diff --git a/AI/ai_token_sync.sh b/AI/ai_token_sync.sh
index 236c956..ada7c0e 100755
--- a/AI/ai_token_sync.sh
+++ b/AI/ai_token_sync.sh
@@ -144,7 +144,21 @@ for host_var in $(compgen -v | grep -E '^HOST[0-9]+$' | sort); do
     partner_ip=$(resolve_tailscale_ip "$partner_host" 2>/dev/null || true)
 
     if [[ -z "$partner_ip" ]]; then
-        log "$partner_host — offline or unresolvable, leaving its ledger absent"
+        log "$partner_host — unresolvable, leaving any cached ledger as-is"
+        (( OFFLINE++ ))
+        continue
+    fi
+
+    # Liveness and ledger presence are separate questions, probed separately on purpose.
+    # Tailscale hands back an IP for a peer that is registered but powered off, so resolving
+    # proves nothing. And a single `ssh test -f` answers both questions at once: it fails
+    # identically whether the host is down or the file is simply absent. Treating that one
+    # failure as "no ledger" would delete a perfectly good cached copy every time the partner
+    # blinked — turning "synced 3h ago" into "not collected here" on a transient.
+    if ! timeout "$SSH_TIMEOUT" ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" \
+        -o ConnectTimeout="$SSH_TIMEOUT" -o BatchMode=yes -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no \
+        "root@${partner_ip}" true 2>/dev/null; then
+        log "$partner_host — not answering, keeping any cached ledger as-is"
         (( OFFLINE++ ))
         continue
     fi
@@ -157,12 +171,13 @@ for host_var in $(compgen -v | grep -E '^HOST[0-9]+$' | sort); do
         continue
     fi
 
-    # A partner with AI off has no ledger at all. That is not an error — it is the same
-    # "nothing collected" the tab already knows how to render.
+    # Reachable, but nothing recorded there — a partner with AI off, or one that has simply
+    # never been asked anything. Now that liveness is established this is a real answer, so the
+    # stale copy goes: the tab should say "not collected here", not quote a number from before.
     if ! timeout "$SSH_TIMEOUT" ssh -i "$SSH_KEY" \
         -o ConnectTimeout="$SSH_TIMEOUT" -o BatchMode=yes -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no \
         "root@${partner_ip}" "[[ -f '$remote_db' ]]" 2>/dev/null; then
-        log "$partner_host — no ledger on that host yet"
+        log "$partner_host — reachable, but no ledger there yet"
         rm -f "$CACHE_DIR/${partner_slot}.tokens.db"
         (( OFFLINE++ ))
         continue
@@ -183,7 +198,12 @@ for host_var in $(compgen -v | grep -E '^HOST[0-9]+$' | sort); do
     fi
 done
 
-info "AI token sync complete — pulled $PULLED${OFFLINE:+, $OFFLINE unavailable}${FAILED:+, $FAILED failed}"
+# Zero counts are omitted rather than printed. ${VAR:+...} keeps "0" because it is a non-empty
+# string, and a summary that always ends "0 failed" is what teaches you to stop reading it.
+_summary="AI token sync complete — pulled $PULLED"
+(( OFFLINE > 0 )) && _summary+=", $OFFLINE unavailable"
+(( FAILED  > 0 )) && _summary+=", $FAILED failed"
+info "$_summary"
 
 # Only a partner that answered and then failed the transfer is worth an exit code. An absent
 # partner is the normal state while HOST2 is being rebuilt.