diff --git a/src/cli.js b/src/cli.js
index af69b33..01cd8d3 100755
--- a/src/cli.js
+++ b/src/cli.js
@@ -36,4 +36,8 @@ function buildConfig(args) {
 // parse args from CLI
 const args = parseArgs();
 
-pkgcomp(buildConfig(args), utils.getIdent(), args);
+pkgcomp(buildConfig(args), utils.getIdent(), args).catch(err => {
+  // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+  console.error(err);
+  process.exit(err.exitCode);
+});
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 4e792ca..54840fc 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -54,9 +54,14 @@ module.exports = async function pkgcomp(config, ident, opts = defaultOptions) {
 
   if (runCmd) {
     const res = await execCommand(config.cmd);
-    if (res.code !== 0) process.exit(res.code);
-    data.write(config.dataDir, ident, payload);
-  } else {
-    data.write(config.dataDir, ident, payload);
+    if (res.code !== 0) {
+      const err = new Error(`Script exited with code ${res.code}`);
+      err.exitCode = res.code;
+      err.cmd = res.cmd;
+      throw err;
+    }
   }
+
+  data.write(config.dataDir, ident, payload);
+  return payload;
 };