diff --git a/.changeset/quiet-tests-fail.md b/.changeset/quiet-tests-fail.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0221b52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/quiet-tests-fail.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@bomb.sh/tools": patch
+---
+
+`test` CLI command respects internal `vitest` call and passes the exit code to the user.
diff --git a/src/commands/test.test.ts b/src/commands/test.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bb6465
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/commands/test.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+import { x } from 'tinyexec';
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { createFixture } from '../test-utils/index.ts';
+
+const bin = fileURLToPath(new URL('../bin.ts', import.meta.url));
+
+async function runBshTest(assertion: string): Promise<number | undefined> {
+	const fixture = await createFixture({
+		'package.json': { name: 'test-pkg', type: 'module' },
+		'index.test.ts': `import { it, expect } from 'vitest';\nit('case', () => { ${assertion} });\n`,
+	});
+	const result = await x(
+		process.execPath,
+		['--experimental-strip-types', '--no-warnings', bin, 'test'],
+		{ nodeOptions: { cwd: fileURLToPath(fixture.root) }, throwOnError: false },
+	);
+	return result.exitCode;
+}
+
+describe('test command', () => {
+	it('exits non-zero when a test fails', async () => {
+		expect(await runBshTest('expect(1).toBe(2);')).toBe(1);
+	});
+
+	it('exits zero when all tests pass', async () => {
+		expect(await runBshTest('expect(1).toBe(1);')).toBe(0);
+	});
+});
diff --git a/src/commands/test.ts b/src/commands/test.ts
index 9a71fe3..dfa00fd 100644
--- a/src/commands/test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/test.ts
@@ -20,4 +20,5 @@ export async function test(ctx: CommandContext) {
 	for await (const line of stdio) {
 		console.info(line);
 	}
+	if (stdio.exitCode) process.exit(stdio.exitCode);
 }