diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 2e2ff8f0..775f1b06 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -675,7 +675,7 @@ checksum = "384b8ab6d37215f3c5301a95a4accb5d64aa607f1fcb26a11b5303878451b4fe"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "openresearch-cli"
-version = "0.1.2"
+version = "0.1.3"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "clap",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index c651a850..04052f8b 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "openresearch-cli"
-version = "0.1.2"
+version = "0.1.3"
 edition = "2021"
 description = "OpenResearch CLI (orx) — Rust port"
 repository = "https://github.com/alphaXiv/openresearch-cli"
diff --git a/src/commands/dev.rs b/src/commands/dev.rs
index 72ee3d9e..fd17f48c 100644
--- a/src/commands/dev.rs
+++ b/src/commands/dev.rs
@@ -54,6 +54,11 @@ pub async fn run(args: crate::DevArgs) -> Result<()> {
             println!("No dev node was open.");
             return Ok(());
         }
+        // A non-discard close that commits nothing means the session's edits
+        // never landed (e.g. a str-replace that no-op'd). The node is still torn
+        // down, but we surface this loudly and exit non-zero so callers chaining
+        // open/edit/close don't mistake an empty edit for success.
+        let mut empty_edit = false;
         if res.committed {
             let sha = match &res.commit_sha {
                 Some(sha) => {
@@ -66,9 +71,17 @@ pub async fn run(args: crate::DevArgs) -> Result<()> {
         } else if args.discard {
             println!("Discarded changes.");
         } else {
-            println!("Nothing to commit.");
+            empty_edit = true;
         }
         println!("\u{2713} Dev node torn down.");
+        if empty_edit {
+            eprintln!(
+                "\u{26a0} Nothing to commit \u{2014} the working tree was clean. \
+                 No edits landed this session (did a str-replace/write no-op?). \
+                 Use `--discard` if an empty close was intended."
+            );
+            std::process::exit(1);
+        }
         return Ok(());
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index d8844abc..75e47253 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -377,7 +377,12 @@ pub struct FsWriteArgs {
 pub struct FsStrReplaceArgs {
     pub exp_id: String,
     pub path: String,
+    // old/new are arbitrary code strings that routinely begin with `-`/`--`
+    // (flags, diff markers, CLI snippets). Without this, clap parses them as
+    // unknown flags and the edit silently never happens.
+    #[arg(allow_hyphen_values = true)]
     pub old_string: String,
+    #[arg(allow_hyphen_values = true)]
     pub new_string: String,
 }
 
@@ -390,6 +395,8 @@ pub struct FsLsArgs {
 #[derive(Args, Debug)]
 pub struct FsGrepArgs {
     pub exp_id: String,
+    // Search patterns can begin with `-` (e.g. `-inf`, `--flag`); take them literally.
+    #[arg(allow_hyphen_values = true)]
     pub pattern: String,
 }