diff --git a/tests/hooks/mcp-health-check.test.js b/tests/hooks/mcp-health-check.test.js
index 02145ade..b637353f 100644
--- a/tests/hooks/mcp-health-check.test.js
+++ b/tests/hooks/mcp-health-check.test.js
@@ -128,7 +128,10 @@ function waitForFile(filePath, timeoutMs = 5000) {
   const started = Date.now();
   while (Date.now() - started < timeoutMs) {
     if (fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
-      return fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf8');
+      const content = fs.readFileSync(filePath, 'utf8');
+      if (content.trim()) {
+        return content;
+      }
     }
     Atomics.wait(new Int32Array(new SharedArrayBuffer(4)), 0, 0, 25);
   }