diff --git a/js/bin/squawk b/js/bin/squawk
index a9bc86574..5d3af1ba6 100755
--- a/js/bin/squawk
+++ b/js/bin/squawk
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ const child = childProcess.spawn(binaryPath, process.argv.slice(2), {
 child.on("error", err => {
   console.error("error: failed to invoke squawk")
   console.error(err.stack)
+  process.exit(1)
 })
 
 child.on("exit", code => {