diff --git a/deploy/test-production-bootstrap.sh b/deploy/test-production-bootstrap.sh
index 8b8d8ef..2c8e9b2 100755
--- a/deploy/test-production-bootstrap.sh
+++ b/deploy/test-production-bootstrap.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,10 @@ $compose run --rm --no-deps community-scheduler python -c "import app.community_
 echo "Community scheduler valid ✓"
 
 # A10: Extract Alembic revision ID programmatically, handle multiple heads
-ALEMBIC_HEADS_OUTPUT=$($compose exec -T api alembic heads 2>/dev/null || true)
+if ! ALEMBIC_HEADS_OUTPUT=$($compose exec -T api alembic heads 2>/dev/null); then
+  echo "ERROR: unable to read Alembic heads" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
 # Extract revision IDs (first field before space or '(head)'), handle multiple heads
 ALEMBIC_HEAD=$(echo "$ALEMBIC_HEADS_OUTPUT" | grep -oE '^[a-f0-9]+' | head -1)
 DB_VERSION=$($compose exec -T db psql -At -U rf4 -d rf4_spotter -c 'select version_num from alembic_version')
@@ -60,7 +63,7 @@ if [ -z "$DB_VERSION" ]; then
 fi
 
 # Handle multiple heads: check if DB version matches any head
-HEAD_COUNT=$(echo "$ALEMBIC_HEADS_OUTPUT" | grep -cE '^[a-f0-9]+' || true)
+HEAD_COUNT=$(echo "$ALEMBIC_HEADS_OUTPUT" | grep -cE '^[a-f0-9]+') || HEAD_COUNT=0
 if [ "$HEAD_COUNT" -gt 1 ]; then
   echo "WARNING: Multiple Alembic heads detected ($HEAD_COUNT), checking if DB version matches any..."
   if ! echo "$ALEMBIC_HEADS_OUTPUT" | grep -q "^$DB_VERSION"; then