diff --git a/packages/solo/src/entrypoint.cjs b/packages/solo/src/entrypoint.cjs
index 4ac5b5ae305..2275e314648 100755
--- a/packages/solo/src/entrypoint.cjs
+++ b/packages/solo/src/entrypoint.cjs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ const solo = esmRequire('./main.js').default;
 
 const baseprog = path.basename(process.argv[1]);
 solo(baseprog, process.argv.slice(2)).then(
-  _res => 0,
+  res => process.exit(res || 0),
   reason => {
     console.log(`error running ag-solo:`, reason);
     console.error(`\
diff --git a/packages/solo/src/main.js b/packages/solo/src/main.js
index 6fc8a95e1f0..e3614a99c39 100644
--- a/packages/solo/src/main.js
+++ b/packages/solo/src/main.js
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ start
       const { netconfig } = parseArgs(argv.slice(1));
       if (!AG_SOLO_BASEDIR) {
         console.error(`setup: you must set $AG_SOLO_BASEDIR`);
-        return;
+        return 1;
       }
       if (!fs.existsSync(AG_SOLO_BASEDIR)) {
         await solo(progname, ['init', AG_SOLO_BASEDIR, ...argv.slice(1)]);
@@ -145,11 +145,13 @@ start
       const cp = spawnSync(`${__dirname}/../../${argv[0]}.js`, argv.slice(1), {
         stdio: 'inherit',
       });
-      process.exit(cp.status);
+      return cp.status;
     }
     default: {
       log.error(`unrecognized command ${argv[0]}`);
       log.error(`try one of: init, set-gci-ingress, start`);
+      return 1;
     }
   }
+  return 0;
 }