diff --git a/.githooks/pre-commit b/.githooks/pre-commit
index f81e005..3c1025b 100755
--- a/.githooks/pre-commit
+++ b/.githooks/pre-commit
@@ -77,14 +77,45 @@ if git diff --cached --quiet; then
 fi
 
 # Credentials, before the commit exists.
+#
+# The two non-zero exits mean different things and the hook has to tell them
+# apart, which it did not at first:
+#
+#   1  a credential shape was found — refuse, always.
+#   2  NOTHING WAS SCANNED. Usually alarming, and *expected* for a commit that
+#      only deletes files, because a deletion has no added lines to look at.
+#
+# Treating 2 as a refusal made every deletion-only commit impossible, and said
+# "possible credential in the staged changes" while doing it — a wrong and
+# frightening message for a plain `git rm`. Found while removing a directory of
+# build output that had been committed by accident.
+#
+# So a 2 is checked rather than trusted: if the staged diff adds any lines then
+# the scanner had something to look at, and a 2 is a real problem.
 if [ -f scripts/secrets.sh ]; then
-  if ! bash scripts/secrets.sh; then
+  bash scripts/secrets.sh
+  secrets_rc=$?
+
+  if [ "$secrets_rc" -eq 1 ]; then
     say "possible credential in the staged changes — commit refused."
     say "If it is real, ROTATE IT. Deleting the line does not remove it from a"
     say "commit that already exists. If it is not, --allow the path or adjust"
     say "the patterns; do not silence the check."
     exit 1
   fi
+
+  if [ "$secrets_rc" -eq 2 ]; then
+    added=$(git diff --cached --numstat | awk '{ if ($1 != "-") total += $1 } END { print total + 0 }')
+    if [ "$added" -gt 0 ]; then
+      say "the secret scan checked NOTHING while ${added} line(s) are being added."
+      say "That is not a pass — see docs/TOOLS.md on exit code 2."
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    say "no added lines to scan — this commit only removes content."
+  elif [ "$secrets_rc" -ne 0 ]; then
+    say "secrets.sh exited ${secrets_rc} — commit refused."
+    exit 1
+  fi
 else
   # Said out loud rather than passed over: a missing scanner reads exactly like
   # a scanner that found nothing.