diff --git a/functions/_agents_repo_local_slug.fish b/functions/_agents_repo_local_slug.fish
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71f5a21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/functions/_agents_repo_local_slug.fish
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2026 Rootiest
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
+
+# SYNOPSIS
+#   _agents_repo_local_slug <dir>
+#
+# DESCRIPTION
+#   Builds the path-derived fallback slug used when a project has no git
+#   remote: local-<sanitized-basename>-<8 hex of sha256(realpath)>. The
+#   basename is lowercased and every character outside [a-z0-9._-] is
+#   mapped to a dash, matching the sanitization the remote-URL branch of
+#   _agents_repo_slug applies to hostnames and paths.
+#
+#   This is the single source of truth for that formula. It exists so the
+#   rule is written once: _agents_repo_slug's no-remote branch calls it to
+#   produce the slug, and agents-vault's slug-migration fallback (used when
+#   there is no live symlink yet to read the previous slug from) calls it
+#   to recompute the same candidate. Duplicating the formula in both places
+#   let them drift once before; this closes that gap for good.
+#
+# ARGUMENTS
+#   dir  Absolute or relative path to the project directory
+#
+# EXIT STATUS
+#   0  Slug printed
+#   1  No directory argument given
+#
+# RETURNS
+#   The local-* slug, one line on stdout.
+#
+# EXAMPLE
+#   set -l slug (_agents_repo_local_slug /home/user/myproject)
+function _agents_repo_local_slug --argument-names dir
+    test -n "$dir"; or return 1
+
+    set -l rp (path resolve "$dir")
+    set -l base (string lower -- (path basename "$rp") | string replace -ra '[^a-z0-9._-]' '-')
+    set -l digest (printf '%s' "$rp" | sha256sum | string split -f1 ' ')
+    printf 'local-%s-%s\n' "$base" (string sub -l 8 -- "$digest")
+end
diff --git a/functions/_agents_repo_slug.fish b/functions/_agents_repo_slug.fish
index 57a4724..d5672f8 100644
--- a/functions/_agents_repo_slug.fish
+++ b/functions/_agents_repo_slug.fish
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2026 Rootiest
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
 
+# DEPENDENCIES
+#   _agents_repo_local_slug
+#
 # SYNOPSIS
 #   _agents_repo_slug <dir>
 #
@@ -63,8 +66,5 @@ function _agents_repo_slug --argument-names dir
         return 0
     end
 
-    set -l rp (path resolve "$dir")
-    set -l base (string lower -- (path basename "$rp") | string replace -ra '[^a-z0-9._-]' '-')
-    set -l digest (printf '%s' "$rp" | sha256sum | string split -f1 ' ')
-    printf 'local-%s-%s\n' "$base" (string sub -l 8 -- "$digest")
+    _agents_repo_local_slug "$dir"
 end
diff --git a/functions/agents-vault.fish b/functions/agents-vault.fish
index 351e49a..dd3253d 100644
--- a/functions/agents-vault.fish
+++ b/functions/agents-vault.fish
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@
 #   12-ai-and-developer-tools
 #
 # DEPENDENCIES
-#   _agents_vault_dir, _agents_repo_slug, _agents_repo_ensure_symlink,
-#   _agents_repo_sync, _agents_repo_install_tools, git, hostname
+#   _agents_vault_dir, _agents_repo_slug, _agents_repo_local_slug,
+#   _agents_repo_ensure_symlink, _agents_repo_sync,
+#   _agents_repo_install_tools, git, hostname
 #
 # SYNOPSIS
 #   agents-vault [--link] [--push] [--restore] [--status]
@@ -230,17 +231,13 @@ function agents-vault --description 'track curated agent memory in a host-scoped
         end
         if test -z "$prev_slug"
             # No link yet (fresh machine): try the path-derived candidate.
-            set -l cand_rp (path resolve "$root")
-            set -l cand_base (string lower -- (path basename "$cand_rp"))
-            set -l cand_digest (printf '%s' "$cand_rp" | sha256sum | string split -f1 ' ')
-            set -l cand "local-$cand_base-"(string sub -l 8 -- "$cand_digest")
+            set -l cand (_agents_repo_local_slug "$root")
             if test "$cand" != "$slug"; and test -d "$vault/projects/$cand"
                 set prev_slug $cand
             end
         end
 
         if test -n "$prev_slug"; and test "$prev_slug" != "$slug"
-            set -l prev_mem "$vault/projects/$prev_slug/claude/memory"
             set -l cur_content
             test -d "$vmem"; and set cur_content (command ls -A "$vmem" 2>/dev/null)
             if test (count $cur_content) -gt 0
@@ -249,7 +246,6 @@ function agents-vault --description 'track curated agent memory in a host-scoped
                 return 1
             end
             test -d "$vmem"; and rm -rf "$vault/projects/$slug"
-            mkdir -p (path dirname "$vault/projects/$slug")
             if not git -C "$vault" mv "projects/$prev_slug" "projects/$slug" 2>/dev/null
                 command mv "$vault/projects/$prev_slug" "$vault/projects/$slug"; or return 1
             end
diff --git a/tests/test-agents-vault.fish b/tests/test-agents-vault.fish
index a443329..5de4b94 100644
--- a/tests/test-agents-vault.fish
+++ b/tests/test-agents-vault.fish
@@ -365,6 +365,108 @@ check "ambiguous migration fails" 1 "$arc"
 check "ambiguous leaves old entry" old (cat $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$aslug/claude/memory/x.md)
 check "ambiguous leaves new entry" new (cat $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/git.rootiest.dev-rootiest-clash/claude/memory/y.md)
 
+# Case 2 of the three required cases: the *current* (new-slug) entry is
+# present but empty -- neither absent (handled above) nor holding content
+# (the ambiguous case above). Migration must still proceed.
+set -l emp (new_repo)
+set -l emangled (string replace -a '/' '-' -- $emp | string replace -a '.' '-')
+mkdir -p $croot2/$emangled/memory
+echo precious2 >$croot2/$emangled/memory/keep.md
+pushd $emp >/dev/null
+agents-vault --silent
+set -l eslug (_agents_repo_slug $emp)
+popd >/dev/null
+
+git -C $emp remote add origin https://git.rootiest.dev/rootiest/emptycase.git
+set -l enew_slug git.rootiest.dev-rootiest-emptycase
+# Pre-create the destination entry as an empty directory -- present, not
+# absent -- before migration runs.
+mkdir -p $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$enew_slug/claude/memory
+
+pushd $emp >/dev/null
+set -l erc (agents-vault --silent 2>/dev/null; echo $status)
+popd >/dev/null
+check "empty-current migration succeeds" 0 "$erc"
+check "empty-current migrated content" precious2 (cat $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$enew_slug/claude/memory/keep.md)
+check "empty-current old entry removed" false (test -d $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$eslug; and echo true; or echo false)
+
+# Remote-URL-rewrite transition: origin changes from one forge URL to
+# another (distinct from adding a remote where none existed).
+set -l rw (new_repo https://git.rootiest.dev/rootiest/rewrite-old.git)
+set -l rwmangled (string replace -a '/' '-' -- $rw | string replace -a '.' '-')
+mkdir -p $croot2/$rwmangled/memory
+echo rewrite-precious >$croot2/$rwmangled/memory/keep.md
+pushd $rw >/dev/null
+agents-vault --silent
+popd >/dev/null
+set -l rw_old_slug git.rootiest.dev-rootiest-rewrite-old
+check "rewrite: old entry populated" rewrite-precious (cat $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$rw_old_slug/claude/memory/keep.md)
+
+git -C $rw remote set-url origin https://git.rootiest.dev/rootiest/rewrite-new.git
+pushd $rw >/dev/null
+agents-vault --silent
+popd >/dev/null
+set -l rw_new_slug git.rootiest.dev-rootiest-rewrite-new
+check "rewrite: migrated to new remote slug" rewrite-precious (cat $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$rw_new_slug/claude/memory/keep.md)
+check "rewrite: old entry removed" false (test -d $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$rw_old_slug; and echo true; or echo false)
+
+# Remote-removal transition: origin removed, slug reverts to local-*.
+set -l rmv (new_repo https://git.rootiest.dev/rootiest/removeme.git)
+set -l rmvmangled (string replace -a '/' '-' -- $rmv | string replace -a '.' '-')
+mkdir -p $croot2/$rmvmangled/memory
+echo removal-precious >$croot2/$rmvmangled/memory/keep.md
+pushd $rmv >/dev/null
+agents-vault --silent
+popd >/dev/null
+set -l rmv_remote_slug git.rootiest.dev-rootiest-removeme
+check "removal: remote entry populated" removal-precious (cat $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$rmv_remote_slug/claude/memory/keep.md)
+
+git -C $rmv remote remove origin
+pushd $rmv >/dev/null
+agents-vault --silent
+set -l rmv_local_slug (_agents_repo_slug $rmv)
+popd >/dev/null
+check "removal: migrated to local slug" removal-precious (cat $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$rmv_local_slug/claude/memory/keep.md)
+check "removal: old remote entry removed" false (test -d $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$rmv_remote_slug; and echo true; or echo false)
+
+# Fallback-candidate sanitization: a dirty basename (space, !) must produce
+# the same local-* slug that _agents_repo_slug would derive, so that a
+# lost-symlink recovery (no live link, but the vault entry survives) can
+# still find and adopt it. Before the fix, the fallback only lowercased
+# the basename instead of sanitizing it like _agents_repo_slug does, so it
+# could never match the real entry directory for a name like this.
+set -l dirty_root (mktemp -d); set -ga TMPDIRS $dirty_root
+set -l dp "$dirty_root/My Project!"
+mkdir -p "$dp"
+git -C "$dp" init -q
+git -C "$dp" config user.email t@t
+git -C "$dp" config user.name t
+git -C "$dp" config commit.gpgsign false
+git -C "$dp" config core.hooksPath /dev/null
+
+set -l dmangled (string replace -a '/' '-' -- $dp | string replace -a '.' '-')
+mkdir -p $croot2/$dmangled/memory
+echo "dirty-precious" >$croot2/$dmangled/memory/keep.md
+
+pushd $dp >/dev/null
+agents-vault --silent
+set -l dirty_local_slug (_agents_repo_slug $dp)
+popd >/dev/null
+check "dirty local entry populated" dirty-precious (cat $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$dirty_local_slug/claude/memory/keep.md)
+
+# Lose the live symlink, as a fresh-machine restore would, so migration
+# must fall back to recomputing the candidate from the path instead of
+# reading it off the (now-absent) live symlink.
+rm -f $croot2/$dmangled/memory
+
+git -C $dp remote add origin https://git.rootiest.dev/rootiest/dirty.git
+pushd $dp >/dev/null
+agents-vault --silent
+popd >/dev/null
+set -l dirty_new_slug git.rootiest.dev-rootiest-dirty
+check "fallback finds sanitized local entry" dirty-precious (cat $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$dirty_new_slug/claude/memory/keep.md)
+check "fallback old entry removed" false (test -d $vroot2/agent-vault/projects/$dirty_local_slug; and echo true; or echo false)
+
 set -e __fish_agent_vault_dir
 set -e __fish_agent_vault_claude_root