fi
+            echo "Error: ASSERTED_NOT_READY state=no-status purpose=${PURPOSE} branch=${BRANCH}." >&2
             exit 3
             ;;
         terminal-failure|malformed|unknown)
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/test-ci-queue-wait-no-status.sh b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/test-ci-queue-wait-no-status.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..f92b8a53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/mosaic/framework/tools/git/test-ci-queue-wait-no-status.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Regression harness for ci-queue-wait.sh's zero-status-context handling.
+#
+# Gitea's combined-status endpoint returns, for a commit with NO status
+# contexts (e.g. a repo with no CI configured at all):
+#     {"state":"pending","sha":"...","total_count":0,"statuses":null,...}
+# -- statuses is JSON null (not []), and state is a synthetic "pending"
+# even though nothing is running. Captured live from a Gitea 1.22 host,
+# 2026-08-09 (jason.woltje/jarvis-brain, a repo with no pipeline).
+#
+# Before the fix, `payload.get("statuses", [])` received null, failed the
+# isinstance(list) check, and the guard reported ASSERTED_NOT_READY
+# state=malformed (exit 3) -- blocking every push to a CI-less repo. Had
+# null been tolerated, the synthetic aggregate "pending" would instead
+# have polled to the timeout (exit 124). The fix must:
+#   1. treat statuses:null as an empty list, and
+#   2. classify zero status VALUES as "no-status" regardless of the
+#      synthetic aggregate state, and
+#   3. treat no-status for --purpose push (without --require-status) as
+#      queue-clear (exit 0) -- a repo with no CI has no queue to wait on;
+#      this mirrors record_cannot_assert's disposition table
+#      (push=degraded-pass, merge=hold).
+#
+# Covers:
+#   (a) statuses:null + synthetic state:pending, purpose=push
+#         -> exit 0, queue-clear/no-status message (THE live fault).
+#   (b) same payload, purpose=merge      -> still fail-closed (exit 3).
+#   (c) same payload, push + --require-status -> still fail-closed (exit 3).
+#   (d) statuses:[]  + state:""          -> same as (a) (exit 0).
+#   (e) a real pending context           -> still polls (times out, 124),
+#       proving the relaxation didn't swallow genuine pending states.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+WORK_DIR="${MOSAIC_TEST_WORK_DIR:-$PWD/.mosaic-test-work/ci-queue-wait-no-status}"
+REPO_DIR="$WORK_DIR/repo"
+STUB_DIR="$WORK_DIR/stubs"
+
+rm -rf "$WORK_DIR"
+mkdir -p "$REPO_DIR" "$STUB_DIR"
+
+git -C "$REPO_DIR" init -q
+git -C "$REPO_DIR" remote add origin https://git.example.test/acme/widgets.git
+
+# Minimal curl stub (same conventions as test-ci-queue-wait-branch-absent.sh):
+# branch lookup answers 200 with a fixed SHA; the status endpoint's payload
+# is selected by MOSAIC_STUB_STATUS_MODE.
+cat > "$STUB_DIR/curl" <<'SH'
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+has_w=0
+url=""
+for arg in "$@"; do
+    case "$arg" in
+        -w) has_w=1 ;;
+        http://*|https://*) url="$arg" ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+case "$url" in
+    */branches/*)
+        body='{"commit":{"id":"deadbeefcafef00d0123456789abcdef01234567"}}'
+        if [[ "$has_w" == 1 ]]; then
+            printf '%s\n200' "$body"
+        else
+            printf '%s' "$body"
+        fi
+        exit 0
+        ;;
+    */status)
+        mode="${MOSAIC_STUB_STATUS_MODE:?MOSAIC_STUB_STATUS_MODE not set}"
+        ;;
+    *)
+        echo "curl stub: unrecognized URL: $url" >&2
+        exit 2
+        ;;
+esac
+
+case "$mode" in
+    # Verbatim shape of the live Gitea response (repository object elided).
+    gitea-null-statuses)
+        body='{"state":"pending","sha":"deadbeefcafef00d0123456789abcdef01234567","total_count":0,"statuses":null,"url":"","commit_url":""}'
+        ;;
+    empty-statuses)
+        body='{"state":"","statuses":[]}'
+        ;;
+    real-pending)
+        body='{"state":"pending","statuses":[{"context":"ci/woodpecker","status":"running","target_url":""}]}'
+        ;;
+    *)
+        echo "curl stub: unknown mode=$mode" >&2
+        exit 2
+        ;;
+esac
+printf '%s' "$body"
+SH
+chmod +x "$STUB_DIR/curl"
+
+run_ci_queue_wait() {
+    (
+        cd "$REPO_DIR"
+        export PATH="$STUB_DIR:$PATH"
+        export MOSAIC_CREDENTIALS_FILE="$WORK_DIR/no-credentials.json"
+        export MOSAIC_CI_QUEUE_AUDIT_LOG="$WORK_DIR/audit.jsonl"
+        export GITEA_TOKEN="stub-token"
+        export GITEA_URL="https://git.example.test"
+        "$SCRIPT_DIR/ci-queue-wait.sh" -B main -t 3 -i 1 "$@"
+    )
+}
+
+fail=0
+
+# (a) THE live fault: statuses:null + synthetic pending, purpose=push -> exit 0.
+set +e
+out_a=$(MOSAIC_STUB_STATUS_MODE=gitea-null-statuses run_ci_queue_wait --purpose push 2>&1)
+status_a=$?
+set -e
+if [[ "$status_a" -ne 0 ]]; then
+    echo "FAIL(a): expected exit 0 for null-statuses/no-CI repo on push, got $status_a" >&2
+    echo "$out_a" >&2
+    fail=1
+elif [[ "$out_a" == *"malformed"* ]]; then
+    echo "FAIL(a): null statuses must not be classified as malformed" >&2
+    echo "$out_a" >&2
+    fail=1
+elif [[ "$out_a" != *"no-status"* ]]; then
+    echo "FAIL(a): expected a no-status/queue-clear message, got:" >&2
+    echo "$out_a" >&2
+    fail=1
+fi
+
+# (b) Same payload, purpose=merge -> hold, fail-closed exit 3.
+set +e
+out_b=$(MOSAIC_STUB_STATUS_MODE=gitea-null-statuses run_ci_queue_wait --purpose merge 2>&1)
+status_b=$?
+set -e
+if [[ "$status_b" -ne 3 ]]; then
+    echo "FAIL(b): expected exit 3 for no-status on merge, got $status_b" >&2
+    echo "$out_b" >&2
+    fail=1
+fi
+
+# (c) Same payload, push + --require-status -> strictness opt-in still fails.
+set +e
+out_c=$(MOSAIC_STUB_STATUS_MODE=gitea-null-statuses run_ci_queue_wait --purpose push --require-status 2>&1)
+status_c=$?
+set -e
+if [[ "$status_c" -ne 3 ]]; then
+    echo "FAIL(c): expected exit 3 for --require-status with no contexts, got $status_c" >&2
+    echo "$out_c" >&2
+    fail=1
+fi
+
+# (d) statuses:[] + state:"" (the shape the code always tolerated) -> exit 0 on push.
+set +e
+out_d=$(MOSAIC_STUB_STATUS_MODE=empty-statuses run_ci_queue_wait --purpose push 2>&1)
+status_d=$?
+set -e
+if [[ "$status_d" -ne 0 ]]; then
+    echo "FAIL(d): expected exit 0 for empty-statuses on push, got $status_d" >&2
+    echo "$out_d" >&2
+    fail=1
+fi
+
+# (e) A REAL pending context must still block: polls to timeout, exit 124.
+set +e
+out_e=$(MOSAIC_STUB_STATUS_MODE=real-pending run_ci_queue_wait --purpose push 2>&1)
+status_e=$?
+set -e
+if [[ "$status_e" -ne 124 ]]; then
+    echo "FAIL(e): expected exit 124 (timeout) for a genuinely pending context, got $status_e" >&2
+    echo "$out_e" >&2
+    fail=1
+elif [[ "$out_e" != *"ci/woodpecker=running"* ]]; then
+    echo "FAIL(e): expected the pending context to be reported, got:" >&2
+    echo "$out_e" >&2
+    fail=1
+fi
+
+if [[ "$fail" -eq 0 ]]; then
+    echo "ci-queue-wait no-status regression passed (5/5 cases)"
+fi
+
+exit "$fail"