The plain-English version
A numeric result returned when a process finishes, conventionally zero for success and nonzero for failure.
Why it matters
Automation uses it to decide whether subsequent steps should continue.
Let’s make it click
A report script returns a failure code when its input file is missing.
Vibe Bro’s heads-up
Printing an error while returning success can cause a pipeline to publish incomplete results; make the exit status match the outcome.
The docs behind it
Documentation links checked .
Editorial review · October 28, 2026
Supported: Exit-code convention is correctly qualified as conventional; diagnostic text alone does not signal process failure.