diff --git a/bin/omarchy-channel-set b/bin/omarchy-channel-set
index dcc9bdb4..d4c482f2 100755
--- a/bin/omarchy-channel-set
+++ b/bin/omarchy-channel-set
@@ -72,6 +72,10 @@ case "$channel" in
     ;;
 esac
 
+# A failure past this point leaves the channel switch half-applied, so say how
+# to pick it back up rather than dying silently under set -e.
+trap 'echo -e "\nThe channel switch did not complete. Review the error above, then rerun: omarchy-channel-set '"$channel"'" >&2' ERR
+
 if [[ -z $dev_checkout && $OMARCHY_PATH != "/usr/share/omarchy" ]]; then
   leaving_dev=1
 fi