diff --git a/local/trial-build-registry.R b/local/trial-build-registry.R
index 0749bf7..9708408 100644
--- a/local/trial-build-registry.R
+++ b/local/trial-build-registry.R
@@ -117,23 +117,34 @@ results <- vapply(
   pkgs,
   function(pkg) {
     cat(sprintf("\n=== trial build: %s ===\n", pkg))
-    tryCatch(
-      {
-        bincraft::build_binary_package(
-          pkg,
-          tag_limit = 1L,
-          patches = patches_dir,
-          archive = FALSE,
-          upload = FALSE,
-          store_build_metadata = FALSE
-        )
-        TRUE
-      },
+    # bincraft::build_binary_package() catches build failures internally and
+    # RETURNS "error" for the failed tag rather than throwing, so a green gate
+    # must inspect the return value -- checking only for a thrown exception
+    # reports a broken build as passing.
+    res <- tryCatch(
+      bincraft::build_binary_package(
+        pkg,
+        tag_limit = 1L,
+        patches = patches_dir,
+        archive = FALSE,
+        upload = FALSE,
+        store_build_metadata = FALSE
+      ),
       error = function(e) {
-        cat(sprintf("FAILED %s: %s\n", pkg, conditionMessage(e)))
-        FALSE
+        cat(sprintf("FAILED %s (threw): %s\n", pkg, conditionMessage(e)))
+        "error"
       }
     )
+    flat <- as.character(unlist(res))
+    ok <- length(flat) > 0L && !("error" %in% flat)
+    if (!ok) {
+      cat(sprintf(
+        "FAILED %s: build did not succeed (result: %s)\n",
+        pkg,
+        if (length(flat) > 0L) toString(flat) else "<empty>"
+      ))
+    }
+    ok
   },
   logical(1L)
 )