diff --git a/graph-ui/src/App.tsx b/graph-ui/src/App.tsx
index c297a65de..40530a59b 100644
--- a/graph-ui/src/App.tsx
+++ b/graph-ui/src/App.tsx
@@ -156,7 +156,6 @@ import { CbmRpcProvider, symbolKindOf } from './provider/cbm-rpc-provider';
 import MonacoReader from './reader/MonacoReader';
 import type { ReaderStatus } from './reader/MonacoReader';
 import { FileNotReadableError, loadFileDocument, READER_RPC_TOOL } from './reader/file-source';
-import { reportError } from './provider/error-observer';
 import type { ReaderDocument } from './reader/file-source';
 import { badgesForLines } from './core/step-badge-decorator';
 import type { SymbolRef } from './core/focus-protocol';
@@ -1760,12 +1759,6 @@ export default function App(): JSX.Element {
                     setDocument(undefined);
                     setReaderStatus(error instanceof FileNotReadableError ? 'unavailable' : 'failed');
                     setReaderMessage(error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error));
-                    // The reader shows the sentence; the frontend log keeps it
-                    // (the /rpc failures underneath announce themselves, a file
-                    // the index does not know does not).
-                    if (error instanceof FileNotReadableError) {
-                        reportError({ source: 'reader', level: 'warn', message: error.message });
-                    }
                 });
         },
         [client, project],
diff --git a/graph-ui/src/reader/file-source.test.ts b/graph-ui/src/reader/file-source.test.ts
index edc5281f7..a3917c116 100644
--- a/graph-ui/src/reader/file-source.test.ts
+++ b/graph-ui/src/reader/file-source.test.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
  * rpc-transport und rpc-client hindurch; ersetzt ist nur die Leitung.
  */
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { observeErrors } from '../provider/error-observer';
+import type { ErrorReport } from '../provider/error-observer';
 import { RpcIntelligenceClient } from '../provider/rpc-client';
 import { FakeRpc, queryContains, rowsText } from '../test-support/rpc-recordings';
 import type { Route } from '../test-support/rpc-recordings';
@@ -232,6 +234,51 @@ describe('loadFileDocument, seit dem schlanken Vertrag (#1597)', () => {
     });
 });
 
+describe('loadFileDocument announces to the frontend log', () => {
+    it('a file without a module node, and the server placeholder, before it throws', async () => {
+        const reports: ErrorReport[] = [];
+        const stop = observeErrors((report) => reports.push(report));
+        try {
+            const missing = clientFor([
+                noModuleRoute,
+                { tool: 'query_graph', when: queryContains('MATCH (n:File)'), text: rowsText(FILE_COLUMNS, []) },
+            ]);
+            await expect(loadFileDocument(missing.client, PROJECT, 'assets/logo.svg'))
+                .rejects.toBeInstanceOf(FileNotReadableError);
+
+            const gone = clientFor([
+                moduleRoute('probe-small.src.ui.http_server', 2244),
+                snippetRoute({ start_line: 1, end_line: 500, source_mode: 'full', source: '(source not available)' }),
+            ]);
+            await expect(loadFileDocument(gone.client, PROJECT, 'src/ui/http_server.c'))
+                .rejects.toBeInstanceOf(FileNotReadableError);
+        } finally {
+            stop();
+        }
+        expect(reports.map((report) => [report.source, report.level])).toEqual([
+            ['reader', 'warn'],
+            ['reader', 'warn'],
+        ]);
+        expect(reports[0]?.message).toContain('The index has no module node for assets/logo.svg');
+        expect(reports[1]?.message).toContain('could not read src/ui/http_server.c');
+    });
+
+    it('nothing when the file loads', async () => {
+        const reports: ErrorReport[] = [];
+        const stop = observeErrors((report) => reports.push(report));
+        try {
+            const { client } = clientFor([
+                moduleRoute('probe-small.src.types', 3),
+                snippetRoute({ start_line: 1, end_line: 3, source_mode: 'full', source: 'a\nb\nc' }),
+            ]);
+            await loadFileDocument(client, PROJECT, 'src/types.ts');
+        } finally {
+            stop();
+        }
+        expect(reports).toEqual([]);
+    });
+});
+
 describe('truncationNoteFor', () => {
 
     it('nennt Zeilen, Deckel und den Grund, warum nicht nachgeladen wird', () => {
diff --git a/graph-ui/src/reader/file-source.ts b/graph-ui/src/reader/file-source.ts
index 3a82e2128..631e77c34 100644
--- a/graph-ui/src/reader/file-source.ts
+++ b/graph-ui/src/reader/file-source.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import { fileNodeForPath, moduleForFile, COLUMNS } from '../provider/cypher';
 import type { RpcIntelligenceClient } from '../provider/rpc-client';
 import type { CodeSnippetResult } from '../provider/rpc-schemas';
 import { moduleQualifiedName, moduleQnFromFileQn, normalizeWorkspacePath } from '../app/module-qn';
+import { reportError } from '../provider/error-observer';
 
 /** Das Werkzeug, aus dem der Inhalt des Readers kommt. Der Beweislauf schreibt es mit. */
 export const READER_RPC_TOOL = 'get_code_snippet';
@@ -74,6 +75,18 @@ export class FileNotReadableError extends Error {
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * A file the reader cannot show is announced to the frontend log before it
+ * is thrown (provider/error-observer.ts). The /rpc failures underneath
+ * announce themselves; a file the index does not know, or the server's
+ * placeholder for a file gone from disk, is a successful call with nothing
+ * in it, and only this module knows that it is a failure.
+ */
+function notReadable(path: string, message: string): FileNotReadableError {
+    reportError({ source: 'reader', level: 'warn', message });
+    return new FileNotReadableError(path, message);
+}
+
 function toOptionalNumber(cell: string | undefined): number | undefined {
     if (cell === undefined || cell === '') {
         return undefined;
@@ -164,7 +177,7 @@ export async function loadFileDocument(
 
     const node = await lookupModuleNode(client, project, path);
     if (node === undefined) {
-        throw new FileNotReadableError(
+        throw notReadable(
             path,
             `The index has no module node for ${path}. This server delivers file content only through get_code_snippet on an indexed symbol, so a file the index did not record cannot be read here.`,
         );
@@ -173,7 +186,7 @@ export async function loadFileDocument(
     const qualifiedName = node.qualifiedName;
     const snippet = await client.getCodeSnippet(project, qualifiedName);
     if (snippet.source.length === 0 || snippet.source === SOURCE_UNAVAILABLE) {
-        throw new FileNotReadableError(
+        throw notReadable(
             path,
             snippet.source === SOURCE_UNAVAILABLE
                 ? `The server could not read ${path} from the repository (${qualifiedName}): `