diff --git a/src/servers/plugins/generate.ts b/src/servers/plugins/generate.ts
index 41ab4492..f9f72174 100644
--- a/src/servers/plugins/generate.ts
+++ b/src/servers/plugins/generate.ts
@@ -108,6 +108,20 @@ export type BuildResult = { ok: boolean; ms: number; outputs: number; error?: st
  * the owner to restart. Failure is returned rather than thrown: a plugin whose frontend will not compile
  * must leave the previous build in place and serving, not take the UI down with it.
  */
+/**
+ * Everything a failed build knows, as one string.
+ *
+ * `AggregateError` — which is what a bundler failure is — keeps its diagnostics in `errors` and puts a
+ * generic summary in `message`. Reading `.message` gives you "Bundle failed", which is true and useless.
+ */
+function describeBuildFailure(err: unknown): string {
+  if (err && typeof err === 'object' && 'errors' in err && Array.isArray((err as AggregateError).errors)) {
+    const parts = (err as AggregateError).errors.map((e) => String(e));
+    if (parts.length) return parts.join('; ').slice(0, 1000);
+  }
+  return err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+}
+
 export async function rebuildFrontend(): Promise<BuildResult> {
   const started = Date.now();
   try {
@@ -126,6 +140,20 @@ export async function rebuildFrontend(): Promise<BuildResult> {
     const result = await Bun.build({
       entrypoints: [HTML_ENTRY],
       outdir: STAGING_DIR,
+      /**
+       * WITHOUT THIS, EVERY BUILD FAILURE READS `Bundle failed` AND NOTHING ELSE.
+       *
+       * `Bun.build` THROWS on failure by default — an `AggregateError` whose own message is the string
+       * "Bundle failed" and whose `errors` array holds the real diagnostics. So the `result.success`
+       * branch below was unreachable, the catch reported the wrapper's summary, and the actual reason
+       * (`ModuleNotFound resolving "./Plugins.gen"`, a CSS `url()` that cannot be resolved, a syntax
+       * error with a file and a line) was thrown away at the moment it was most needed.
+       *
+       * Diagnosed by building a file that does not exist and printing the error's shape, after it cost
+       * twenty minutes of bisecting a themes refactor by hand. `throw: false` makes the returned result
+       * carry the logs, which is what the code below always assumed.
+       */
+      throw: false,
       // WITHOUT THIS THE APP RENDERS UNSTYLED.
       //
       // `bunfig.toml` declares `[serve.static] plugins = ["bun-plugin-tailwind"]`, and that applies to
@@ -141,10 +169,12 @@ export async function rebuildFrontend(): Promise<BuildResult> {
         ok: false,
         ms: Date.now() - started,
         outputs: 0,
+        // 1000 rather than 500: a single bundler diagnostic with a file, a line and a code frame is
+        // routinely longer than 500 characters, and truncating mid-path leaves it unactionable.
         error: result.logs
           .map((l) => String(l))
           .join('; ')
-          .slice(0, 500),
+          .slice(0, 1000),
       };
     }
     // The shell must exist before anything is swapped in — a build reporting success without one is how