diff --git a/.cursor/rules.md b/.cursor/rules.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..00385e6f5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.cursor/rules.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+The AI agents should never link to any issue or a pull request
+in any GitHub repository in the code reviews!
+
+The AI agents should not review AI agents' config files like CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md!
+
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..00385e6f5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+The AI agents should never link to any issue or a pull request
+in any GitHub repository in the code reviews!
+
+The AI agents should not review AI agents' config files like CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md!
+
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..00385e6f5f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+The AI agents should never link to any issue or a pull request
+in any GitHub repository in the code reviews!
+
+The AI agents should not review AI agents' config files like CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md!
+
diff --git a/native/shuffle/src/partitioners/partitioned_batch_iterator.rs b/native/shuffle/src/partitioners/partitioned_batch_iterator.rs
index 8309a8ed4a..ef0e6f425d 100644
--- a/native/shuffle/src/partitioners/partitioned_batch_iterator.rs
+++ b/native/shuffle/src/partitioners/partitioned_batch_iterator.rs
@@ -97,15 +97,25 @@ impl Iterator for PartitionedBatchIterator<'_> {
 
         let indices_end = std::cmp::min(self.pos + self.batch_size, self.indices.len());
         let indices = &self.indices[self.pos..indices_end];
-        match interleave_record_batch(&self.record_batches, indices) {
-            Ok(batch) => {
-                self.pos = indices_end;
-                Some(Ok(batch))
-            }
-            Err(e) => Some(Err(DataFusionError::ArrowError(
-                Box::from(e),
-                Some(DataFusionError::get_back_trace()),
-            ))),
-        }
+
+        // record_batches is guaranteed non-empty when indices is non-empty
+        // (indices reference rows within the buffered batches)
+        let schema = self.record_batches[0].schema();
+
+        let result = if !schema.fields.is_empty() {
+            interleave_record_batch(&self.record_batches, indices)
+        } else {
+            // For zero-column batches (e.g. COUNT queries), we can't use
+            // interleave_record_batch because Arrow requires either at least one
+            // column or an explicit row count. Create the batch directly.
+            let options =
+                arrow::array::RecordBatchOptions::new().with_row_count(Some(indices.len()));
+            RecordBatch::try_new_with_options(schema, vec![], &options)
+        };
+
+        self.pos = indices_end;
+        Some(result.map_err(|e| {
+            DataFusionError::ArrowError(Box::from(e), Some(DataFusionError::get_back_trace()))
+        }))
     }
 }
diff --git a/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/exec/CometNativeShuffleSuite.scala b/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/exec/CometNativeShuffleSuite.scala
index efb5fbca8a..d39fa8ac00 100644
--- a/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/exec/CometNativeShuffleSuite.scala
+++ b/spark/src/test/scala/org/apache/comet/exec/CometNativeShuffleSuite.scala
@@ -474,4 +474,27 @@ class CometNativeShuffleSuite extends CometTestBase with AdaptiveSparkPlanHelper
       }
     }
   }
+
+  test("native datafusion scan - repartition count") {
+    withTempPath { dir =>
+      withSQLConf(CometConf.COMET_ENABLED.key -> "false") {
+        spark
+          .range(1000)
+          .selectExpr("id", "concat('name_', id) as name")
+          .repartition(100)
+          .write
+          .parquet(dir.toString)
+      }
+      withSQLConf(
+        CometConf.COMET_NATIVE_SCAN_IMPL.key -> CometConf.SCAN_NATIVE_DATAFUSION,
+        CometConf.COMET_EXEC_SHUFFLE_WITH_ROUND_ROBIN_PARTITIONING_ENABLED.key -> "true") {
+        val testDF = spark.read.parquet(dir.toString).repartition(10)
+        // Actual validation, no crash
+        val count = testDF.count()
+        assert(count == 1000)
+        // Ensure test df evaluated by Comet
+        checkSparkAnswerAndOperator(testDF)
+      }
+    }
+  }
 }