diff --git a/tests/integration/test_compose_orchestrator.cpp b/tests/integration/test_compose_orchestrator.cpp
index 2a484a1..b2f47eb 100644
--- a/tests/integration/test_compose_orchestrator.cpp
+++ b/tests/integration/test_compose_orchestrator.cpp
@@ -254,10 +254,18 @@ TEST_CASE("compose lifecycle: test-compose/compose.yaml up, verify, down", "[int
     up_args.compose_file_name = compose_path.string();
     AppConfig up_config = reload_config();
     int up_result = 1;
+    std::string up_output;
     {
         CapturedStdout capture;
         up_result = dispatch_command(up_args, "/nonexistent/unused-config.yaml", up_config);
+        up_output = capture.contents();
     }
+    // Only surfaced if something below actually fails -- compose_up_command()'s
+    // own fmt::print()/spdlog output (spdlog's default sink is stdout, same
+    // as slocker-lite's own plain status lines) would otherwise be silently
+    // discarded by CapturedStdout, leaving no way to diagnose *why* a step
+    // failed on a run this test itself can't rerun interactively.
+    INFO("up output:\n" << up_output);
     CHECK(up_result == 0);
 
     auto containers = list_compose_containers();
@@ -298,8 +306,16 @@ TEST_CASE("compose lifecycle: test-compose/compose.yaml up, verify, down", "[int
             reply = tcp_request(*host_ip, 18080, 2000);
             return reply.has_value() && !reply->empty();
         }));
-        REQUIRE(reply.has_value());
-        CHECK(reply->find("Hello from test-worker") != std::string::npos);
+        CHECK(reply.has_value());
+        // CHECK, not REQUIRE: a flaky port-forward reply on this specific
+        // run must never skip the -d/--down cleanup below -- an extern
+        // network's uplink relay left running would otherwise leak real
+        // host state (and, if this were run interactively rather than with
+        // output redirected to a file, hang the invoking shell -- see
+        // reference_device_ssh_access.md).
+        if (reply) {
+            CHECK(reply->find("Hello from test-worker") != std::string::npos);
+        }
     }
 
     ParsedArgs down_args;
@@ -307,10 +323,13 @@ TEST_CASE("compose lifecycle: test-compose/compose.yaml up, verify, down", "[int
     down_args.compose_file_name = compose_path.string();
     AppConfig down_config = reload_config();
     int down_result = 1;
+    std::string down_output;
     {
         CapturedStdout capture;
         down_result = dispatch_command(down_args, "/nonexistent/unused-config.yaml", down_config);
+        down_output = capture.contents();
     }
+    INFO("down output:\n" << down_output);
     CHECK(down_result == 0);
 
     AppConfig after_down = reload_config();