diff --git a/lib/merge.py b/lib/merge.py
index 0f28670..bac96da 100644
--- a/lib/merge.py
+++ b/lib/merge.py
@@ -1464,7 +1464,7 @@ async def _merge_domain_queue(conn, domain: str) -> tuple[int, int]:
             # Cherry-pick returns "already merged" when all commits are empty.
             # The branch ref still points at old commits (not a descendant of main),
             # so pushing branch_sha:main would fail as non-fast-forward.
-            if "already" in pick_msg.lower():
+            if pick_msg in ("already merged (all commits empty)", "already up to date"):
                 conn.execute(
                     "UPDATE prs SET status = 'merged', merged_at = datetime('now'), last_error = NULL WHERE number = ?",
                     (pr_num,),