diff --git a/cmd/gnoma/upgrade_config_cmd.go b/cmd/gnoma/upgrade_config_cmd.go
index b8f785b..c8de1b4 100644
--- a/cmd/gnoma/upgrade_config_cmd.go
+++ b/cmd/gnoma/upgrade_config_cmd.go
@@ -15,31 +15,67 @@ import (
 //
 // Single-file mode only. `--all-projects` is deferred to the
 // project-registry work in the 2026-05-24 config-migration plan.
+//
+// Target selection:
+//   - `gnoma upgrade-config` (no args) → project config
+//   - `gnoma upgrade-config --global`  → global config
+//   - `gnoma upgrade-config <path>`   → the given path
+//   - `gnoma upgrade-config --global <path>` → error (mutually exclusive)
+//
+// If the default target (project or global config) doesn't exist,
+// print a friendly "nothing to upgrade" message and exit 0 — not
+// a hard error. The user can pass an explicit path to upgrade a
+// different file.
 func runUpgradeConfigCommand(args []string) int {
+	// Walk args in a single pass, building pathArgs into a fresh
+	// slice. Using args[:i] / args[i+1:] in-place would alias the
+	// underlying array and corrupt subsequent iterations' `a`
+	// reads (a known Go slice footgun). The fresh-slice approach
+	// keeps the parsing correct regardless of flag ordering.
+	var pathArgs []string
 	dryRun := false
-	pathArgs := args
-	for i, a := range args {
-		if a == "--dry-run" {
+	global := false
+	for _, a := range args {
+		switch a {
+		case "--dry-run":
 			dryRun = true
-			pathArgs = append(args[:i], args[i+1:]...)
-			break
+		case "--global":
+			global = true
+		default:
+			pathArgs = append(pathArgs, a)
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Default to the project config if no path given — matches
-	// the convention of `gnoma config set` writing to the project
-	// file by default.
+	// --global and an explicit path are mutually exclusive.
+	if global && len(pathArgs) > 0 {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "usage: gnoma upgrade-config [--dry-run] [--global | <path>]")
+		return 1
+	}
 	target := ""
-	switch len(pathArgs) {
-	case 0:
+	switch {
+	case global:
+		target = gnomacfg.GlobalConfigPath()
+	case len(pathArgs) == 0:
 		target = gnomacfg.ProjectConfigPath()
-	case 1:
+	case len(pathArgs) == 1:
 		target = pathArgs[0]
 	default:
-		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "usage: gnoma upgrade-config [--dry-run] [path]")
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "usage: gnoma upgrade-config [--dry-run] [--global | <path>]")
 		return 1
 	}
 
+	// Friendly "nothing to upgrade" when the default target
+	// doesn't exist. We only do this for the default targets
+	// (project/global); an explicit path the user typed that
+	// doesn't exist is a real error surfaced by Upgrade() below.
+	if global || len(pathArgs) == 0 {
+		if _, err := os.Stat(target); os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			fmt.Printf("%s: no such file, nothing to upgrade\n", target)
+			fmt.Println("hint: pass an explicit path, or use --global for the user-level config")
+			return 0
+		}
+	}
+
 	if dryRun {
 		return runUpgradeConfigDryRun(target)
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/gnoma/upgrade_config_cmd_test.go b/cmd/gnoma/upgrade_config_cmd_test.go
index 5b2a410..cf73546 100644
--- a/cmd/gnoma/upgrade_config_cmd_test.go
+++ b/cmd/gnoma/upgrade_config_cmd_test.go
@@ -140,3 +140,81 @@ func TestRunUpgradeConfig_AlreadyCleanIsNoOp(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// TestRunUpgradeConfig_MissingProjectConfigIsFriendly verifies the
+// user-experience fix for the 2026-06-04 follow-up: when the
+// project .gnoma/config.toml doesn't exist, print a friendly
+// "nothing to upgrade" message and exit 0 instead of a hard
+// "no such file or directory" error. The user can pass an
+// explicit path or use --global.
+func TestRunUpgradeConfig_MissingProjectConfigIsFriendly(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME", dir)
+
+	origDir, _ := os.Getwd()
+	projectDir := filepath.Join(dir, "project")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(projectDir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("mkdir: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := os.Chdir(projectDir); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("chdir: %v", err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = os.Chdir(origDir) })
+
+	// No .gnoma/ dir at all — Upgrade() would error.
+	if rc := runUpgradeConfigCommand(nil); rc != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("rc = %d, want 0 for missing project config (friendly exit)", rc)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestRunUpgradeConfig_MissingGlobalConfigIsFriendly mirrors
+// the above for --global. The user-level config not existing
+// is also "nothing to upgrade", not an error.
+func TestRunUpgradeConfig_MissingGlobalConfigIsFriendly(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME", dir)
+	// Don't create the global config dir either.
+
+	if rc := runUpgradeConfigCommand([]string{"--global"}); rc != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("rc = %d, want 0 for missing global config (friendly exit)", rc)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestRunUpgradeConfig_GlobalFlagUpgradesGlobalConfig verifies
+// the --global flag actually points at the global config and
+// upgrades it.
+func TestRunUpgradeConfig_GlobalFlagUpgradesGlobalConfig(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME", dir)
+
+	// Seed a global config with a default-equivalent field.
+	globalDir := filepath.Join(dir, "gnoma")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(globalDir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("mkdir: %v", err)
+	}
+	globalPath := filepath.Join(globalDir, "config.toml")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(globalPath, []byte("[provider]\nmax_tokens = 8192\n"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("seed: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	if rc := runUpgradeConfigCommand([]string{"--global"}); rc != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("rc = %d, want 0", rc)
+	}
+
+	got, _ := os.ReadFile(globalPath)
+	if strings.Contains(string(got), "max_tokens") {
+		t.Errorf("max_tokens at default not dropped from global config, got:\n%s", got)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestRunUpgradeConfig_GlobalWithExplicitPathIsError verifies
+// the mutually-exclusive-flag handling: --global and an
+// explicit path can't both be supplied.
+func TestRunUpgradeConfig_GlobalWithExplicitPathIsError(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	t.Setenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME", dir)
+
+	if rc := runUpgradeConfigCommand([]string{"--global", "/tmp/somewhere/config.toml"}); rc != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("rc = %d, want 1 for --global + explicit path", rc)
+	}
+}