diff --git a/USAGE.md b/USAGE.md
index 1c68a95..c94f0fe 100644
--- a/USAGE.md
+++ b/USAGE.md
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@ fall back to a raw byte-compare, which does require CI to use the same
 
 - **"codeshot: 'codegraph' not found on PATH"** — Install CodeGraph and make sure it's on your PATH, then try again.
 - **"codeshot: 'dot' not found on PATH"** — Install Graphviz (`brew install graphviz` on Mac, `apt install graphviz` on Ubuntu/WSL), then try again.
-- **The command runs but the diagram is empty or missing edges** — The repo probably hasn't been indexed yet, or the index is stale. Run `codegraph init` (or re-run indexing) in the target repo first.
+- **The command runs but the diagram is empty or missing edges** — The repo probably hasn't been indexed yet, or the index is stale. Run `codegraph init` (or re-run indexing) in the target repo first. Codeshot no longer draws a blank picture silently: it warns on stderr in the two cases below.
+- **"codeshot: '...' has no callers or callees in codegraph's index"** — The symbol exists but nothing calls it and it calls nothing, so the diagram is just that one box. It may be genuinely unused (dead code) or a top-level entry point — or codegraph's index is incomplete for its file (see the sparse-diagram note below). The image is still written; the warning just explains why it's a lone box.
+- **"codeshot: --architecture found no cross-file call edges — the diagram is blank"** — codegraph reported no resolved calls *between files* in this repo, so there's nothing for the file-level graph to draw. Expected for a small or single-file repo; otherwise the index is likely missing or stale — run `codegraph init <path>`, then `codegraph status` to confirm it built. A blank image is still written so the `--out` path exists.
 - **"codeshot: symbol '...' not found in codegraph's index"** — Double-check the exact spelling/casing of the symbol name, and confirm `--path` points at the repo that actually contains it.
 - **The diagram is real but looks sparse — CodeGraph's index has known gaps.** Tested against several real codebases: same-named methods on unrelated classes are sometimes merged or one silently dropped, aliased imports (`import x as y`) can return zero callers for a genuinely well-used function, and dependency-injection patterns (e.g. FastAPI's `Depends()`) often don't resolve to real caller functions at all. Codeshot only draws what CodeGraph reports — if a diagram looks thinner than you expect for a symbol you know is heavily used, that's more likely a CodeGraph indexing gap than a Codeshot bug. A `dotted gray "file"` edge (see above) is one visible symptom of this; a *missing* edge is the invisible version and harder to catch — spot-check against the real source if it matters.
 - **`--out diagram.svg` produced a PNG (or vice versa)** — Codeshot only ever writes what `--format` says; it never infers format from `--out`'s extension. If you see this, you forgot `--format svg` (or whichever format matches the extension you wanted) — Codeshot now warns about this mismatch on stderr before it happens, so check for that warning first.
diff --git a/render/callgraph.js b/render/callgraph.js
index 0e08d8c..d75cfbc 100755
--- a/render/callgraph.js
+++ b/render/callgraph.js
@@ -158,6 +158,18 @@ function truncationWarning(kind, results, limit) {
   return `codeshot: showing ${results.length} ${kind} — codegraph's --limit (${limit}) may have cut off more; rerun with --limit <n> to see additional ${kind}.`;
 }
 
+// A symbol with no callers AND no callees renders as a lone box — a valid but
+// uninformative picture. Warn so the empty result reads as a finding (the symbol
+// is unused, an entry point, or codegraph's index is incomplete for its file)
+// rather than looking like a tool glitch — the same "warn, don't hand back a
+// silent blank" stance as indexHealthWarning/duplicateNameWarning.
+function emptyGraphWarning(symbol, callers, callees) {
+  const nCallers = Array.isArray(callers) ? callers.length : 0;
+  const nCallees = Array.isArray(callees) ? callees.length : 0;
+  if (nCallers > 0 || nCallees > 0) return null;
+  return `codeshot: '${symbol}' has no callers or callees in codegraph's index — the diagram is just the symbol itself. It may be unused (dead code) or an entry point, or codegraph's index may be incomplete for its file.`;
+}
+
 function dedupeNodes(nodes) {
   const seen = new Set();
   const result = [];
@@ -414,6 +426,16 @@ function symbolBudgetWarning(truncated, budget) {
   return `codeshot: --architecture stopped enumerating after ${budget} symbols (--max-symbols) — the graph is incomplete; rerun with a larger --max-symbols to cover the rest of the repo.`;
 }
 
+// With zero cross-file edges, buildArchitectureDot emits a graph with no nodes —
+// a blank image. Node count alone can't tell that apart from a legitimately
+// edge-free repo, so warn with the likely cause (small/single-file repo, or an
+// index that was never built) instead of writing a silent blank picture. Pure:
+// takes the aggregated file edges, returns the warning string or null.
+function emptyArchitectureWarning(fileEdges) {
+  if (Array.isArray(fileEdges) && fileEdges.length > 0) return null;
+  return `codeshot: --architecture found no cross-file call edges — the diagram is blank. codegraph's index has no resolved calls between files in this repo (it may be small or single-file, or the index may be missing — run 'codegraph init <path>' to build it, then 'codegraph status' to confirm).`;
+}
+
 // codegraph's callers/callees take a bare name with no --file disambiguation
 // (unlike `codegraph node -f`), so two same-named symbols in different files
 // are genuinely ambiguous to a `codegraph callees <name>` probe — a real risk
@@ -538,6 +560,9 @@ async function runArchitectureMode(repoPath, { limit, maxSymbols, maxRender }) {
   const symbolEdges = await probeFileEdges(symbols, repoPath, limit);
   const fileEdges = aggregateFileEdges(symbolEdges);
 
+  const emptyWarning = emptyArchitectureWarning(fileEdges);
+  if (emptyWarning) console.error(emptyWarning);
+
   const totalFiles = new Set(fileEdges.flatMap(e => [e.from, e.to])).size;
   const note = renderTruncationNote('files', totalFiles, maxRender);
   if (note) console.error(note);
@@ -894,6 +919,9 @@ async function main() {
     if (warning) console.error(warning);
   }
 
+  const emptyWarning = emptyGraphWarning(resolvedSymbol, callers, callees);
+  if (emptyWarning) console.error(emptyWarning);
+
   let transitiveEdges = [];
   if (depth > 1) {
     const discovered = new Set(dedupeNodes([...(callers || []), ...(callees || [])]).map(n => `${n.name} ${n.filePath}`));
@@ -945,4 +973,5 @@ module.exports = {
   topFilesByWeight, buildArchitectureDot, architectureOutputBaseName,
   applyEmbed, embedMarkers, embedRelLink, parseUnresolvedRefs,
   svgStructure, decodeXmlEntities,
+  emptyGraphWarning, emptyArchitectureWarning,
 };
diff --git a/test/run.js b/test/run.js
index 23b3b7d..f7b0386 100644
--- a/test/run.js
+++ b/test/run.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const {
   topFilesByWeight, buildArchitectureDot, architectureOutputBaseName,
   applyEmbed, embedMarkers, embedRelLink, parseUnresolvedRefs,
   svgStructure, decodeXmlEntities,
+  emptyGraphWarning, emptyArchitectureWarning,
 } = require('../render/callgraph.js');
 
 let passed = 0;
@@ -286,6 +287,20 @@ test('truncationWarning is null when under the limit', () => {
   assert.strictEqual(truncationWarning('callers', results, 20), null);
 });
 
+test('emptyGraphWarning fires only when a symbol has neither callers nor callees', () => {
+  assert.match(emptyGraphWarning('Foo', [], []), /'Foo' has no callers or callees/);
+  assert.strictEqual(emptyGraphWarning('Foo', [{ name: 'a' }], []), null);
+  assert.strictEqual(emptyGraphWarning('Foo', [], [{ name: 'b' }]), null);
+  // undefined arrays (codegraph returned nothing) count as empty, not a crash
+  assert.match(emptyGraphWarning('Foo', undefined, undefined), /has no callers or callees/);
+});
+
+test('emptyArchitectureWarning fires only when there are zero cross-file edges', () => {
+  assert.match(emptyArchitectureWarning([]), /no cross-file call edges — the diagram is blank/);
+  assert.strictEqual(emptyArchitectureWarning([{ from: 'a', to: 'b', weight: 1 }]), null);
+  assert.match(emptyArchitectureWarning(undefined), /no cross-file call edges/);
+});
+
 test('--limit rejects non-positive-integer values before reaching codegraph', () => {
   const { execFileSync } = require('child_process');
   for (const bad of ['abc', '0', '-5', '3.5', 'NaN']) {