diff --git a/oAI/Services/GitSyncService.swift b/oAI/Services/GitSyncService.swift
index 52ba9dc..fb28cde 100644
--- a/oAI/Services/GitSyncService.swift
+++ b/oAI/Services/GitSyncService.swift
@@ -68,6 +68,11 @@ class GitSyncService {
         _ = try await runGit(["clone", url, localPath])
         syncStatus.isCloned = true
 
+        // Import immediately so this machine's DB is never left empty after a clone —
+        // an empty DB is what makes the next export think every existing conversation
+        // was deleted (see exportAllConversations's orphan-cleanup guard).
+        _ = try? await importAllConversations()
+
         await updateStatus()
     }
 
@@ -202,7 +207,15 @@ class GitSyncService {
         currentIds: Set<String>,
         files: [(filename: String, markdown: String)]
     ) -> [String] {
-        files.compactMap { file in
+        // A locally-empty conversation list is indistinguishable here from "nothing has been
+        // imported into this machine's DB yet" (e.g. right after a fresh clone). Treating it as
+        // "every existing file was deleted" wiped a user's entire sync repo in production: clone
+        // completed, an auto-sync fired before the post-clone import finished, every synced
+        // conversation looked orphaned, and the deletion got committed and pushed. Skipping
+        // cleanup here means a genuine last-conversation deletion won't propagate until another
+        // conversation exists locally — a far smaller cost than mass data loss.
+        guard !currentIds.isEmpty else { return [] }
+        return files.compactMap { file in
             guard let export = try? ConversationExport.fromMarkdown(file.markdown) else { return nil }
             return currentIds.contains(export.id) ? nil : file.filename
         }
diff --git a/oAITests/GitSyncServiceTests.swift b/oAITests/GitSyncServiceTests.swift
index fb97c59..725cfe4 100644
--- a/oAITests/GitSyncServiceTests.swift
+++ b/oAITests/GitSyncServiceTests.swift
@@ -151,4 +151,18 @@ struct GitSyncServiceTests {
     func emptyFileListProducesNoOrphans() {
         #expect(GitSyncService.orphanedExportFilenames(currentIds: [UUID().uuidString], files: []).isEmpty)
     }
+
+    @Test("Empty local conversation list never flags files as orphaned, even when files exist")
+    func emptyCurrentIdsNeverOrphansExistingFiles() {
+        // Regression test: this is the exact shape of the production bug. A fresh clone (or any
+        // moment where the local DB hasn't caught up yet) has zero local conversations, while the
+        // sync repo still has every previously-synced file on disk. Without the guard, all of them
+        // used to be flagged orphaned and deleted+pushed, wiping the whole sync repo.
+        let files = [
+            (filename: "a.md", markdown: makeExportMarkdown(id: UUID().uuidString)),
+            (filename: "b.md", markdown: makeExportMarkdown(id: UUID().uuidString)),
+        ]
+        let orphans = GitSyncService.orphanedExportFilenames(currentIds: [], files: files)
+        #expect(orphans.isEmpty)
+    }
 }