diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e101f6e..1b518af 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -104,6 +104,13 @@ which records not just what changed but what each drill run proved.
   `box export` remains the durable path — and that it cannot reach off-box
   state such as a tailnet join or a runner registration. `BOX_SNAPSHOT_PRISTINE=0`
   opts out, in the `BOX_LAUNCH_TIMEOUT` shape rather than a new flag.
+  The never-fatal contract is now structural rather than incidental: all three
+  storage probes carry `|| true`, so a restricted tier's refusal stays an
+  answer even if `inherit_errexit` is ever switched on in `bin/box` (#107's
+  class), and the clone's inheritance read captures before it greps rather
+  than piping a multi-line `incus` writer into an early-exit reader (#124's
+  class), which under `pipefail` could have narrated the wrong inheritance
+  shape on a clone that does carry a `pristine`.
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/bin/box b/bin/box
index 83a63c7..45b7d52 100755
--- a/bin/box
+++ b/bin/box
@@ -1103,9 +1103,18 @@ storage_driver() {
   local pool driver
   pool="$(incus profile device get box-net root pool 2>/dev/null || true)"
   [ -n "$pool" ] || pool=default
-  driver="$(incus storage show "$pool" 2>/dev/null | awk '/^driver:/ {print $2; exit}')"
+  # '|| true' on all three probes, not just the first. A refusal here is an
+  # ANSWER ("this tier cannot read the pool"), never an error — this function
+  # must never be the thing that kills a mint. Today the two pipelines are
+  # safe only by accident: command substitution strips errexit, so a failing
+  # 'incus storage show' under pipefail falls through to the fallback instead
+  # of aborting. Add 'shopt -s inherit_errexit' to this file — exactly the
+  # robustness tweak #107 describes sailing through review — and that accident
+  # reverses into a fatal abort mid-mint, inside the function whose contract
+  # is NEVER fatal. Make the three probes read alike and depend on nothing.
+  driver="$(incus storage show "$pool" 2>/dev/null | awk '/^driver:/ {print $2; exit}' || true)"
   [ -n "$driver" ] || driver="$(incus storage list --format csv 2>/dev/null \
-    | awk -F, -v p="$pool" '$1 == p {print $2; exit}')"
+    | awk -F, -v p="$pool" '$1 == p {print $2; exit}' || true)"
   printf '%s' "$driver"
 }
 
@@ -1222,7 +1231,14 @@ cmd_new() {
     # carries no snapshot list, so that clone starts with none. Both are
     # honest; neither is invented. Say which one this is rather than leaving
     # the operator to run 'box info' to find out.
-    if incus snapshot list "$instance" --format csv 2>/dev/null | grep -q '^pristine,'; then
+    # Capture first, THEN read (#124's class). Piping a multi-line incus
+    # writer straight into an early-exit reader lets grep close the pipe on
+    # the first match, SIGPIPE incus, and hand pipefail a 141 — which here
+    # would read as "no pristine" and narrate the WRONG inheritance shape on a
+    # clone that actually has one. Un-racy today at this writer's size, but
+    # the assignment costs nothing and does not depend on that staying true.
+    local snaps; snaps="$(incus snapshot list "$instance" --format csv 2>/dev/null || true)"
+    if printf '%s\n' "$snaps" | grep -q '^pristine,'; then
       echo "box: it inherited the source's snapshots, 'pristine' among them (box restore $name pristine)."
     else
       echo "box: no 'pristine' mark here — a clone has no pristine moment to capture, and box"
diff --git a/test/cli.sh b/test/cli.sh
index 721ab1c..8959b70 100644
--- a/test/cli.sh
+++ b/test/cli.sh
@@ -510,6 +510,14 @@ check "pristine: nothing on the clone path creates a snapshot at all" 1 "" \
 # 'box info' to find out which world they are in.
 check "pristine: the clone narrates whether a pristine rode along" 0 "" \
   grep -q "no 'pristine' mark here" "$CLONEBR"
+# ...and it reads the snapshot list CAPTURE-FIRST (#124's class). Piping a
+# multi-line incus writer into an early-exit reader lets the reader close the
+# pipe, SIGPIPE incus, and hand pipefail a 141 — which on THIS line reads as
+# "no pristine" and narrates the wrong inheritance shape on a clone that has
+# one. Pin the shape, not the instance spelling: no 'incus snapshot list'
+# feeding grep/head/sed/awk/read directly.
+check "pristine: the clone's inheritance read is capture-first, not a piped early-exit reader" 1 "" \
+  grep -Eq 'incus snapshot list[^|]*\| *(grep|head|sed|awk|read)' "$CLONEBR"
 rm -f "$CLONEBR"
 
 # The policy half, DRIVEN not grepped: extract storage_driver +
@@ -520,6 +528,34 @@ awk '/^storage_driver\(\) \{/,/^\}/;/^snapshot_pristine\(\) \{/,/^\}/' "$ROOT/bi
 check "pristine: the functions extracted from bin/box (guards the awk)" 0 "BOX_SNAPSHOT_PRISTINE" cat "$PRISFN"
 check "pristine: the extracted functions are valid bash" 0 "" bash -n "$PRISFN"
 
+# storage_driver's probes must survive a REFUSAL, and not by accident. Today
+# command substitution strips errexit, so a failing probe falls through to the
+# fallback; add 'shopt -s inherit_errexit' to bin/box — the robustness tweak
+# #107 describes sailing through review — and under pipefail that same refusal
+# becomes a fatal abort mid-mint, inside the function whose contract is NEVER
+# fatal. Drive it with inherit_errexit ON and a tier that refuses both probes:
+# the function must return empty (the unreadable-pool case) and the caller
+# must still be alive afterwards.
+driver_under_inherit_errexit() {
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2016  # the body is the stub's source, expanded by the
+  # inner bash, never by this shell.
+  env PRISFN="$PRISFN" bash -c '
+    set -euo pipefail
+    shopt -s inherit_errexit
+    incus() {
+      case "$*" in
+        "profile device get box-net root pool") printf "boxpool\n" ;;
+        *) printf "incus: not authorized\n" >&2; return 1 ;;
+      esac
+    }
+    . "$PRISFN"
+    d="$(storage_driver)"
+    printf "SURVIVED driver=[%s]\n" "$d"
+  ' 2>&1
+}
+check "pristine: a refused storage probe is an answer, not a fatal (survives inherit_errexit)" 0 "SURVIVED driver=[]" \
+  driver_under_inherit_errexit
+
 # pris <driver> [env...] — drive snapshot_pristine against a fake pool of
 # <driver>. 'none' makes both probes answer nothing (the unreadable-pool
 # case). Every incus call the function can make is stubbed and echoed, so the