diff --git a/docs/product/output-conventions.md b/docs/product/output-conventions.md
index 9a059653..2b5168bf 100644
--- a/docs/product/output-conventions.md
+++ b/docs/product/output-conventions.md
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ command:
 - a non-zero child status is preserved as the process exit code and is
   represented by `CLI.CHILD_PROCESS_FAILED`, with `exitCode` and `signal` in
   `error.meta`
+- a command may attach its own structured error (`exitWithChildStatus({ error })`);
+  for a child that exited non-zero the JSON result carries it in place of
+  `CLI.CHILD_PROCESS_FAILED`, keeping the child's exit code and those two `meta` keys
 
 This lets automation consume a command family's structured result without
 having to parse the delegated tool's human output.
diff --git a/docs/reference/error-reference.md b/docs/reference/error-reference.md
index 75964ad0..a0ed5d89 100644
--- a/docs/reference/error-reference.md
+++ b/docs/reference/error-reference.md
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ A `ctx.prompt.browserWait` flow (the command opened a URL and polled for the use
 
 ### CLI.CHILD_PROCESS_FAILED
 
-Emitted only as a json-mode error envelope when a command that handed the terminal to a child process (`exitWithChildStatus`) saw that child exit non-zero or die on a signal; the run's exit code is the child's own status verbatim, not the CLI's usual 2. Meta: `exitCode`, `signal`.
+Emitted only as a json-mode error envelope when a command that handed the terminal to a child process (`exitWithChildStatus`) saw that child exit non-zero or die on a signal; the run's exit code is the child's own status verbatim, not the CLI's usual 2. A command that attaches its own error to that settlement replaces this code for a child that exited non-zero. Meta: `exitCode`, `signal`.
 
 ### CLI.COMMAND_MOVED
 
diff --git a/packages/cli-engine/package.json b/packages/cli-engine/package.json
index 35b995b5..4ec40fd6 100644
--- a/packages/cli-engine/package.json
+++ b/packages/cli-engine/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@prisma/cli-engine",
-  "version": "0.4.0",
+  "version": "0.4.1",
   "description": "The execution engine of the unified Prisma CLI.",
   "type": "module",
   "exports": {
diff --git a/packages/cli-engine/src/execution/settlement.ts b/packages/cli-engine/src/execution/settlement.ts
index 2ae47a6f..11dd8205 100644
--- a/packages/cli-engine/src/execution/settlement.ts
+++ b/packages/cli-engine/src/execution/settlement.ts
@@ -293,6 +293,26 @@ function settleStructuredChildStatus(
     });
     return;
   }
+  const status = { exitCode: child.exitCode, signal: child.signal };
+  // A signal-killed child drops the command's error with its next actions.
+  const attached = child.signal === null ? settlement.error : undefined;
+  if (attached !== undefined) {
+    const error = diagnosticOf(attached);
+    const actions = [...error.nextActions, ...nextActions];
+    emitErrored(invocation, {
+      ok: false,
+      commandId: invocation.state.commandId,
+      // The engine's record of the child wins over the handler's meta.
+      error: {
+        ...error,
+        nextActions: actions,
+        meta: { ...error.meta, ...status },
+      },
+      diagnostics: accompanyingFindings(attached.diagnostics),
+      nextActions: actions,
+    });
+    return;
+  }
   const how =
     child.signal === null
       ? `exited with code ${String(child.exitCode ?? "unknown")}`
@@ -305,7 +325,7 @@ function settleStructuredChildStatus(
       severity: "error",
       summary: `The delegated process ${how}.`,
       nextActions,
-      meta: { exitCode: child.exitCode, signal: child.signal },
+      meta: status,
     },
     diagnostics: [],
     nextActions,
diff --git a/packages/cli-engine/src/spawn.ts b/packages/cli-engine/src/spawn.ts
index bd36f396..7ff3f733 100644
--- a/packages/cli-engine/src/spawn.ts
+++ b/packages/cli-engine/src/spawn.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  * the child-status settlement are built from. The engine never imports
  * node:child_process — the bin injects an adapter satisfying SpawnChild.
  */
-import type { NextAction } from "./protocol";
+import type { CliStructuredError, NextAction } from "./protocol";
 
 /** A fully composed child invocation. `env` is the child's COMPLETE
  *  environment: the engine has already merged the invocation
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ export const CHILD_STATUS: unique symbol = Symbol.for(
 export interface ChildStatusSettlement {
   readonly [CHILD_STATUS]: true;
   readonly nextActions: readonly NextAction[];
+  readonly error: CliStructuredError | undefined;
 }
 
 export interface ExitWithChildStatusOptions {
@@ -84,6 +85,10 @@ export interface ExitWithChildStatusOptions {
    *  a signal-killed child drops these entirely: the user stopped the
    *  run, so there is nothing to reproduce. */
   readonly nextActions?: readonly NextAction[];
+  /** The command's own structured error for a failed child. It replaces
+   *  CLI.CHILD_PROCESS_FAILED in the json envelope only; the exit code
+   *  stays the child's. Ignored when the child exited 0 or was signalled. */
+  readonly error?: CliStructuredError;
 }
 
 /** Signal numbers shared by Linux, macOS and the BSDs. Numbers that
@@ -133,6 +138,7 @@ export function exitWithChildStatus(
   return Object.freeze({
     [CHILD_STATUS]: true as const,
     nextActions: Object.freeze([...(options?.nextActions ?? [])]),
+    error: options?.error,
   });
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/cli-engine/tests/spawn.test.ts b/packages/cli-engine/tests/spawn.test.ts
index 2430a362..61388048 100644
--- a/packages/cli-engine/tests/spawn.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli-engine/tests/spawn.test.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import {
   exitWithChildStatus,
   type Runtime,
 } from "@prisma/cli-engine";
-import { ok } from "@prisma/cli-engine/protocol";
+import { CliStructuredError, ok } from "@prisma/cli-engine/protocol";
 import {
   createTestCli,
   mintTestJwt,
@@ -1423,6 +1423,75 @@ describe("next actions on a child-status settlement", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("a structured error on a child-status settlement", () => {
+  const deploy = defineCommand({
+    help: { summary: "A converge that knows why its child failed" },
+    maySpawn: true,
+    handler: async (_args, ctx) => {
+      await ctx.spawn({ command: "alchemy" });
+      return ok(
+        exitWithChildStatus({
+          error: new CliStructuredError("DEPLOY.ENGINE_FAILED", "Failed.", {
+            meta: { stackFilePath: "/app/stack.ts", exitCode: 99 },
+          }),
+        }),
+      );
+    },
+  });
+
+  async function settle(child: {
+    readonly exitCode: number | null;
+    readonly signal: string | null;
+  }) {
+    const cli = createTestCli({
+      commands: { deploy },
+      now: CLOCK,
+      spawnScript: () => child,
+    });
+    return cli.run(["deploy", "--json"]);
+  }
+
+  test("json carries the command's error and exits with the child's code", async () => {
+    const result = await settle({ exitCode: 3, signal: null });
+
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(3);
+    expect(result.json.at(-1)).toMatchObject({
+      envelope: {
+        ok: false,
+        error: {
+          code: "DEPLOY.ENGINE_FAILED",
+          summary: "Failed.",
+          meta: { stackFilePath: "/app/stack.ts", exitCode: 3, signal: null },
+        },
+      },
+    });
+  });
+
+  test("a signal-killed child is still CLI.CHILD_PROCESS_FAILED", async () => {
+    const result = await settle({ exitCode: null, signal: "SIGINT" });
+
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(130);
+    expect(result.json.at(-1)).toMatchObject({
+      envelope: {
+        ok: false,
+        error: {
+          code: "CLI.CHILD_PROCESS_FAILED",
+          meta: { exitCode: null, signal: "SIGINT" },
+        },
+      },
+    });
+  });
+
+  test("a child that exited 0 settles ok", async () => {
+    const result = await settle({ exitCode: 0, signal: null });
+
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(result.json.at(-1)).toMatchObject({
+      envelope: { ok: true, result: null, exitCode: 0 },
+    });
+  });
+});
+
 describe("unknown terminations are never success", () => {
   test("an adapter that cannot say how the child ended settles 1", async () => {
     const cli = createTestCli({
diff --git a/packages/cli/package.json b/packages/cli/package.json
index 20c240fe..4881c190 100644
--- a/packages/cli/package.json
+++ b/packages/cli/package.json
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@manypkg/tools": "^2.1.2",
-    "@prisma/cli-engine": "workspace:0.4.0",
+    "@prisma/cli-engine": "workspace:0.4.1",
     "@prisma/composer-cli": "0.20.0",
     "@prisma/compute-sdk": "0.42.0",
     "@prisma/management-api-sdk": "1.69.0",
diff --git a/packages/prisma/package.json b/packages/prisma/package.json
index 2f69d6a1..1fd64508 100644
--- a/packages/prisma/package.json
+++ b/packages/prisma/package.json
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@manypkg/tools": "^2.1.2",
-    "@prisma/cli-engine": "workspace:0.4.0",
+    "@prisma/cli-engine": "workspace:0.4.1",
     "@prisma/composer-cli": "0.20.0",
     "@prisma/compute-sdk": "0.42.0",
     "@prisma/management-api-sdk": "1.69.0",
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 8aadcbc8..de8474fd 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ importers:
         specifier: ^2.1.2
         version: 2.1.2
       '@prisma/cli-engine':
-        specifier: workspace:0.4.0
+        specifier: workspace:0.4.1
         version: link:../cli-engine
       '@prisma/composer-cli':
         specifier: 0.20.0
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ importers:
         specifier: ^2.1.2
         version: 2.1.2
       '@prisma/cli-engine':
-        specifier: workspace:0.4.0
+        specifier: workspace:0.4.1
         version: link:../cli-engine
       '@prisma/composer-cli':
         specifier: 0.20.0