diff --git a/docs/plans/state.json b/docs/plans/state.json
index b3bd7e0..6157d09 100644
--- a/docs/plans/state.json
+++ b/docs/plans/state.json
@@ -593,6 +593,17 @@
       ],
       "test_status": "pnpm typecheck + node --import tsx/esm scripts/check-phase0-baseline-backend-drift.ts --artifacts-dir docs/plans/artifacts --backend native,native --format json + synthetic-audit capture smoke check passing"
     },
+    "phase0-live-baseline-prune-missing-dir-resilience": {
+      "status": "completed",
+      "date": "2026-02-27",
+      "updated": "2026-02-27",
+      "summary": "Hardened prune CLI behavior for fresh hosts by treating a missing artifacts directory as an empty artifact set (instead of failing with ENOENT), while preserving report generation behavior.",
+      "files_modified": [
+        "scripts/prune-phase0-baseline-artifacts.ts",
+        "docs/plans/state.json"
+      ],
+      "test_status": "pnpm typecheck + node --import tsx/esm scripts/prune-phase0-baseline-artifacts.ts --artifacts-dir <missing-dir> --format json passing"
+    },
     "phase0-instrumentation-ticket-checklist": {
       "status": "completed",
       "date": "2026-02-25",
diff --git a/scripts/prune-phase0-baseline-artifacts.ts b/scripts/prune-phase0-baseline-artifacts.ts
index fdf17ba..ac77f9c 100644
--- a/scripts/prune-phase0-baseline-artifacts.ts
+++ b/scripts/prune-phase0-baseline-artifacts.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ function usage(): string {
     '',
     'Options:',
     '  --artifacts-dir <path>     Artifacts directory (default: docs/plans/artifacts)',
-    '  --keep-per-family <num>    Keep newest rolling tags per family (default: 8)',
+    '  --keep-per-family <integer> Keep newest rolling tags per family (default: 8)',
     '  --apply                    Apply deletions (default: dry-run)',
     '  --report-tag <tag>         Report tag suffix (default: current UTC date)',
     '  --write-default-artifacts  Write report files to artifacts dir',
@@ -78,6 +78,17 @@ async function writeTextFile(pathValue: string, contents: string): Promise<void>
   await writeFile(pathValue, `${contents}\n`, 'utf8');
 }
 
+async function readArtifactFileNames(artifactsDir: string): Promise<string[]> {
+  try {
+    return await readdir(artifactsDir);
+  } catch (error) {
+    if ((error as NodeJS.ErrnoException)?.code === 'ENOENT') {
+      return [];
+    }
+    throw error;
+  }
+}
+
 async function main(): Promise<void> {
   const { values } = parseArgs({
     options: {
@@ -123,7 +134,7 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
       ? `${defaultBaseName}.md`
       : undefined;
 
-  const files = await readdir(artifactsDir);
+  const files = await readArtifactFileNames(artifactsDir);
   const plan = planRollingPhase0ArtifactRetention(files, keepPerFamily);
 
   if (apply) {