diff --git a/spec/controllers/asset_types_spec.cr b/spec/controllers/asset_types_spec.cr
index ff906699..e5ef7aff 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/asset_types_spec.cr
+++ b/spec/controllers/asset_types_spec.cr
@@ -5,7 +5,19 @@ module PlaceOS::Api
     Spec.test_404(AssetTypes.base_route, model_name: Model::AssetType.table_name, headers: Spec::Authentication.headers, clz: Int64)
 
     describe "index", tags: "search" do
-      it "should return json when get request is invoked" do
+      it "should return an empty array when no matching asset types found" do
+        PlaceOS::Model::Asset.clear
+        PlaceOS::Model::AssetType.clear
+        params = HTTP::Params.encode({"zone_id" => "unknown-zone"})
+        path = "#{AssetTypes.base_route}?#{params}"
+        result = client.get(path, headers: Spec::Authentication.headers)
+        result.status_code.should eq(200)
+        body = JSON.parse(result.body)
+        body.as_a?.should_not be_nil
+        body.as_a.size.should be >= 0
+      end
+
+      it "should return json when get request is invoked for matching asset-types" do
         PlaceOS::Model::Asset.clear
         PlaceOS::Model::AssetType.clear
         asset = PlaceOS::Model::Generator.asset.save!
diff --git a/src/placeos-rest-api/controllers/asset_types.cr b/src/placeos-rest-api/controllers/asset_types.cr
index dfb644a1..db25682a 100644
--- a/src/placeos-rest-api/controllers/asset_types.cr
+++ b/src/placeos-rest-api/controllers/asset_types.cr
@@ -102,9 +102,9 @@ module PlaceOS::Api
       SQL
 
       result = PgORM::Database.connection do |db|
-        db.query_one sql, &.read(JSON::PullParser).read_raw
+        db.query_one sql, &.read(JSON::PullParser?).try &.read_raw
       end
-      render json: result
+      render json: result || "[]"
     end
 
     # show the selected asset type