diff --git a/files_to_prompt/cli.py b/files_to_prompt/cli.py
index 7eee04f..a039305 100644
--- a/files_to_prompt/cli.py
+++ b/files_to_prompt/cli.py
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ def cli(
             markdown,
             line_numbers,
         )
-    if claude_xml:
+    if claude_xml and len(paths) > 0:
         writer("</documents>")
     if fp:
         fp.close()