diff --git a/src/cli/capability-cli.test.ts b/src/cli/capability-cli.test.ts
index c0cd0486426f..dc3f8e7979ef 100644
--- a/src/cli/capability-cli.test.ts
+++ b/src/cli/capability-cli.test.ts
@@ -875,6 +875,16 @@ describe("capability cli", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("renders an explicit empty model list without changing JSON output", async () => {
+    mocks.loadModelCatalog.mockResolvedValue([]);
+
+    await runCapability("model", "list", "--json");
+    expect(mocks.runtime.writeJson).toHaveBeenCalledWith([]);
+
+    await runCapability("model", "list");
+    expect(mocks.runtime.log).toHaveBeenCalledWith("No results found.");
+  });
+
   it("reports model providers configured through their environment key", async () => {
     vi.stubEnv("OPENAI_API_KEY", "test-openai-key");
 
diff --git a/src/cli/capability-cli/shared.ts b/src/cli/capability-cli/shared.ts
index 5885fa301bc6..4ffb6cdcdf47 100644
--- a/src/cli/capability-cli/shared.ts
+++ b/src/cli/capability-cli/shared.ts
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ export function formatEnvelopeForText(value: unknown): string {
 
 export function providerSummaryText(value: unknown): string {
   const providers = value as Array<Record<string, unknown>>;
-  return providers.map((entry) => JSON.stringify(entry)).join("\n");
+  return providers.map((entry) => JSON.stringify(entry)).join("\n") || "No results found.";
 }
 
 function hasOwnKeys(value: unknown): boolean {