diff --git a/scripts/work/state-sync-guard.test.mjs b/scripts/work/state-sync-guard.test.mjs
index aa16f1c..e96a015 100644
--- a/scripts/work/state-sync-guard.test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/work/state-sync-guard.test.mjs
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ const GUARD = path.join(__dirname, "state-sync-guard.mjs");
 
 describe("state-sync-guard smoke", () => {
   it("exits 0 when run against the repo's current state (since main is in sync)", () => {
-    // Run the guard; if main's _state.json drifts, this test will fail and tell us.
-    const result = execSync(`node "${GUARD}"`, { encoding: "utf8" });
-    // No assertion on output; the exit code is 0 if we got here without throwing.
-    expect(true).toBe(true);
+    // Run the guard; if main's _state.json drifts, execSync throws (non-zero
+    // exit) and this test fails with the guard's output.
+    expect(() =>
+      execSync(`node "${GUARD}"`, { encoding: "utf8" }),
+    ).not.toThrow();
   });
 });