diff --git a/src/exit-code.ts b/src/exit-code.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02c9c53
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/exit-code.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+export function settledExitCode(): number {
+  return typeof process.exitCode === 'number' ? process.exitCode : 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index db1512d..b9144f9 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { loadConfig } from './config/loader';
 import { handleError } from './errors/handler';
 import { CLIError, isCLIError } from './errors/base';
 import { ExitCode } from './errors/codes';
+import { settledExitCode } from './exit-code';
 import { registerAllCommands } from './commands';
 import {
   registry,
@@ -160,6 +161,10 @@ async function run(): Promise<void> {
       }
     }
     await command.execute(config, globalFlags, args);
+    // Commands that finish without throwing but still failed (a browser wait
+    // that timed out) flag it on process.exitCode; a hard exit(0) here used to
+    // discard it.
+    const exitCode = settledExitCode();
     if (!isTelemetryCommand) {
       await dispatch(
         config,
@@ -168,14 +173,14 @@ async function run(): Promise<void> {
           command: command.name,
           flags: flagNames,
           positionalArgCount: positional.length,
-          exitCode: ExitCode.SUCCESS,
+          exitCode,
           durationMs: Date.now() - started,
           credential,
           error: null,
         })
       );
     }
-    process.exit(0);
+    process.exit(exitCode);
   } catch (err) {
     const { exitCode, category, rawMessage } = classifyError(err);
     if (!isTelemetryCommand) {
diff --git a/test/exit-code.test.ts b/test/exit-code.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47265bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/exit-code.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+import { describe, it, afterEach } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+
+import { settledExitCode } from '../src/exit-code';
+
+describe('settledExitCode', () => {
+  afterEach(() => {
+    process.exitCode = undefined;
+  });
+
+  it('is 0 when no command flagged a soft failure', () => {
+    assert.equal(settledExitCode(), 0);
+  });
+
+  it('carries the code a command set on process.exitCode', () => {
+    process.exitCode = 1;
+    assert.equal(settledExitCode(), 1);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('main honors process.exitCode after a command completes', () => {
+  // Preload sets process.exitCode the way the connect commands do on a
+  // browser-wait timeout; `config show` completes without throwing.
+  function runConfigShow(preset: string): number | null {
+    const home = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'polylane-exit-code-test-'));
+    try {
+      const result = spawnSync(
+        process.execPath,
+        ['--import', 'tsx', '--import', './test/helpers/preset-exit-code.ts', 'src/main.ts', 'config', 'show'],
+        {
+          cwd: join(import.meta.dirname, '..'),
+          env: { ...process.env, HOME: home, PRESET_EXIT_CODE: preset, POLYLANE_TELEMETRY: '0' },
+          encoding: 'utf8',
+        }
+      );
+      return result.status;
+    } finally {
+      rmSync(home, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    }
+  }
+
+  it('exits 0 when nothing was flagged', () => {
+    assert.equal(runConfigShow('0'), 0);
+  });
+
+  it('exits with the flagged code instead of 0', () => {
+    assert.equal(runConfigShow('1'), 1);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/helpers/preset-exit-code.ts b/test/helpers/preset-exit-code.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f153139
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/helpers/preset-exit-code.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+process.exitCode = Number(process.env.PRESET_EXIT_CODE);