diff --git a/bin/omarchy-pkg-drop b/bin/omarchy-pkg-drop
index bfb70598..7b173c8d 100755
--- a/bin/omarchy-pkg-drop
+++ b/bin/omarchy-pkg-drop
@@ -8,9 +8,16 @@ installed=()
 declare -A installed_exact=()
 declare -A selected=()
 
+if ! installed_packages=$(pacman -Qq); then
+  echo "Unable to query installed packages; no packages were removed." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 while IFS= read -r package_name; do
-  installed_exact[$package_name]=1
-done < <(pacman -Qq)
+  if [[ -n $package_name ]]; then
+    installed_exact[$package_name]=1
+  fi
+done <<< "$installed_packages"
 
 for pkg in "$@"; do
   if [[ -n ${installed_exact[$pkg]} && -z ${selected[$pkg]} ]]; then
diff --git a/test/shell.d/pkg-drop-test.sh b/test/shell.d/pkg-drop-test.sh
index e15fd5c7..379c60b5 100755
--- a/test/shell.d/pkg-drop-test.sh
+++ b/test/shell.d/pkg-drop-test.sh
@@ -13,13 +13,17 @@ mkdir -p "$mock_path"
 cat >"$mock_path/pacman" <<'EOF'
 #!/bin/bash
 if [[ $1 == "-Qq" ]]; then
-  printf '%s\n' exact-package provider-package
+  if [[ ${TEST_PACKAGES_EMPTY:-0} == "0" ]]; then
+    printf '%s\n' exact-package provider-package
+  fi
+  exit "${TEST_QUERY_STATUS:-0}"
 fi
 EOF
 
 cat >"$mock_path/sudo" <<'EOF'
 #!/bin/bash
 printf '%s\n' "$*" >"$TEST_TMP/pkg-drop-command"
+exit "${TEST_REMOVE_STATUS:-0}"
 EOF
 
 chmod +x "$mock_path/pacman" "$mock_path/sudo"
@@ -30,3 +34,22 @@ PATH="$mock_path:$PATH" TEST_TMP="$test_tmp" \
 [[ $(<"$test_tmp/pkg-drop-command") == "pacman -Rns --noconfirm exact-package provider-package" ]] ||
   fail "package removal targets exact installed names only"
 pass "package removal ignores providers and duplicate arguments"
+
+rm "$test_tmp/pkg-drop-command"
+if PATH="$mock_path:$PATH" TEST_TMP="$test_tmp" TEST_QUERY_STATUS=1 \
+  "$ROOT/bin/omarchy-pkg-drop" exact-package >"$test_tmp/output" 2>&1; then
+  fail "failed package discovery must fail removal even with partial output"
+fi
+[[ ! -e $test_tmp/pkg-drop-command ]] || fail "failed discovery must not request privileges"
+pass "package removal propagates discovery errors before requesting privileges"
+
+PATH="$mock_path:$PATH" TEST_TMP="$test_tmp" TEST_PACKAGES_EMPTY=1 \
+  "$ROOT/bin/omarchy-pkg-drop" exact-package
+[[ ! -e $test_tmp/pkg-drop-command ]] || fail "empty package database must not request privileges"
+pass "an empty package database is a successful no-op"
+
+if PATH="$mock_path:$PATH" TEST_TMP="$test_tmp" TEST_REMOVE_STATUS=1 \
+  "$ROOT/bin/omarchy-pkg-drop" exact-package; then
+  fail "failed package transaction must fail removal"
+fi
+pass "package removal propagates transaction failures"