diff --git a/src/cli/commands/stats.ts b/src/cli/commands/stats.ts
index 37e2939..5591bd8 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/stats.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/stats.ts
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ function transcriptSummary(path: string): void {
   if (!existsSync(path)) {
     console.error(`no such transcript: ${path}`);
     process.exit(1);
+    return;
   }
   const lines = readFileSync(path, "utf8").split(/\r?\n/).filter(Boolean);
   let assistantTurns = 0;
diff --git a/tests/stats-command.test.ts b/tests/stats-command.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..88cf79f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/stats-command.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { statsCommand } from "../src/cli/commands/stats.js";
+
+describe("statsCommand", () => {
+  it("stops after reporting a missing transcript path", () => {
+    const missing = join("tmp", "missing-transcript.jsonl");
+    const err = vi.spyOn(console, "error").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    const exit = vi.spyOn(process, "exit").mockImplementation(() => undefined as never);
+
+    expect(() => statsCommand({ transcript: missing })).not.toThrow();
+
+    expect(exit).toHaveBeenCalledWith(1);
+    expect(err.mock.calls.map((call) => String(call[0])).join("\n")).toContain(
+      `no such transcript: ${missing}`,
+    );
+
+    err.mockRestore();
+    exit.mockRestore();
+  });
+});