diff --git a/lib/copy.sh b/lib/copy.sh
index 2a17b58..7c335db 100644
--- a/lib/copy.sh
+++ b/lib/copy.sh
@@ -163,12 +163,32 @@ _expand_and_copy_pattern() {
 
   if [ "$have_globstar" -eq 0 ] && echo "$pattern" | grep -q '\*\*'; then
     # Fallback to find for ** patterns on Bash 3.2
+    # find -path doesn't treat ** as recursive glob; it's just a wildcard that
+    # won't match across the required '/' separator. For **/-prefixed patterns,
+    # also search with the suffix alone so root-level files are found.
+    local _find_results
+    _find_results=$(find . -path "./$pattern" -type f 2>/dev/null || true)
+    case "$pattern" in
+      \*\*/*)
+        local _suffix="${pattern#\*\*/}"
+        local _root_results
+        _root_results=$(find . -maxdepth 1 -path "./$_suffix" -type f 2>/dev/null || true)
+        if [ -n "$_root_results" ]; then
+          if [ -n "$_find_results" ]; then
+            _find_results="$_find_results"$'\n'"$_root_results"
+          else
+            _find_results="$_root_results"
+          fi
+        fi
+        ;;
+    esac
     while IFS= read -r file; do
+      [ -z "$file" ] && continue
       if _copy_pattern_file "$file" "$dst_root" "$excludes" "$preserve_paths" "$dry_run"; then
         count=$((count + 1))
       fi
     done <<EOF
-$(find . -path "./$pattern" -type f 2>/dev/null || true)
+$_find_results
 EOF
   else
     # Use native Bash glob expansion (supports ** if available)
diff --git a/tests/copy_safety.bats b/tests/copy_safety.bats
index 377045e..de31b87 100644
--- a/tests/copy_safety.bats
+++ b/tests/copy_safety.bats
@@ -124,3 +124,60 @@ teardown() {
   _test_tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
   ! _fast_copy_dir "/nonexistent/path" "$_test_tmpdir/"
 }
+
+# --- _expand_and_copy_pattern find-fallback tests ---
+# These test the Bash 3.2 fallback path (have_globstar=0)
+
+@test "find fallback: empty results don't cause failures" {
+  _test_tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+  local src="$_test_tmpdir/src" dst="$_test_tmpdir/dst"
+  mkdir -p "$src" "$dst"
+
+  cd "$src"
+  local count
+  count=$(_expand_and_copy_pattern "**/.nonexistent*" "$dst" "" "true" "false" "0")
+  [ "$count" -eq 0 ]
+}
+
+@test "find fallback: **/ pattern matches root-level files" {
+  _test_tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+  local src="$_test_tmpdir/src" dst="$_test_tmpdir/dst"
+  mkdir -p "$src" "$dst"
+  echo "secret" > "$src/.env"
+  echo "local" > "$src/.env.local"
+
+  cd "$src"
+  local count
+  count=$(_expand_and_copy_pattern "**/.env*" "$dst" "" "true" "false" "0")
+  [ "$count" -eq 2 ]
+  [ -f "$dst/.env" ]
+  [ -f "$dst/.env.local" ]
+}
+
+@test "find fallback: **/ pattern matches nested files" {
+  _test_tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+  local src="$_test_tmpdir/src" dst="$_test_tmpdir/dst"
+  mkdir -p "$src/subdir" "$dst"
+  echo "nested" > "$src/subdir/.env"
+
+  cd "$src"
+  local count
+  count=$(_expand_and_copy_pattern "**/.env" "$dst" "" "true" "false" "0")
+  [ "$count" -eq 1 ]
+  [ -f "$dst/subdir/.env" ]
+}
+
+@test "find fallback: **/ pattern matches both root and nested files" {
+  _test_tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+  local src="$_test_tmpdir/src" dst="$_test_tmpdir/dst"
+  mkdir -p "$src/config" "$dst"
+  echo "root" > "$src/CLAUDE.md"
+  echo "nested" > "$src/config/CLAUDE.md"
+
+  cd "$src"
+  local count
+  count=$(_expand_and_copy_pattern "**/CLAUDE.md" "$dst" "" "true" "false" "0")
+  [ "$count" -eq 2 ]
+  [ -f "$dst/CLAUDE.md" ]
+  [ -f "$dst/config/CLAUDE.md" ]
+}