diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5d0c0d5..7d00c30 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
 - Playwright setup note in the Quick start section of `README.md`.
 
 ### Fixed
+- The integrator example now removes its scratch directory when decide fails
+  or policy refuses the response. `process.exit` skipped the cleanup, so each
+  failed run left an `aas-integrator-` directory behind.
 - `aas inspect --root` now rejects a blank path, matching the other saved-case
   commands. A whitespace root used to be treated as a directory and failed
   with a filesystem error.
diff --git a/examples/review-handoff.mjs b/examples/review-handoff.mjs
index 42558f2..6874897 100644
--- a/examples/review-handoff.mjs
+++ b/examples/review-handoff.mjs
@@ -45,9 +45,16 @@ const DOMAIN_FIXTURES = {
   },
 };
 
+class HandoffExit extends Error {
+  constructor(code) {
+    super("handoff exit");
+    this.exitCode = code;
+  }
+}
+
 function fail(reason) {
   process.stderr.write(`integrator example failed: ${reason}\n`);
-  process.exit(1);
+  throw new HandoffExit(1);
 }
 
 function parseArgs(argv) {
@@ -111,7 +118,7 @@ function main() {
     const evaluation = readJson("decide", decided);
     if (evaluation.passed !== true) {
       note("decide: policy refused the response; act and prove are skipped (fail-closed)");
-      process.exit(1);
+      throw new HandoffExit(1);
     }
     note(`decide: policy ${evaluation.policy_id} passed (${evaluation.rule_results.length} rules)`);
 
@@ -218,4 +225,12 @@ function main() {
   }
 }
 
-main();
+try {
+  main();
+} catch (error) {
+  if (error instanceof HandoffExit) {
+    process.exitCode = error.exitCode;
+  } else {
+    throw error;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/test/stack.test.mjs b/test/stack.test.mjs
index adb80e8..abc47b7 100644
--- a/test/stack.test.mjs
+++ b/test/stack.test.mjs
@@ -2075,6 +2075,33 @@ test('filtered case pages preserve scan bounds and continuation across nonmatche
   for(const args of [['--domain','real'],['--outcome','paid'],['--search',''],['--search','x'.repeat(201)],['--domain','refund','--domain','inventory']]) assert.equal((await captureMain(['cases',...args,'--json'])).exitCode,2);
 });
 
+test("review handoff removes its scratch directory when decide cannot start", () => {
+  const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "aas-handoff-scratch-"));
+  const preload = join(dir, "preload.cjs");
+  writeFileSync(preload, [
+    "if (typeof process.argv[1] === 'string' && process.argv[1].includes('sys.version_info')) {",
+    "  process.stdout.write('3.13\\n');",
+    "  process.exit(0);",
+    "}",
+    "",
+  ].join("\n"));
+  const result = spawnSync(process.execPath, [join(ROOT, "examples/review-handoff.mjs"), "--response", "fail"], {
+    cwd: ROOT,
+    encoding: "utf8",
+    timeout: 15000,
+    env: {
+      ...process.env,
+      TMPDIR: dir,
+      TMP: dir,
+      TEMP: dir,
+      AAS_PYTHON: process.execPath,
+      NODE_OPTIONS: `--require ${JSON.stringify(preload)}`,
+    },
+  });
+  assert.equal(result.status, 1, `${result.stderr}\n${result.stdout}`);
+  assert.deepEqual(readdirSync(dir).filter((name) => name.startsWith("aas-integrator-")), []);
+});
+
 test('review handoff example honors the explicit interpreter override', () => {
   const child=spawnSync(process.execPath,[join(ROOT,'examples/review-handoff.mjs')],{cwd:ROOT,encoding:'utf8',timeout:5000,env:{...process.env,AAS_PYTHON:'aas-synthetic-missing-python'}});
   assert.equal(child.status,1);assert.match(child.stderr,/AAS_PYTHON/);assert.match(child.stderr,/did not report a usable Python version/);