diff --git a/src/research.ts b/src/research.ts
index 04ca3e2..07d3fd4 100644
--- a/src/research.ts
+++ b/src/research.ts
@@ -657,8 +657,14 @@ export function recoverRun(
     }
   }
   // The most recent unfinished attempt at this question, if there is one.
+  // Notes are what makes an attempt worth resuming, and a ledger without them
+  // is worse than nothing: the pages count as spent against the source budget,
+  // and the synthesizer is handed a numbered source list it has no notes about,
+  // so nothing can cite them. Runs from before workers filed their notes into
+  // the log look exactly like this — a real one in this database had 84 pages
+  // read and not a word recovered. Start those over.
   const candidates = [...attempts.values()].filter(
-    (a) => !a.done && a.question === question && (a.byAngle.size > 0 || a.ledger.length > 0),
+    (a) => !a.done && a.question === question && a.byAngle.size > 0,
   );
   const last = candidates[candidates.length - 1];
   if (!last) return null;
diff --git a/tests/research.test.ts b/tests/research.test.ts
index 78fc5b1..2cc2fd5 100644
--- a/tests/research.test.ts
+++ b/tests/research.test.ts
@@ -693,3 +693,17 @@ test("a resumed run sends a worker back to an angle that only jotted", async ()
     .map((p) => (p.data as { angle: string }).angle);
   expect(angles).toEqual(["the open angle"]); // reopened, not skipped
 });
+
+test("an attempt with pages but no notes is not resumed", () => {
+  // Found against the real database: runs from before workers filed notes into
+  // the log recover a ledger and nothing else. Inheriting that means the pages
+  // count as spent while nothing was learned from them, and the synthesizer
+  // gets a source list it cannot cite — strictly worse than starting over.
+  const events = [
+    progressEvent("planning", { question: "what happened" }),
+    progressEvent("read", { url: "https://a.test", title: "A" }),
+    progressEvent("read", { url: "https://b.test", title: "B" }),
+    progressEvent("agent-done", { agent: 0 }), // the old payload: no notes
+  ];
+  expect(recoverRun(events, "what happened")).toBeNull();
+});