diff --git a/.changeset/7333-gantt-empty-host-data.md b/.changeset/7333-gantt-empty-host-data.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d443111b4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/7333-gantt-empty-host-data.md
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+---
+'@object-ui/plugin-gantt': patch
+---
+
+`ObjectGantt` no longer treats an EMPTY host `data` array as the rows it was handed (objectui#7333).
+
+`ObjectGantt` read a host `data` prop at two places, and both accepted `[]`. The
+reload's short-circuit tested `data && Array.isArray(data)`, and an empty array
+is truthy, so the chart adopted it and returned before its own query. The gating
+flag tested `Array.isArray(data)` alone, so the same array also switched off the
+object-schema gate and the data-invalidation subscription of that query. A gantt
+whose `data` names its own source, for example `{ provider: 'api', read }`,
+therefore painted an EMPTY chart whenever a host handed it an array it had not
+filled yet.
+
+Both places now read one predicate. A host `data` array is adopted only when it
+has rows. An empty one reads as "no host rows yet": the chart queries its own
+source, exactly as it does with no host array at all, and adopts the host's rows
+when they arrive.
+
+Who can reach this: the registered `object-gantt` renderer still forwards no
+host prop, and `ObjectGanttProps` does not declare `data`, so only a caller that
+renders `ObjectGantt` directly and spreads `data` in was affected.
diff --git a/packages/plugin-gantt/src/ObjectGantt.emptyHostData-7333.test.tsx b/packages/plugin-gantt/src/ObjectGantt.emptyHostData-7333.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9c251f3435
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/plugin-gantt/src/ObjectGantt.emptyHostData-7333.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,218 @@
+/**
+ * ObjectUI
+ * Copyright (c) 2024-present ObjectStack Inc.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * objectui#7333 — an EMPTY host `data` array is "no host rows yet", not "the
+ * host owns zero rows".
+ *
+ * `ObjectGantt` read a host `data` prop at two sites, and both took `[]` as an
+ * authoritative answer: `reload`'s short-circuit (`data && Array.isArray(data)`
+ * — `[]` is truthy) adopted it and returned before the chart's own query, and
+ * the gating flag (`Array.isArray(data)`) switched off the object-schema gate
+ * and the invalidation subscription that belong to that query. So a gantt whose
+ * `data` names its own source painted an EMPTY chart the moment a host handed
+ * it an array it had not filled yet.
+ *
+ * Both sites now read one predicate, `hostRows` in `ObjectGantt.tsx`: a
+ * non-empty host array is adopted as it always was, and an empty one leaves the
+ * chart reading from its own source, exactly as with no host array at all.
+ *
+ * ⚠️ Reach: the registered `object-gantt` renderer forwards no host prop, which
+ * `ObjectGantt.hostDataProp-7210.test.tsx` pins, and `ObjectGanttProps` does
+ * not declare `data`. So every case here renders `ObjectGantt` directly and
+ * spreads the prop in, as a direct caller would have to.
+ *
+ * Cases 1 and 4 are the pins; 2 and 3 are their controls, and 5 is the "yet":
+ *   1. api provider + host `[]` ⇒ the endpoint is read and its rows paint;
+ *   2. api provider + host rows ⇒ those rows paint, the endpoint is never read;
+ *   3. api provider + no host `data` ⇒ the endpoint is read;
+ *   4. object provider + host `[]` ⇒ the query waits for the object schema and
+ *      goes out ONCE, already expanded (the gating flag's half);
+ *   5. host rows that arrive after an empty first render are adopted.
+ */
+
+import React from 'react';
+import { render, screen, waitFor, act } from '@testing-library/react';
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import { SchemaRendererProvider } from '@object-ui/react';
+import { ObjectGantt } from './ObjectGantt';
+
+vi.mock('sonner', () => ({ toast: { error: vi.fn() } }));
+
+vi.mock('./GanttView', () => ({
+  GanttView: ({ tasks }: any) => (
+    <div data-testid="gantt-view" data-task-count={String(tasks.length)}>
+      {tasks.map((t: any) => (
+        <div key={t.id} data-testid={`gv-task-${t.id}`}>{t.title}</div>
+      ))}
+    </div>
+  ),
+}));
+
+vi.mock('@object-ui/plugin-detail', async (importOriginal) => ({
+  ...(await importOriginal<typeof import('@object-ui/plugin-detail')>()),
+  RecordDetailDrawer: () => null,
+  deriveRecordPageHref: () => null,
+}));
+
+/** What the gantt's own `api` endpoint answers with. */
+const ENDPOINT_ROWS = [
+  { id: 'e1', name: 'Endpoint task 1', start_date: '2026-01-01', end_date: '2026-01-05' },
+  { id: 'e2', name: 'Endpoint task 2', start_date: '2026-01-02', end_date: '2026-01-06' },
+];
+
+/** What a host hands down as `data` when it DOES have rows. */
+const HOST_ROWS = [
+  { id: 'h1', name: 'Host task 1', start_date: '2026-02-01', end_date: '2026-02-03' },
+];
+
+const ENDPOINT = '/api/gantt/tree';
+
+function apiSchema(): any {
+  return {
+    type: 'object-gantt',
+    objectName: 'tasks',
+    gantt: { titleField: 'name', startDateField: 'start_date', endDateField: 'end_date' },
+    data: { provider: 'api', read: { url: ENDPOINT, method: 'GET' } },
+  };
+}
+
+function makeApiFetch() {
+  return vi.fn(async () =>
+    new Response(JSON.stringify({ data: ENDPOINT_ROWS, total: ENDPOINT_ROWS.length }), {
+      status: 200,
+      headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+    }),
+  );
+}
+
+/** The URLs the endpoint was read at, in order. */
+function readUrls(apiFetch: ReturnType<typeof makeApiFetch>): string[] {
+  return (apiFetch.mock.calls as unknown as Array<[unknown]>).map(([url]) => String(url));
+}
+
+/** Renders an api-provider gantt, spreading `hostProps` in as a direct caller would. */
+function renderApiGantt(apiFetch: ReturnType<typeof makeApiFetch>, hostProps: Record<string, unknown>) {
+  const tree = (props: Record<string, unknown>) => (
+    <SchemaRendererProvider dataSource={null} apiFetch={apiFetch as any}>
+      <ObjectGantt schema={apiSchema()} {...(props as any)} />
+    </SchemaRendererProvider>
+  );
+  const utils = render(tree(hostProps));
+  return { ...utils, rerenderWith: (props: Record<string, unknown>) => utils.rerender(tree(props)) };
+}
+
+const taskCount = () => screen.getByTestId('gantt-view').getAttribute('data-task-count');
+
+/** Lets every in-flight read settle, so a query that would follow is counted. */
+const settle = () => act(() => new Promise<void>((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 100)));
+
+describe('objectui#7333 — an api-provider gantt handed an EMPTY host array still reads its endpoint', () => {
+  // No test here may reach the network through the bare global fetch.
+  const bareFetch = vi.fn(async () => new Response('{}', { status: 599 }));
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    bareFetch.mockClear();
+    vi.stubGlobal('fetch', bareFetch);
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    vi.unstubAllGlobals();
+  });
+
+  it('host `data: []` ⇒ the endpoint is read and its rows paint', async () => {
+    const apiFetch = makeApiFetch();
+
+    renderApiGantt(apiFetch, { data: [] });
+
+    await waitFor(() => expect(screen.getByTestId('gv-task-e2')).toBeTruthy());
+    expect(taskCount()).toBe(String(ENDPOINT_ROWS.length));
+    expect(readUrls(apiFetch).some((url) => url.includes(ENDPOINT))).toBe(true);
+    expect(bareFetch).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('CONTROL — host `data` with rows ⇒ those rows paint and the endpoint is never read', async () => {
+    const apiFetch = makeApiFetch();
+
+    renderApiGantt(apiFetch, { data: HOST_ROWS });
+
+    await waitFor(() => expect(screen.getByTestId('gv-task-h1')).toBeTruthy());
+    expect(taskCount()).toBe(String(HOST_ROWS.length));
+    expect(screen.queryByTestId('gv-task-e1')).toBeNull();
+    expect(apiFetch).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it('CONTROL — no host `data` ⇒ the endpoint is read', async () => {
+    const apiFetch = makeApiFetch();
+
+    renderApiGantt(apiFetch, {});
+
+    await waitFor(() => expect(screen.getByTestId('gv-task-e2')).toBeTruthy());
+    expect(readUrls(apiFetch).some((url) => url.includes(ENDPOINT))).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('host rows that arrive after an empty first render are adopted', async () => {
+    const apiFetch = makeApiFetch();
+
+    const { rerenderWith } = renderApiGantt(apiFetch, { data: [] });
+    await waitFor(() => expect(screen.getByTestId('gv-task-e2')).toBeTruthy());
+
+    rerenderWith({ data: HOST_ROWS });
+
+    await waitFor(() => expect(screen.getByTestId('gv-task-h1')).toBeTruthy());
+    expect(taskCount()).toBe(String(HOST_ROWS.length));
+    expect(screen.queryByTestId('gv-task-e1')).toBeNull();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('objectui#7333 — an EMPTY host array does not switch off the object-schema gate', () => {
+  /** A definition with a lookup, so the gated query has a real `$expand` to carry. */
+  const OBJECT_DEF = {
+    name: 'task',
+    fields: {
+      id: { name: 'id', type: 'text' },
+      subject: { name: 'subject', type: 'text' },
+      owner: { name: 'owner', type: 'lookup', reference_to: 'user' },
+      visible_from: { name: 'visible_from', type: 'date' },
+      due_date: { name: 'due_date', type: 'date' },
+    },
+  };
+
+  const OBJECT_ROWS = [
+    { id: '1', subject: 'Renewal', owner: 'u1', visible_from: '2026-01-01', due_date: '2026-01-05' },
+  ];
+
+  const objectSchema: any = {
+    type: 'object-gantt',
+    objectName: 'task',
+    gantt: { titleField: 'subject', startDateField: 'visible_from', endDateField: 'due_date' },
+  };
+
+  it('host `data: []` on an object-bound gantt ⇒ ONE query, issued after the schema settles, already expanded', async () => {
+    const adapter = {
+      find: vi.fn(async () => ({ data: OBJECT_ROWS, total: OBJECT_ROWS.length })),
+      findOne: vi.fn(),
+      create: vi.fn(),
+      update: vi.fn(),
+      delete: vi.fn(),
+      getObjectSchema: vi.fn(async () => OBJECT_DEF),
+    } as any;
+
+    render(<ObjectGantt schema={objectSchema} dataSource={adapter} {...({ data: [] } as any)} />);
+
+    await waitFor(() => expect(taskCount()).toBe(String(OBJECT_ROWS.length)));
+    await waitFor(() => expect(adapter.find).toHaveBeenCalled());
+    await settle();
+    // Ungated, the first query goes out before the definition lands and
+    // carries no expansion, and a second follows once it does: `[null,
+    // ['owner']]` — the signature `ObjectGantt.fetchGate-7225.test.tsx`
+    // records for the ungated regime.
+    const expandSets = adapter.find.mock.calls.map(([, params]: [string, any]) => params?.$expand ?? null);
+    expect(expandSets).toEqual([['owner']]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/plugin-gantt/src/ObjectGantt.tsx b/packages/plugin-gantt/src/ObjectGantt.tsx
index 08438cf4c2..78497743f8 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-gantt/src/ObjectGantt.tsx
+++ b/packages/plugin-gantt/src/ObjectGantt.tsx
@@ -840,6 +840,37 @@ export const ObjectGantt: React.FC<ObjectGanttProps> = ({
    * over by hand.
    */
   const reportOwedRef = useRef(false);
+  /**
+   * Rows a HOST component handed down as a `data` prop, or `null` when it
+   * handed none (objectui#7333).
+   *
+   * ⭐ An EMPTY array is `null` here. It is "no host rows yet", ⛔ not "the
+   * host owns zero rows". Both sites that read this prop — the short-circuit
+   * at the head of `reload` and `recordQueryDerivesExpand` below — used to
+   * take `[]` as an authoritative answer (`[]` is truthy, and
+   * `Array.isArray([])` holds): the chart adopted it and returned before its
+   * own query, and painted an EMPTY chart in place of the rows its `data`
+   * config names. A host array that has not been filled yet looks exactly like
+   * that. So an empty array leaves the chart reading from its own source, as it
+   * does with no host array at all; a NON-EMPTY one is adopted as it always
+   * was. Pinned in `ObjectGantt.emptyHostData-7333.test.tsx`.
+   *
+   * One predicate, evaluated once per render, for BOTH sites. `reload` reads it
+   * through `hostRowsRef` rather than closing over `rest`: `reload` does not
+   * key on the host rows, so a closed-over value is the one from whichever
+   * render last rebuilt `reload`. When a host's rows arrive after an empty
+   * first render, `recordQueryDerivesExpand` flips and fires the fetch effect,
+   * and that run must see the rows that flipped it, not the `[]` before them.
+   *
+   * ⚠️ The registry path never hands this prop: the registered `object-gantt`
+   * renderer forwards no host prop (`ObjectGantt.hostDataProp-7210.test.tsx`
+   * pins that), and `ObjectGanttProps` does not declare `data`. What reaches it
+   * is a direct caller that spreads one in.
+   */
+  const hostRowsProp: unknown = (rest as Record<string, unknown>).data;
+  const hostRows = Array.isArray(hostRowsProp) && hostRowsProp.length > 0 ? hostRowsProp : null;
+  const hostRowsRef = useRef(hostRows);
+  hostRowsRef.current = hostRows;
   const reload = useCallback(async ({ silent = false, inPlace = silent }: { silent?: boolean; inPlace?: boolean } = {}) => {
     const seq = ++reloadSeqRef.current;
     const isCurrent = () => reloadSeqRef.current === seq;
@@ -848,10 +879,12 @@ export const ObjectGantt: React.FC<ObjectGanttProps> = ({
     try {
       if (inPlace) setRefreshing(true);
       else setLoading(true);
-      // 1. Check for data prop (Unified ListView)
-      if ((rest as any).data && Array.isArray((rest as any).data)) {
+      // 1. Rows a host handed down — non-empty only (objectui#7333); see
+      // `hostRows` above for why this reads the ref.
+      const handedRows = hostRowsRef.current;
+      if (handedRows) {
         if (isCurrent()) {
-          setData((rest as any).data);
+          setData(handedRows);
           setRowCeiling(null);
           // Committed rows clear an earlier failure (objectui#10578) — the
           // reasoning sits on the adapter's commit below.
@@ -1003,18 +1036,21 @@ export const ObjectGantt: React.FC<ObjectGanttProps> = ({
     // The fetch effect below repeats this list for the same reason; the pins in
     // `ObjectGantt.discardedReloadIdentity-10036.test.tsx` hold the two in
     // parity by exercising each entry.
-    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps -- (rest as any).data intentionally untracked, matching the original effect
+    // eslint-disable-next-line react-hooks/exhaustive-deps -- `searchFields` is keyed by its serialised value, `searchFieldsKey`; the host rows are read through `hostRowsRef` (objectui#7333)
   }, [adapterInputsKey, dataSource, apiFetch, resource, hasInlineData, dataProvider, queryFilter, schema.sort, searchTerm, searchFieldsKey, objectSchema, perms]);
 
   /**
    * Does the query this effect is about to issue DERIVE anything from the
-   * object schema? Only the adapter branch does. A host-supplied `data` array
-   * and an inline `value` set both paint with no metadata read at all, so
-   * gating them would hold a paint on a resolution that buys them nothing.
-   * Same scoping ObjectCalendar's gate uses, and for the same reason.
+   * object schema? Only the adapter branch does. Rows a host handed down and
+   * an inline `value` set both paint with no metadata read at all, so gating
+   * them would hold a paint on a resolution that buys them nothing. Same
+   * scoping ObjectCalendar's gate uses, and for the same reason.
+   *
+   * "Rows a host handed down" is `hostRows`, the predicate `reload` reads — an
+   * EMPTY host array is not one (objectui#7333), so it keeps the gate and the
+   * invalidation subscription of the query the chart still issues.
    */
-  const hasHostData = Array.isArray((rest as any).data);
-  const recordQueryDerivesExpand = !hasHostData && !hasInlineData;
+  const recordQueryDerivesExpand = hostRows === null && !hasInlineData;
 
   // ⭐ objectui#7225 ask 2 (objectui#6482's undischarged gating half) — the
   // object schema GATES this query; it does not refine it afterwards.
diff --git a/packages/plugin-list/src/ListView.tsx b/packages/plugin-list/src/ListView.tsx
index dffb7bf592..8a2ef6e812 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-list/src/ListView.tsx
+++ b/packages/plugin-list/src/ListView.tsx
@@ -2071,12 +2071,12 @@ export const ListView = React.forwardRef<ListViewHandle, ListViewProps>(({
   // The withholding is kept anyway: it is unreachable, not wrong, and it stops
   // being unreachable the moment that wrapper forwards host props — whether a
   // non-grid view may fetch unbounded at all is an open maintainer decision
-  // (objectui#7210, half 2). `ObjectGantt.reload` takes its `rest.data`
-  // short-circuit on `data && Array.isArray(data)`, and `[]` satisfies both,
-  // while this view's rows array is never filled (the fetch effect below
-  // returns early for it). Forwarding it would therefore replace the endpoint's
-  // tree with an EMPTY chart — not with the stale object rows the old comment
-  // warned about.
+  // (objectui#7210, half 2). This view's rows array is not the endpoint's
+  // answer (the fetch effect below returns early for it), and `ObjectGantt`
+  // adopts any NON-EMPTY host `data` array as its rows. An EMPTY one no longer
+  // blanks the chart: it reads as "no host rows yet" and the chart still
+  // queries its endpoint (objectui#7333). So the withholding guards against
+  // this array ever being adopted in the endpoint's place.
   const ganttOwnsData =
     currentView === 'gantt' &&
     !!schema.data &&
diff --git a/packages/plugin-list/src/__tests__/ListView.test.tsx b/packages/plugin-list/src/__tests__/ListView.test.tsx
index b0a984d362..03f8c841b0 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-list/src/__tests__/ListView.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/plugin-list/src/__tests__/ListView.test.tsx
@@ -2686,10 +2686,10 @@ describe('ListView — gantt view fed by an api-provider ViewData', () => {
   // `plugin-gantt/src/ObjectGantt.hostDataProp-7210.test.tsx`). That makes (c)
   // a guard on a path the registry does not currently reach — keep it. The day
   // that wrapper forwards host props (objectui#7210, half 2, an open maintainer
-  // decision) it becomes load-bearing: `ObjectGantt.reload` short-circuits on
-  // `data && Array.isArray(data)`, and this view's rows array is a truthy `[]`
-  // forever, so handing it down would paint an EMPTY chart in place of the
-  // endpoint's tree.
+  // decision) it becomes load-bearing: this view's rows array is not the
+  // endpoint's answer, and `ObjectGantt` adopts any NON-EMPTY host array as its
+  // rows. (An EMPTY one no longer blanks the chart: it reads as "no host rows
+  // yet" and the chart still queries its endpoint, objectui#7333.)
   let prevObjectGantt: ReturnType<typeof ComponentRegistry.get>;
   let ganttCalls: any[];