diff --git a/scripts/classify-conflict.py b/scripts/classify-conflict.py
index 7914085c..9e86fd40 100644
--- a/scripts/classify-conflict.py
+++ b/scripts/classify-conflict.py
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@
 
 Exit codes:
     0  every block classified, none needs a human decision
+       (also: `--all` and git reports nothing unmerged - a clean merge is a
+       state, not a usage error; see the note in `main()`)
     1  at least one block is `overlapping` (human must decide)
     2  usage error / no conflict blocks found
 """
@@ -637,6 +639,22 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
     paths = [p for p in paths if not (p in seen or seen.add(p))]
 
     if not paths:
+        if args.all:
+            # `--all` was *answered*, not misused: git reports nothing unmerged.
+            # This is rc 0 rather than rc 2 because a clean merge is a state, not a
+            # malformed invocation - and the message must say so, because the old
+            # one ("pass files, or --all for every unmerged path") told the caller
+            # to pass the flag they had just passed, at the one moment when the
+            # silence is the interesting signal: `cyc20260913-082711` hit this with
+            # a merge that resolved *cleanly* and produced a tree that fails the
+            # doc-count guard (issue #1158), so "no conflicts" must not be read as
+            # "the tree is fine" - hence the pointer to the tool that measures that.
+            print(
+                "no unmerged paths: the merge is clean or already resolved - "
+                "nothing to classify. A clean merge is not evidence of a healthy "
+                "tree; check the resulting tree with scripts/check-merge-sequence.py"
+            )
+            return 0
         print(
             "error: no paths given (pass files, or --all for every unmerged path)",
             file=sys.stderr,
diff --git a/tests/test_classify_conflict.py b/tests/test_classify_conflict.py
index 77d26560..7f3dca38 100644
--- a/tests/test_classify_conflict.py
+++ b/tests/test_classify_conflict.py
@@ -461,6 +461,56 @@ class TestCli:
     def test_no_paths_is_a_usage_error(self, mod, capsys) -> None:
         assert mod.main([]) == 2
 
+    def test_all_with_nothing_unmerged_is_a_state_not_a_usage_error(
+        self, mod, capsys, monkeypatch
+    ) -> None:
+        """`--all` answered with an empty list is rc 0, not the usage error (cyc20260913-082711).
+
+        Measured before this: with `--all` passed explicitly and no unmerged paths
+        (a merge that resolved cleanly), the tool printed "error: no paths given
+        (pass files, or --all for every unmerged path)" and exited 2 - telling the
+        caller to pass the flag they had just passed, and reporting a clean merge
+        as a malformed invocation. Hit in practice at the moment a clean merge had
+        produced a tree that fails the doc-count guard, i.e. exactly when the
+        silence needed an explanation rather than a usage complaint.
+        """
+        monkeypatch.setattr(mod, "_unmerged_paths", lambda: [])
+        rc = mod.main(["--all"])
+        captured = capsys.readouterr()
+        assert rc == 0, "a clean merge is a state, not a usage error"
+        assert "nothing to classify" in captured.out
+        assert "no paths given" not in captured.out + captured.err, (
+            "the caller did pass --all; the message must not ask for it again"
+        )
+        assert captured.err == "", "this is not an error, so nothing goes to stderr"
+
+        # The pointer must be to a real script: a hint at a renamed or deleted tool
+        # is worse than no hint, and it is read at the one moment the reader has just
+        # merged something and wants to know whether the resulting tree is healthy.
+        referenced = [t for t in captured.out.split() if t.endswith(".py")]
+        assert referenced, f"the message no longer points at a tool: {captured.out!r}"
+        for name in referenced:
+            assert (REPO_ROOT / name).is_file(), (
+                f"the message points at {name}, which does not exist in the repo"
+            )
+
+    def test_all_still_classifies_when_paths_are_unmerged(
+        self, mod, tmp_path, capsys, monkeypatch
+    ) -> None:
+        """The other direction: the new early return must not swallow the normal path."""
+        f = tmp_path / "x.py"
+        f.write_text(
+            "<<<<<<< HEAD\ndef ours_only():\n    pass\n=======\n"
+            "def theirs_only():\n    pass\n>>>>>>> origin/master\n",
+            encoding="utf-8",
+        )
+        monkeypatch.setattr(mod, "_unmerged_paths", lambda: [str(f)])
+        rc = mod.main(["--all"])
+        out = capsys.readouterr().out
+        assert rc == 0
+        assert "disjoint" in out.lower() or "KEEP BOTH" in out
+        assert "nothing to classify" not in out
+
     def test_missing_file_is_an_error(self, mod, tmp_path) -> None:
         assert mod.main([str(tmp_path / "nope.txt")]) == 2