diff --git a/docs/CLI.md b/docs/CLI.md
index 5a936d7..3250a95 100644
--- a/docs/CLI.md
+++ b/docs/CLI.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Reads bindings from `drift.lock`, recomputes content signatures for each target,
 
 The `--changed <path>` flag scopes checking to docs whose targets match the given path prefix. This enables efficient CI integration — a pipeline that knows which files changed can check only the affected docs without running a full lint.
 
-The `--silent` flag suppresses the report on passing runs (exit 0, no output). When the run fails it still exits 1, and the same report (text or JSON, honoring `--format`) is written to **stderr** so the failure is observable in terminals and CI logs. Redirect stderr with `2>/dev/null` to silence the failure output as well; the exit code is unchanged.
+The `--silent` flag suppresses the report on passing runs (exit 0, no output). When the run fails it still exits 1. In text mode, only stale/broken doc blocks plus a failure summary such as `1 of 137 docs failed, 136 ok` are written to **stderr** so the actionable failures are visible without ok-doc noise while preserving pass/fail scale. In JSON mode, the complete `drift.check.v1` payload is written to **stderr** to preserve the schema contract. Redirect stderr with `2>/dev/null` to silence the failure output as well; the exit code is unchanged.
 
 The JSON output emits the `drift.check.v1` schema with summary counts, per-doc results, per-anchor reason codes, and (best-effort) git blame on stale anchors. The exit code is the same as the text path: 0 on pass, 1 on stale. Errors writing the JSON payload (broken pipe, encoder failure) exit non-zero rather than emitting a truncated document. See [`check-json-schema.md`](./check-json-schema.md) for the full schema.
 
diff --git a/drift.lock b/drift.lock
index 3726b0f..b07b600 100644
--- a/drift.lock
+++ b/drift.lock
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ version = 1
 doc = ".claude/skills/drift/SKILL.md"
 target = "src/main.zig"
 origin = "github:fiberplane/drift"
-sig = "3faa73e2bb344a79"
+sig = "f3b812f15563f0a2"
 
 [[bindings]]
 doc = ".claude/skills/drift/SKILL.md"
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ sig = "2dccb33f6b790afa"
 [[bindings]]
 doc = "CLAUDE.md"
 target = "src/main.zig"
-sig = "3faa73e2bb344a79"
+sig = "f3b812f15563f0a2"
 
 [[bindings]]
 doc = "docs/CLI.md"
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ sig = "3ae8f4ee2c85d8d8"
 [[bindings]]
 doc = "docs/CLI.md"
 target = "src/commands/lint.zig"
-sig = "fe7bd5a687f3e917"
+sig = "270d047d8cbaf238"
 
 [[bindings]]
 doc = "docs/CLI.md"
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ sig = "55bc77a2853cb654"
 [[bindings]]
 doc = "docs/DESIGN.md"
 target = "src/main.zig"
-sig = "3faa73e2bb344a79"
+sig = "f3b812f15563f0a2"
 
 [[bindings]]
 doc = "docs/DESIGN.md"
diff --git a/src/commands/lint.zig b/src/commands/lint.zig
index ddc79c1..46d82ab 100644
--- a/src/commands/lint.zig
+++ b/src/commands/lint.zig
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ const target = @import("../target.zig");
 const vcs = @import("../vcs.zig");
 
 pub const Format = enum { text, json };
+pub const TextReportMode = enum { all, errors_only };
 pub const RunStatus = enum { pass, fail };
 pub const RunError = error{LintCheckFailed};
 
@@ -178,7 +179,7 @@ pub fn run(
 ) !RunStatus {
     const result = try compute(ctx, stderr_w, changed_path);
     switch (format) {
-        .text => try renderText(stdout_w, &result),
+        .text => try renderText(stdout_w, &result, .all),
         .json => try renderJson(ctx.run_arena, stdout_w, &result),
     }
     return result.status();
@@ -277,8 +278,8 @@ pub fn compute(
 /// Write the text report for an already-computed result. Safe to call more
 /// than once (e.g. to stdout under normal conditions and to stderr when
 /// `--silent` runs fail).
-pub fn renderText(w: *std.Io.Writer, result: *const CheckResult) !void {
-    try writeResultsText(w, result, result.checkedAny());
+pub fn renderText(w: *std.Io.Writer, result: *const CheckResult, mode: TextReportMode) !void {
+    try writeResultsText(w, result, result.checkedAny(), mode);
 }
 
 /// Write the JSON report for an already-computed result.
@@ -767,13 +768,17 @@ fn jsonAnchorFromOutcome(raw_target: []const u8, sig: ?[]const u8, parsed: targe
     };
 }
 
-fn writeResultsText(w: *std.Io.Writer, result: *const CheckResult, checked_any: bool) !void {
+fn writeResultsText(w: *std.Io.Writer, result: *const CheckResult, checked_any: bool, mode: TextReportMode) !void {
     if (!checked_any) {
         try w.writeAll("ok\n");
         return;
     }
 
-    for (result.docs.items, 0..) |doc, doc_index| {
+    var wrote_doc = false;
+    for (result.docs.items) |doc| {
+        if (mode == .errors_only and doc.result != .stale and doc.result != .broken) continue;
+
+        if (wrote_doc) try w.writeByte('\n');
         try w.print("{s}\n", .{doc.path});
 
         for (doc.anchors.items) |row| {
@@ -787,14 +792,15 @@ fn writeResultsText(w: *std.Io.Writer, result: *const CheckResult, checked_any:
             try w.writeAll("  ok\n");
         }
 
-        if (doc_index + 1 < result.docs.items.len) {
-            try w.writeByte('\n');
-        }
+        wrote_doc = true;
     }
 
     if (result.docs_stale > 0 or result.docs_fresh > 0 or result.links_broken > 0) {
-        if (result.docs.items.len > 0) try w.writeByte('\n');
-        try writeSummaryText(w, result);
+        if (wrote_doc) try w.writeByte('\n');
+        switch (mode) {
+            .all => try writeSummaryText(w, result),
+            .errors_only => try writeFailureSummaryText(w, result),
+        }
         try w.writeByte('\n');
     }
 }
@@ -846,6 +852,20 @@ fn writeSummaryText(w: *std.Io.Writer, result: *const CheckResult) !void {
     }
 }
 
+fn writeFailureSummaryText(w: *std.Io.Writer, result: *const CheckResult) !void {
+    try w.print("{d} of {d} doc{s} failed", .{ result.docs_stale, result.docsChecked(), if (result.docsChecked() == 1) "" else "s" });
+
+    if (result.docs_fresh > 0) {
+        try w.print(", {d} ok", .{result.docs_fresh});
+    }
+    if (result.links_broken > 0) {
+        try w.print(", {d} broken link{s}", .{ result.links_broken, if (result.links_broken == 1) "" else "s" });
+    }
+    if (result.docs_skipped > 0) {
+        try w.print(", {d} skipped", .{result.docs_skipped});
+    }
+}
+
 fn writeResultsJson(run_alloc: std.mem.Allocator, w: *std.Io.Writer, result: *const CheckResult) !void {
     const doc = try checkResultToDriftCheckV1(run_alloc, result);
     try drift_check_v1.writeJson(w, doc);
diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
index 273dfb2..b162b6b 100644
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -179,16 +179,17 @@ pub fn main(init: std.process.Init) !void {
                 else => exitWithError(&stderr_w.interface, err),
             };
             const run_status = result.status();
-            // In silent mode, the normal report is suppressed. When the run fails we
-            // redirect the same report to stderr so the user still gets the human-
-            // readable signal alongside the non-zero exit code.
+            // In silent mode, passing runs stay quiet. When the run fails, text
+            // reports are filtered to only actionable stale/broken docs and written
+            // to stderr alongside the non-zero exit code. JSON stays complete to
+            // preserve the drift.check.v1 contract.
             const render_to_stdout = !silent;
             const render_to_stderr_on_fail = silent and run_status == .fail;
             if (render_to_stdout) {
-                renderCheckReport(ctx.run_arena, &stdout_w.interface, &result, format) catch |err| exitWithError(&stderr_w.interface, err);
+                renderCheckReport(ctx.run_arena, &stdout_w.interface, &result, format, .all) catch |err| exitWithError(&stderr_w.interface, err);
             }
             if (render_to_stderr_on_fail) {
-                renderCheckReport(ctx.run_arena, &stderr_w.interface, &result, format) catch |err| exitWithError(&stderr_w.interface, err);
+                renderCheckReport(ctx.run_arena, &stderr_w.interface, &result, format, .errors_only) catch |err| exitWithError(&stderr_w.interface, err);
             }
             // Exit-on-stale lives here (not in lint.run) so all `defer`s above unwind
             // before the process dies. std.process.exit calls libc exit, which does not
@@ -326,9 +327,10 @@ fn renderCheckReport(
     w: *std.Io.Writer,
     result: *const lint.CheckResult,
     format: lint.Format,
+    text_mode: lint.TextReportMode,
 ) !void {
     switch (format) {
-        .text => try lint.renderText(w, result),
+        .text => try lint.renderText(w, result, text_mode),
         .json => try lint.renderJson(run_alloc, w, result),
     }
 }
diff --git a/test/integration/lint_test.zig b/test/integration/lint_test.zig
index 5080bcd..0459fce 100644
--- a/test/integration/lint_test.zig
+++ b/test/integration/lint_test.zig
@@ -844,3 +844,112 @@ test "check from nested subdir with its own drift.lock only checks that scope" {
     // Should NOT contain docs from root scope
     try helpers.expectNotContains(result.stdout, "docs/root.md");
 }
+
+test "check --silent suppresses passing output" {
+    const allocator = std.testing.allocator;
+    var repo = try helpers.TempRepo.init(allocator);
+    defer repo.cleanup();
+
+    try repo.writeFile("docs/doc.md", "# Doc\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("src/main.ts", "export const value = 1;\n");
+    try repo.commit("add doc and source");
+
+    try linkDoc(&repo, "docs/doc.md", "src/main.ts");
+    try repo.commit("link doc");
+
+    const result = try repo.runDrift(&.{ "check", "--silent" });
+    defer result.deinit(allocator);
+
+    try helpers.expectExitCode(result.term, 0);
+    try std.testing.expectEqualStrings("", result.stdout);
+    try std.testing.expectEqualStrings("", result.stderr);
+}
+
+test "check --silent prints only stale and broken docs on failure" {
+    const allocator = std.testing.allocator;
+    var repo = try helpers.TempRepo.init(allocator);
+    defer repo.cleanup();
+
+    try repo.writeFile("docs/stale.md", "# Stale\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("docs/ok.md", "# Ok\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("docs/broken.md", "# Broken\n\nSee [missing](missing.md).\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("src/stale.ts", "export const stale = 1;\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("src/ok.ts", "export const ok = 1;\n");
+    try repo.commit("add docs and sources");
+
+    try linkDoc(&repo, "docs/stale.md", "src/stale.ts");
+    try linkDoc(&repo, "docs/ok.md", "src/ok.ts");
+    try repo.commit("link docs");
+
+    try repo.writeFile("src/stale.ts", "export const stale = 2;\n");
+    try repo.commit("make stale doc stale");
+
+    const result = try repo.runDrift(&.{ "check", "--silent" });
+    defer result.deinit(allocator);
+
+    try helpers.expectExitCode(result.term, 1);
+    try std.testing.expectEqualStrings("", result.stdout);
+    try helpers.expectContains(result.stderr, "docs/stale.md");
+    try helpers.expectContains(result.stderr, "STALE   src/stale.ts");
+    try helpers.expectContains(result.stderr, "docs/broken.md");
+    try helpers.expectContains(result.stderr, "BROKEN  docs/missing.md (link target not found)");
+    try helpers.expectContains(result.stderr, "2 of 3 docs failed, 1 ok, 1 broken link");
+    try helpers.expectNotContains(result.stderr, "docs/ok.md");
+    try helpers.expectNotContains(result.stderr, "  ok\n");
+}
+
+test "check --silent composes with changed path filtering" {
+    const allocator = std.testing.allocator;
+    var repo = try helpers.TempRepo.init(allocator);
+    defer repo.cleanup();
+
+    try repo.writeFile("docs/auth.md", "# Auth\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("docs/payments.md", "# Payments\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("src/auth/login.ts", "export const login = true;\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("src/payments/stripe.ts", "export const stripe = true;\n");
+    try repo.commit("add docs and sources");
+
+    try linkDoc(&repo, "docs/auth.md", "src/auth/login.ts");
+    try linkDoc(&repo, "docs/payments.md", "src/payments/stripe.ts");
+    try repo.commit("link both docs");
+
+    try repo.writeFile("src/auth/login.ts", "export const login = false;\n");
+    try repo.commit("modify auth source");
+
+    const result = try repo.runDrift(&.{ "check", "--silent", "--changed", "src/auth" });
+    defer result.deinit(allocator);
+
+    try helpers.expectExitCode(result.term, 1);
+    try std.testing.expectEqualStrings("", result.stdout);
+    try helpers.expectContains(result.stderr, "docs/auth.md");
+    try helpers.expectContains(result.stderr, "1 of 1 doc failed");
+    try helpers.expectNotContains(result.stderr, "docs/payments.md");
+}
+
+test "check --silent --format json keeps full payload on failure" {
+    const allocator = std.testing.allocator;
+    var repo = try helpers.TempRepo.init(allocator);
+    defer repo.cleanup();
+
+    try repo.writeFile("docs/stale.md", "# Stale\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("docs/ok.md", "# Ok\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("src/stale.ts", "export const stale = 1;\n");
+    try repo.writeFile("src/ok.ts", "export const ok = 1;\n");
+    try repo.commit("add docs and sources");
+
+    try linkDoc(&repo, "docs/stale.md", "src/stale.ts");
+    try linkDoc(&repo, "docs/ok.md", "src/ok.ts");
+    try repo.commit("link docs");
+
+    try repo.writeFile("src/stale.ts", "export const stale = 2;\n");
+    try repo.commit("make stale doc stale");
+
+    const result = try repo.runDrift(&.{ "check", "--silent", "--format", "json" });
+    defer result.deinit(allocator);
+
+    try helpers.expectExitCode(result.term, 1);
+    try std.testing.expectEqualStrings("", result.stdout);
+    try helpers.validateDriftCheckJson(allocator, result.stderr);
+    try helpers.expectContains(result.stderr, "docs/stale.md");
+    try helpers.expectContains(result.stderr, "docs/ok.md");
+}