diff --git a/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.html b/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.html
index 1efc2bdf..4421dfff 100644
--- a/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.html
+++ b/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.html
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ <h2 class="mt-3 text-sm/6 font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-white">No artifact
       [attr.role]="sharedAvailable() ? 'tabpanel' : null"
       [attr.aria-labelledby]="sharedAvailable() ? 'artifact-tab-' + tab() : null"
     >
-    <!-- Empty: the filters excluded everything -->
+    <!-- Empty: the filters excluded everything in this tab -->
     @if (isFilteredEmpty()) {
       <div
         class="mt-6 rounded-2xl border border-dashed border-gray-300 bg-white p-10 text-center dark:border-gray-700 dark:bg-gray-800"
@@ -240,6 +240,19 @@ <h2 class="mt-3 text-sm/6 font-medium text-gray-900 dark:text-white">No artifact
       </div>
     }
 
+    <!-- Empty: this tab holds nothing, but the library is not empty. A
+         distinct state from both of the above — saying "no match" to
+         someone who never searched is a wrong answer. -->
+    @if (isTabEmpty()) {
+      <div
+        class="mt-6 rounded-2xl border border-dashed border-gray-300 bg-white p-10 text-center dark:border-gray-700 dark:bg-gray-800"
+      >
+        <p class="mx-auto max-w-md text-sm/6 text-gray-600 dark:text-gray-400">
+          {{ emptyTabMessage() }}
+        </p>
+      </div>
+    }
+
     <!-- List view -->
     @if (!loading() && filtered().length > 0 && viewMode() === 'list') {
       <ul
diff --git a/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.spec.ts b/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.spec.ts
index 9ad048b7..b432685d 100644
--- a/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.spec.ts
+++ b/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.spec.ts
@@ -135,6 +135,8 @@ describe('ArtifactLibraryPage', () => {
       typeOptions: () => Array<{ value: string; label: string }>;
       isEmpty: () => boolean;
       isFilteredEmpty: () => boolean;
+      isTabEmpty: () => boolean;
+      emptyTabMessage: () => string;
       error: () => string | null;
       loading: () => boolean;
       search: { set: (v: string) => void };
@@ -521,6 +523,55 @@ describe('ArtifactLibraryPage', () => {
       expect(thumbnail.closest('[aria-hidden="true"]')).not.toBeNull();
     });
 
+    it('does not blame a search the user never made', async () => {
+      // Regression: opening "Shared with you" with nothing shared used to
+      // show "No artifacts match your search" because the empty-state
+      // gate read the LIBRARY total rather than the tab's. Found on dev.
+      mockHttp.listLibrary.mockResolvedValue([stubArtifact()]);
+      mockShares.listSharedWithMe.mockResolvedValue({
+        artifacts: [],
+        nextCursor: null,
+      });
+      const c = api(await createComponent());
+      c.setTab('shared');
+
+      expect(c.isFilteredEmpty()).toBe(false);
+      expect(c.isTabEmpty()).toBe(true);
+      expect(c.emptyTabMessage()).toContain('shared with you');
+    });
+
+    it('still blames the search when there really was one', async () => {
+      mockHttp.listLibrary.mockResolvedValue([
+        stubArtifact({ title: 'Budget model' }),
+      ]);
+      mockShares.listSharedWithMe.mockResolvedValue({
+        artifacts: [],
+        nextCursor: null,
+      });
+      const c = api(await createComponent());
+      c.setTab('yours');
+      c.search.set('nothing matches this');
+
+      expect(c.isTabEmpty()).toBe(false);
+      expect(c.isFilteredEmpty()).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('reports an empty library ahead of an empty tab', async () => {
+      // With nothing anywhere, "No artifacts yet" is the true statement;
+      // a per-tab message would bury the one that matters.
+      mockHttp.listLibrary.mockResolvedValue([]);
+      mockShares.listSharedWithMe.mockResolvedValue({
+        artifacts: [],
+        nextCursor: null,
+      });
+      const c = api(await createComponent());
+      c.setTab('shared');
+
+      expect(c.isEmpty()).toBe(true);
+      expect(c.isTabEmpty()).toBe(false);
+      expect(c.isFilteredEmpty()).toBe(false);
+    });
+
     it('falls back to a placeholder title and an undated label', async () => {
       mockHttp.listLibrary.mockResolvedValue([
         stubArtifact({ title: '', updatedAt: '' }),
diff --git a/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.ts b/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.ts
index 19f103b5..b3ac21e7 100644
--- a/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.ts
+++ b/frontend/ai.client/src/app/artifacts/artifact-library.page.ts
@@ -383,16 +383,55 @@ export class ArtifactLibraryPage {
   );
 
   /**
-   * "Nothing matches" is a different message from "you have nothing", and
-   * conflating them tells a user with a full library that it is empty.
+   * "Nothing matches" is a different message from "you have nothing" —
+   * and once tabs exist there is a third: "nothing *here*".
+   *
+   * This gates on the count of the SELECTED TAB, not the library. It
+   * used to gate on the library total, which meant opening "Shared with
+   * you" with nothing shared told the user "No artifacts match your
+   * search" when they had not searched for anything — a wrong answer,
+   * and the exact conflation the previous version of this comment was
+   * written to prevent, reintroduced one level up. Found on dev, not by
+   * a test: the specs asserted which rows rendered, never which sentence
+   * appeared when none did.
    */
   protected readonly isFilteredEmpty = computed(
     () =>
       !this.loading() &&
-      this.totalCount() > 0 &&
+      this.tabCount() > 0 &&
       this.filtered().length === 0,
   );
 
+  /**
+   * The selected tab holds nothing, but the library is not empty — so
+   * neither "No artifacts yet" nor a search failure is true.
+   */
+  protected readonly isTabEmpty = computed(
+    () =>
+      !this.loading() &&
+      !this.error() &&
+      this.totalCount() > 0 &&
+      this.tabCount() === 0,
+  );
+
+  /**
+   * Copy for that state, which has to name the tab: "nothing here" is
+   * only useful if it says where "here" is.
+   */
+  protected readonly emptyTabMessage = computed(() => {
+    switch (this.tab()) {
+      case 'shared':
+        return 'Nothing has been shared with you yet. Artifacts other ' +
+          'people share with you directly will appear here.';
+      case 'yours':
+        return "You haven't made any artifacts yet.";
+      default:
+        // Unreachable while "All" is the union of the other two, but a
+        // silent blank panel is the worst way to find out that changed.
+        return 'Nothing to show here.';
+    }
+  });
+
   constructor() {
     void this.load();
   }