diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/scripts/publish.sh b/.gitea/workflows/scripts/publish.sh
index 2422a4f..708a567 100755
--- a/.gitea/workflows/scripts/publish.sh
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/scripts/publish.sh
@@ -334,7 +334,14 @@ if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then
   git add -A
   git commit -m "@$NAME: issue #$NUM"
 fi
-git push origin "HEAD:$BRANCH" || true
+if git push origin "HEAD:$BRANCH"; then
+  :
+else
+  status=$?
+  echo "git push failed for $BRANCH (exit $status)"
+  post "$(printf '⚠️ Push to branch `%s` failed (git exit %s). The PR will not open until the push succeeds. Please check the Actions log.%s' "$BRANCH" "$status" "$activity")"
+  exit 0
+fi
 git fetch -q origin 2>/dev/null || true
 
 prbody=$(printf '%s\n\n---\nResolves #%s' "$prdesc" "$NUM")
@@ -360,14 +367,21 @@ url=$(printf '%s' "$resp" | jq -r '.html_url // empty' 2>/dev/null)
 prnum=$(printf '%s' "$resp" | jq -r '.number // empty' 2>/dev/null)
 if [ -z "$url" ]; then
   title="@$NAME: $TITLE"
-  resp=$(curl -sS -X POST "${hdr[@]}" "$API/pulls" \
+  resp_body=/tmp/pr_create_resp.json
+  http_status=$(curl -sS -o "$resp_body" -w '%{http_code}' -X POST "${hdr[@]}" "$API/pulls" \
     -d "$(jq -nc --arg t "$title" --arg h "$br" --arg b "$prbody" \
           '{title:$t, head:$h, base:"main", body:$b}')")
-  echo "PR create ($br): $resp"
+  resp=$(cat "$resp_body" 2>/dev/null || true)
+  echo "PR create ($br): HTTP $http_status — $resp"
   url=$(printf '%s' "$resp" | jq -r '.html_url // empty' 2>/dev/null)
   prnum=$(printf '%s' "$resp" | jq -r '.number // empty' 2>/dev/null)
 fi
-[ -z "$url" ] && { echo "PR open/lookup failed for $br — posting reply on issue instead"; post "$(printf '%s%s' "$reply" "$activity")"; exit 0; }
+if [ -z "$url" ]; then
+  err_msg=$(printf '%s' "$resp" | jq -r 'if type=="object" and .message then .message else "(no error message in response)" end' 2>/dev/null)
+  echo "PR open/lookup failed for $br — HTTP $http_status — response: $resp"
+  post "$(printf '⚠️ Failed to open PR for branch `%s`.\n\nHTTP status: %s\nGitea message: %s%s' "$br" "$http_status" "$err_msg" "$activity")"
+  exit 0
+fi
 
 # Posts to the PR thread when we have a PR number, else to the origin issue ($NUM).
 prpost() {