diff --git a/harness/tht/cli/vector_cmd.py b/harness/tht/cli/vector_cmd.py
index 3b3754e4..ce228f29 100644
--- a/harness/tht/cli/vector_cmd.py
+++ b/harness/tht/cli/vector_cmd.py
@@ -14,7 +14,12 @@ vector_app = typer.Typer(help="Indice semantico Qdrant (derivato, rigenerabile)"
 
 
 def _artifact_digest(path: Path) -> str:
-    return "sha256:" + hashlib.sha256(path.read_bytes()).hexdigest()
+    try:
+        contents = path.read_bytes()
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        # An absent annotations file is valid (empty curation); digest the empty artifact.
+        contents = b""
+    return "sha256:" + hashlib.sha256(contents).hexdigest()
 
 
 def _emit_json(payload: dict) -> None: