diff --git a/cmd/restic/cmd_snapshots_test.go b/cmd/restic/cmd_snapshots_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..04af1a3c1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/restic/cmd_snapshots_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	rtest "github.com/restic/restic/internal/test"
+)
+
+// Regression test for #2979: no snapshots should print as [], not null.
+func TestEmptySnapshotGroupJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, grouped := range []bool{false, true} {
+		var w strings.Builder
+		printSnapshotGroupJSON(&w, nil, grouped)
+
+		rtest.Equals(t, "[]", strings.TrimSpace(w.String()))
+	}
+}