diff --git a/cmd/console.go b/cmd/console.go
index ecd2c03..9dc1c56 100644
--- a/cmd/console.go
+++ b/cmd/console.go
@@ -408,12 +408,14 @@ func runLeftRightCompare(left, right string, updateChan chan *model.ProgressUpda
 			Message:    fmt.Sprintf("Original: %s, Modified: %s", left, right),
 			CommitDate: time.Now(),
 			Data:       rightBytes,
+			FilePath:   right,
 		},
 		{
 			Hash:       uuid.New().String()[:6],
 			Message:    fmt.Sprintf("Original file: %s", left),
 			CommitDate: time.Now(),
 			Data:       leftBytes,
+			FilePath:   left,
 		},
 	}
 
diff --git a/cmd/left_right_test.go b/cmd/left_right_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea544c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/left_right_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/pb33f/openapi-changes/model"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestRunLeftRightSummary_IdenticalSpecsReturnsNoError(t *testing.T) {
+	updateChan := make(chan *model.ProgressUpdate, 32)
+	errorChan := make(chan model.ProgressError, 32)
+
+	errs := runLeftRightSummary("../sample-specs/petstorev3.json", "../sample-specs/petstorev3.json",
+		updateChan, errorChan, "", true, false, false, false, nil)
+
+	require.Empty(t, errs)
+}
+
+func TestRunLeftRightReport_IdenticalSpecsReturnsNilReport(t *testing.T) {
+	updateChan := make(chan *model.ProgressUpdate, 32)
+	errorChan := make(chan model.ProgressError, 32)
+
+	report, errs := runLeftRightReport("../sample-specs/petstorev3.json", "../sample-specs/petstorev3.json",
+		updateChan, errorChan, "", true, false, nil)
+
+	require.Empty(t, errs)
+	assert.Nil(t, report)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/report.go b/cmd/report.go
index 9a64ece..92d3da2 100644
--- a/cmd/report.go
+++ b/cmd/report.go
@@ -371,12 +371,14 @@ func runLeftRightReport(left, right string,
 			Message:    fmt.Sprintf("Original: %s, Modified: %s, ", left, right),
 			CommitDate: time.Now(),
 			Data:       rightBytes,
+			FilePath:   right,
 		},
 		{
 			Hash:       uuid.New().String()[:6],
 			Message:    fmt.Sprintf("Original file: %s", left),
 			CommitDate: time.Now(),
 			Data:       leftBytes,
+			FilePath:   left,
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -386,6 +388,9 @@ func runLeftRightReport(left, right string,
 	if len(errs) > 0 {
 		return nil, errs
 	}
+	if len(commits) == 0 {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
 	if commits[0].Changes == nil {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/summary.go b/cmd/summary.go
index 09b2e02..eb7b384 100644
--- a/cmd/summary.go
+++ b/cmd/summary.go
@@ -363,12 +363,14 @@ func runLeftRightSummary(left, right string, updateChan chan *model.ProgressUpda
 			Message:    fmt.Sprintf("Original: %s, Modified: %s, ", left, right),
 			CommitDate: time.Now(),
 			Data:       rightBytes,
+			FilePath:   right,
 		},
 		{
 			Hash:       uuid.New().String()[:6],
 			Message:    fmt.Sprintf("Original file: %s", left),
 			CommitDate: time.Now(),
 			Data:       leftBytes,
+			FilePath:   left,
 		},
 	}
 
diff --git a/git/read_local.go b/git/read_local.go
index 9c3d932..291e54e 100644
--- a/git/read_local.go
+++ b/git/read_local.go
@@ -287,9 +287,11 @@ func BuildCommitChangelog(commitHistory []*model.Commit,
 			}
 		}
 		if len(oldBits) == 0 && len(newBits) > 0 {
-			model.SendProgressWarning("building models",
-				fmt.Sprintf("Commit %s is the first version of '%s' — no prior version to compare against, skipping",
-					commitHistory[c].Hash, commitHistory[c].FilePath), progressChan)
+			if commitHistory[c].RepoDirectory != "" {
+				model.SendProgressWarning("building models",
+					fmt.Sprintf("Commit %s is the first version of '%s' — no prior version to compare against, skipping",
+						commitHistory[c].Hash, commitHistory[c].FilePath), progressChan)
+			}
 			newDoc, err = libopenapi.NewDocumentWithConfiguration(newBits, docConfig)
 			if err != nil {
 				model.SendFatalError("building models", fmt.Sprintf("unable to create OpenAPI modified document: %s", err.Error()), errorChan)
@@ -303,7 +305,10 @@ func BuildCommitChangelog(commitHistory []*model.Commit,
 		if oldDoc != nil {
 			commitHistory[c].OldDocument = oldDoc
 		}
-		if commitHistory[c].Changes != nil {
+		// Preserve the oldest entry as a sentinel when there is no prior version
+		// or no changes, so left/right comparisons can still report "no changes"
+		// instead of collapsing to an empty result set.
+		if c == len(commitHistory)-1 || commitHistory[c].Changes != nil {
 			cleaned = append(cleaned, commitHistory[c])
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/git/read_local_test.go b/git/read_local_test.go
index fa7f0dd..26ba162 100644
--- a/git/read_local_test.go
+++ b/git/read_local_test.go
@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@
 package git
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/pb33f/openapi-changes/model"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
@@ -72,3 +75,40 @@ func TestReadFile(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.NotEmpty(t, contentRaw)
 }
+
+func TestBuildCommitChangelog_IdenticalLeftRightPreservesSentinelCommit(t *testing.T) {
+	specBytes := mustReadTestFile(t, "../sample-specs/petstorev3.json")
+	progressChan := make(chan *model.ProgressUpdate, 32)
+	errorChan := make(chan model.ProgressError, 32)
+
+	commits := []*model.Commit{
+		{
+			Hash:       "right1",
+			Message:    "right",
+			CommitDate: time.Now(),
+			Data:       specBytes,
+			FilePath:   "../sample-specs/petstorev3.json",
+		},
+		{
+			Hash:       "left01",
+			Message:    "left",
+			CommitDate: time.Now(),
+			Data:       specBytes,
+			FilePath:   "../sample-specs/petstorev3.json",
+		},
+	}
+
+	cleaned, errs := BuildCommitChangelog(commits, progressChan, errorChan, "", true, false, nil)
+	require.Empty(t, errs)
+	require.Len(t, cleaned, 1)
+	assert.Nil(t, cleaned[0].Changes)
+	assert.NotNil(t, cleaned[0].Document)
+}
+
+func mustReadTestFile(t *testing.T, path string) []byte {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	bits, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	require.NoError(t, err, fmt.Sprintf("read test file %s", path))
+	return bits
+}