diff --git a/solstone/think/briefing.py b/solstone/think/briefing.py
index 8d4833eb1..2ac520cd8 100644
--- a/solstone/think/briefing.py
+++ b/solstone/think/briefing.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from solstone.think.talent import morning_briefing_path
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
-ABSENT_TEXT = "Not specified in this document"
+BRIEFING_ABSENT_TEXT = "Nothing to report."
 SECTION_KEYS = (
     "your_day",
     "yesterday",
@@ -113,14 +113,13 @@ def render_briefing_markdown(briefing: dict) -> str:
     lines: list[str] = []
     if preamble:
         lines.extend(f"> {line}" if line else ">" for line in preamble.splitlines())
-    else:
-        lines.append(f"> {ABSENT_TEXT}")
 
     for key in SECTION_KEYS:
-        lines.append("")
+        if lines:
+            lines.append("")
         lines.append(f"## {SECTION_HEADINGS[key]}")
         lines.append("")
-        lines.append(sections.get(key) or ABSENT_TEXT)
+        lines.append(sections.get(key) or BRIEFING_ABSENT_TEXT)
 
     return "\n".join(lines).strip()
 
diff --git a/solstone/think/tools/sol.py b/solstone/think/tools/sol.py
index 445cca759..810513d3f 100644
--- a/solstone/think/tools/sol.py
+++ b/solstone/think/tools/sol.py
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ from solstone.think.steward import (
     latest_daily_run_complete_ts,
     release_steward_lock,
 )
-from solstone.think.talent import morning_briefing_path
 from solstone.think.utils import day_dirs, get_journal, require_solstone
 
 app = typer.Typer(
@@ -283,12 +282,9 @@ def briefing_cmd(
 
     # No day specified — find most recent
     for day in sorted(day_dirs().keys(), reverse=True):
-        briefing = morning_briefing_path(day)
-        if briefing.exists() and briefing.stat().st_size > 0:
-            data = load_briefing(day)
-            if data is None:
-                continue
-            typer.echo(render_briefing_markdown(data))
+        briefing = load_briefing(day)
+        if briefing is not None:
+            typer.echo(render_briefing_markdown(briefing))
             return
 
     typer.echo("No briefing found.", err=True)
diff --git a/tests/test_formatters.py b/tests/test_formatters.py
index 4ce0017b9..0982931aa 100644
--- a/tests/test_formatters.py
+++ b/tests/test_formatters.py
@@ -473,6 +473,38 @@ def test_format_morning_briefing_renders_all_five_sections():
     assert "- **work** — Newsletter summary." in rendered
 
 
+def test_format_morning_briefing_omits_empty_preamble_and_marks_empty_sections():
+    from solstone.think.talent_outputs import format_morning_briefing
+
+    briefing = {
+        "metadata": {
+            "generated": "2026-03-27T06:45:00",
+            "model": "test-model",
+            "sources": {
+                "segments": 0,
+                "anticipated_activities": 0,
+                "facet_newsletters": 0,
+                "followups": 0,
+                "steward_health": "missing",
+            },
+            "gaps": [],
+            "coverage_preamble": "",
+        },
+        "your_day": [],
+        "yesterday": [],
+        "needs_attention": [],
+        "forward_look": [],
+        "reading": [],
+    }
+
+    chunks, _meta = format_morning_briefing([briefing])
+
+    rendered = chunks[0]["markdown"]
+    assert not rendered.startswith(">")
+    assert rendered.count("## ") == 5
+    assert rendered.count("Nothing to report.") == 5
+
+
 def test_find_formattable_includes_day_level_morning_briefing_only(tmp_path: Path):
     from solstone.think.formatters import find_formattable_files
 
diff --git a/tests/test_schema_prep.py b/tests/test_schema_prep.py
index c46dcda3a..838a8caac 100644
--- a/tests/test_schema_prep.py
+++ b/tests/test_schema_prep.py
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ import pytest
 from solstone.apps.timeline.rollup import build_rollup_schema
 from solstone.think.models import SchemaValidationError, generate
 from solstone.think.schema_prep import prepare_provider_schema, unsupported_keyword_hits
+from solstone.think.talent import RUNTIME_FACETS_SENTINEL
+from tests.eval_schemas import DEFAULT_CASES, load_cases
 
 REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
 
@@ -110,6 +112,21 @@ def test_morning_briefing_schema_is_provider_portable(provider: str) -> None:
     )
 
 
+def test_schema_eval_cases_hydrate_runtime_facets() -> None:
+    cases = load_cases(DEFAULT_CASES)
+    morning_case = next(
+        case for case in cases if case["name"] == "morning_briefing_20260708_trimmed"
+    )
+
+    facet_schema = morning_case["schema"]["properties"]["reading"]["items"][
+        "properties"
+    ]["facet"]
+
+    assert facet_schema.get("enum") != [RUNTIME_FACETS_SENTINEL]
+    assert RUNTIME_FACETS_SENTINEL not in facet_schema.get("enum", [])
+    assert facet_schema["maxLength"] == 80
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("provider", ["local", "openai", "google", "anthropic", "fake"])
 def test_prepare_provider_schema_is_pure_and_idempotent(
     bounded_schema: dict[str, Any], provider: str
diff --git a/tests/test_sol_call_identity_briefing.py b/tests/test_sol_call_identity_briefing.py
index 5fec14731..1c39e03a4 100644
--- a/tests/test_sol_call_identity_briefing.py
+++ b/tests/test_sol_call_identity_briefing.py
@@ -59,6 +59,23 @@ def test_briefing_no_day_returns_most_recent_available(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
     assert "older-marker" in result.stdout
 
 
+def test_briefing_no_day_skips_malformed_newest(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("SOLSTONE_JOURNAL", str(tmp_path))
+
+    _seed_briefing("20260101", "older-marker")
+    from solstone.think.talent import morning_briefing_path
+
+    newest = morning_briefing_path("20260102")
+    newest.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    newest.write_text("{not json", encoding="utf-8")
+
+    result = runner.invoke(app, ["briefing"])
+
+    assert result.exit_code == 0
+    assert "## Yesterday" in result.stdout
+    assert "older-marker" in result.stdout
+
+
 def test_briefing_no_briefing_anywhere_exits_nonzero(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
     monkeypatch.setenv("SOLSTONE_JOURNAL", str(tmp_path))