diff --git a/tools/u_boot_pylib/claude.py b/tools/u_boot_pylib/claude.py
index 29dff1d1d4b..6ba980b6b2e 100644
--- a/tools/u_boot_pylib/claude.py
+++ b/tools/u_boot_pylib/claude.py
@@ -62,3 +62,8 @@ async def run_agent_collect(prompt, options):
     except (RuntimeError, ValueError, OSError) as exc:
         tout.error(f'Agent failed: {exc}')
         return False, '\n\n'.join(conversation_log)
+    except Exception as exc:
+        if 'API Error' in str(exc) or 'exit code' in str(exc):
+            tout.error(f'Agent failed: {exc}')
+            return False, '\n\n'.join(conversation_log)
+        raise
diff --git a/tools/u_boot_pylib/test_claude.py b/tools/u_boot_pylib/test_claude.py
index c564dddb70e..2a666e6c396 100644
--- a/tools/u_boot_pylib/test_claude.py
+++ b/tools/u_boot_pylib/test_claude.py
@@ -83,6 +83,37 @@ class TestClaude(unittest.TestCase):
 
         self.assertFalse(success)
 
+    def test_run_agent_collect_handles_api_error(self):
+        """run_agent_collect() catches SDK API errors"""
+        # pylint: disable=W0613,W0719
+        async def mock_query(**kwargs):
+            raise Exception(
+                'Command failed with exit code 1 (exit code: 1)')
+            yield  # pylint: disable=W0101
+
+        self._setup_claude_with_mock_query(mock_query)
+        loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
+        with terminal.capture():
+            success, _ = loop.run_until_complete(
+                claude.run_agent_collect('test prompt', MagicMock()))
+        loop.close()
+
+        self.assertFalse(success)
+
+    def test_run_agent_collect_reraises_unknown(self):
+        """run_agent_collect() re-raises unexpected exceptions"""
+        # pylint: disable=W0613
+        async def mock_query(**kwargs):
+            raise TypeError('unexpected bug')
+            yield  # pylint: disable=W0101
+
+        self._setup_claude_with_mock_query(mock_query)
+        loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
+        with self.assertRaises(TypeError):
+            loop.run_until_complete(
+                claude.run_agent_collect('test prompt', MagicMock()))
+        loop.close()
+
     def test_run_agent_collect_skips_non_text_blocks(self):
         """run_agent_collect() ignores blocks without text attribute"""
         text_block = MagicMock()