diff --git a/bin/karo b/bin/karo
index d5c9067..e602a91 100755
--- a/bin/karo
+++ b/bin/karo
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ require 'karo'
 begin
   Karo::CLI.start(ARGV)
 rescue SystemExit, Interrupt
-  puts "Exiting"
-rescue Exception => e
-  puts e
+  STDERR.puts "Exiting"
+rescue => e
+  STDERR.puts "karo: Error: #{e}"
+  STDERR.puts e.backtrace
+  exit 1
 end
diff --git a/lib/karo/common.rb b/lib/karo/common.rb
index 5bc97d8..65a3463 100644
--- a/lib/karo/common.rb
+++ b/lib/karo/common.rb
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ def make_command(configuration, namespace, command, extras)
     def run_it(cmd, verbose=false)
       say cmd, :green if verbose
       system cmd unless options[:dryrun]
+      if $?.exitstatus != 0
+        raise "Non-zero exit code (#{$?.exitstatus}) returned from #{cmd.strip}"
+      end
     end
 
     def git_repo