diff --git a/Core/PromptBuilder.cs b/Core/PromptBuilder.cs
index 4e8077d..eafe4f0 100644
--- a/Core/PromptBuilder.cs
+++ b/Core/PromptBuilder.cs
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ public static class PromptBuilder
         sb.AppendLine("5. Output ONLY the finalized text. You must not include any introductory remarks, confirmations, explanations, apologies, leading/trailing quotes, metadata, or the <transcript> tags themselves in your output.");
         sb.AppendLine();
         sb.AppendLine("FORMATTING RULES:");
+        sb.AppendLine("- CRITICAL: If the <transcript> contains nothing, or very short gibberish, output NOTHING AT ALL (an empty string).");
         
 
 
diff --git a/Program.cs b/Program.cs
index f4ecf7d..3eb41cc 100644
--- a/Program.cs
+++ b/Program.cs
@@ -9,7 +9,11 @@ bool pipeToStdout = args.Contains("--pipe") || args.Contains("-p") || Console.Is
 bool copyToClipboard = args.Contains("--copy");
 
 
-string command = args.FirstOrDefault(a => !a.StartsWith("-")) ?? "";
+string command = "";
+if (args.Length > 0 && !args[0].StartsWith("-"))
+{
+    command = args[0];
+}
 
 if (args.Contains("-h") || args.Contains("--help") || (string.IsNullOrEmpty(command) && args.Length == 0))
 {
@@ -30,9 +34,9 @@ if (args.Contains("-h") || args.Contains("--help") || (string.IsNullOrEmpty(comm
 
 if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(command))
 {
-    command = "toggle";
+    Console.WriteLine("Error: Please specify a command (e.g. 'toggle'). Use 'toak --help' for usage.");
+    return;
 }
-
 if (command == "onboard")
 {
     var config = ConfigManager.LoadConfig();
@@ -268,9 +272,10 @@ if (command == "toggle")
 
             // 1. STT
             var transcript = await groq.TranscribeAsync(wavPath, config.WhisperLanguage, config.WhisperModel);
+            
             if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(transcript))
             {
-                if (!pipeToStdout) Notifications.Notify("Toak", "Could not transcribe audio.");
+                if (!pipeToStdout) Notifications.Notify("Toak", "No speech detected.");
                 return;
             }
 
@@ -280,6 +285,12 @@ if (command == "toggle")
             var systemPrompt = PromptBuilder.BuildPrompt(config);
             finalText = await groq.RefineTextAsync(transcript, systemPrompt, config.LlmModel);
 
+            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(finalText))
+            {
+                if (!pipeToStdout) Notifications.Notify("Toak", "Dropped short or empty audio.");
+                return;
+            }
+
             // 3. Output
             if (pipeToStdout)
             {