diff --git a/.abcd/work/DECISIONS.md b/.abcd/work/DECISIONS.md
index 9788c8b..e439ddb 100644
--- a/.abcd/work/DECISIONS.md
+++ b/.abcd/work/DECISIONS.md
@@ -739,3 +739,40 @@ Architecture-shaping decisions graduate to an ADR under
   drafts (round 20); the intents-README "always they/them"
   persona-quote rule read against `03-personas.md`'s gendered narrative
   pronouns (round 24).
+- 2026-08-06 — Bug-hunt round 30: `transcribe.mapSegments`'s word-level
+  emptiness check now decides presence on `session.SafeText`'s rendered form,
+  matching the segment-level guard five lines above it — a word that is
+  entirely invisible-only Unicode (e.g. ZWSP U+200B) was non-empty raw and
+  survived `strings.TrimSpace`, so it reached `transcript.jsonl`,
+  `timeline.jsonl`, and the analysis request as a timestamped word with no
+  visible content. `install.sh`'s `install_ffmpeg_local` error-handling
+  comment no longer claims the EXIT trap "covers only `install_binary`'s
+  `$tmp`" — that trap has swept `$tmp2` since round 21's fix; the comment was
+  stale from the moment it landed in the same commit that widened the trap.
+  Refuted: an `analyze.indexTimeline` map write keying `idx.uttText` under an
+  unguarded raw id (the read path is gated behind `idx.ids`, which is itself
+  gated, so the empty key is write-only dead data with no observable effect);
+  `session.WriteFileAtomicNoFollow` refusing only symlinks, not other
+  non-regular files, at its target path (the function never opens the
+  pre-existing file — it renames a temp file into place, and `rename(2)`
+  neither opens, blocks on, nor writes through a FIFO/device/socket, so the
+  hazard the sibling `openNoFollow`'s stricter check exists to prevent is
+  absent by construction); `cli.md`'s `-offset` table cell compressing the
+  "external audio vs the session's own `audio.wav`" split as "with/without
+  `-audio`" (the surrounding prose states the exception twice within ten
+  lines, and the table already compresses two other branches the same way);
+  `ci.yml`'s cross-compile step comment ("linux/amd64 already covered by
+  Build above") read as a claim about `CGO_ENABLED`, which it never makes —
+  the `CGO_ENABLED=0` clause and the coverage clause are two independent
+  statements joined by a semicolon, and the coverage claim holds regardless;
+  `analyse-a-session.md`'s "four steps" intro read against its five numbered
+  headings (the fifth, re-rendering the report, is grammatically set off by
+  an em dash as a follow-on outside the enumerated list, and invokes a
+  different pipeline command, `report`, from the four analysis-layer steps
+  proper); `session-directory.md`'s abbreviated `utt-003` example text read
+  against the fuller fixture sentence (the page's other examples are
+  established as illustrative reductions too — the manifest example already
+  drops three fixture fields — and no `findings.jsonl` quote cites `utt-003`,
+  so nothing depends on the byte-exact form). Also excluded before
+  verification, as a precedent duplicate: `AGENTS.md` claiming CI runs plain
+  `go test ./...` (round 13).
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index c208779..9966e0d 100644
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -279,10 +279,11 @@ install_ffmpeg_local() {
             # available, and refuse on a bad or wrong-key signature.
             # Every fetch/unpack below is guarded with the err-skip-return
             # convention the parse failure already uses: ffmpeg is an OPTIONAL
-            # dependency, and under `set -eu` an unguarded failure aborted the
-            # whole installer with the child's raw exit code — skipping the ASR
-            # step and the closing guidance, and leaking $tmp2 (the EXIT trap
-            # covers only install_binary's $tmp).
+            # dependency, and under `set -eu` an unguarded failure would abort
+            # the whole installer with the child's raw exit code, skipping the
+            # ASR step and the closing guidance (install_binary's EXIT trap
+            # still sweeps $tmp2, so nothing leaks — but the abort itself is
+            # still the wrong outcome for an optional dependency).
             say "Fetching static ffmpeg build (evermeet.cx) ..."
             fetch "https://evermeet.cx/ffmpeg/info/ffmpeg/release" "$tmp2/info.json" \
                 || { err "could not reach evermeet.cx; skipping ffmpeg"; rm -rf "$tmp2"; return; }
diff --git a/internal/transcribe/transcribe.go b/internal/transcribe/transcribe.go
index 5bad042..17de563 100644
--- a/internal/transcribe/transcribe.go
+++ b/internal/transcribe/transcribe.go
@@ -525,7 +525,11 @@ func mapSegments(segs []segment, offset float64) ([]timeline.Utterance, error) {
 		}
 		for _, w := range s.words {
 			word := strings.TrimSpace(w.W)
-			if word == "" {
+			// Presence is decided on the rendered form, matching the segment
+			// guard above: an invisible-only word (Cf) is non-empty raw and
+			// survives TrimSpace, so it would otherwise reach transcript.jsonl
+			// and the analysis request as a timestamped word with no content.
+			if strings.TrimSpace(session.SafeText(word)) == "" {
 				continue
 			}
 			// An implausible word time is dropped, not refused: the same policy
diff --git a/internal/transcribe/transcribe_test.go b/internal/transcribe/transcribe_test.go
index 0c2e099..510226b 100644
--- a/internal/transcribe/transcribe_test.go
+++ b/internal/transcribe/transcribe_test.go
@@ -331,6 +331,36 @@ func TestMapSegmentsDropsInvisibleOnlyText(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestMapSegmentsDropsInvisibleOnlyWord mirrors
+// TestMapSegmentsDropsInvisibleOnlyText at word level: the word-level
+// emptiness check tested only strings.TrimSpace(w.W), the raw form, unlike
+// the segment-level guard immediately above it, which decides presence on
+// session.SafeText's rendered form. A word that is entirely invisible-only
+// Unicode (ZWSP U+200B) is non-empty raw and survives TrimSpace, so it
+// reached transcript.jsonl, timeline.jsonl, and the analysis request as a
+// timestamped word with no visible content. An ordinary whitespace-only word
+// must still be dropped the same way.
+func TestMapSegmentsDropsInvisibleOnlyWord(t *testing.T) {
+	zeroWidthSpace := string(rune(0x200B))
+	utts, err := mapSegments([]segment{
+		{start: 0, end: 1, text: "real words", words: []timeline.Word{
+			{W: "real", T: 0},
+			{W: zeroWidthSpace, T: 0.5},
+			{W: "   ", T: 0.7},
+			{W: "words", T: 1},
+		}},
+	}, 0)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("mapSegments: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(utts) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("want 1 utterance, got %d", len(utts))
+	}
+	if len(utts[0].Words) != 2 || utts[0].Words[0].W != "real" || utts[0].Words[1].W != "words" {
+		t.Fatalf("want only the two visible words kept, got %+v", utts[0].Words)
+	}
+}
+
 // TestCheckOffset pins the explicit-flag bound: the derived and sidecar paths
 // refuse a non-finite or over-magnitude offset where the bad value enters, and
 // the flag path must apply the same rule. Every genuine offset (including the