diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/test-ops-scripts.yml b/.gitea/workflows/test-ops-scripts.yml
index a788eb72f..d664372be 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/test-ops-scripts.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/test-ops-scripts.yml
@@ -48,9 +48,8 @@ jobs:
   test:
     name: Ops scripts (unittest)
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    # Phase 3 (RFC #219 §1): surface broken workflows without blocking.
-    # mc#1982: pre-existing continue-on-error mask; root-fix and remove, do not renew silently.
-    continue-on-error: true
+    # mc#1982: removed continue-on-error; this gate now fails closed.
+    continue-on-error: false
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
       - uses: actions/setup-python@a309ff8b426b58ec0e2a45f0f869d46889d02405 # v6.2.0
@@ -61,19 +60,31 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run scripts/ unittests, if any
         # Top-level scripts/ tests live alongside their target file. The
         # runtime packaging tests moved to molecule-ai-workspace-runtime, so
-        # this pass may legitimately find no tests.
+        # this pass may legitimately find no tests. We fail-closed: no files
+        # → SKIP; files present but 0 collected → FAIL (broken import/empty).
         working-directory: scripts
         run: |
-          set +e
-          python -m unittest discover -t . -p 'test_*.py' -v
-          rc=$?
-          if [ "$rc" -eq 5 ]; then
+          files=$(find . -maxdepth 1 -name 'test_*.py' | wc -l)
+          count=$(python3 -c "import unittest; print(unittest.TestLoader().discover('.', pattern='test_*.py').countTestCases())")
+          if [ "$files" -eq 0 ]; then
             echo "No top-level scripts/ unittest files found; skipping."
             exit 0
           fi
-          exit "$rc"
+          if [ "$count" -eq 0 ]; then
+            echo "FAIL: test files present but 0 tests collected (broken import / empty test file)."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          python3 -m unittest discover -t . -p 'test_*.py' -v
       - name: Run scripts/ops/ unittests (sweep_cf_decide, ...)
+        # Fail-closed: assert >0 tests collected so deletion or broken import
+        # cannot pass green by running 0 tests.
         working-directory: scripts/ops
-        run: python -m unittest discover -p 'test_*.py' -v
+        run: |
+          count=$(python3 -c "import unittest; print(unittest.TestLoader().discover('.', pattern='test_*.py').countTestCases())")
+          if [ "$count" -eq 0 ]; then
+            echo "FAIL: ops scripts tests collected 0 tests (broken import / missing test files)."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          python3 -m unittest discover -p 'test_*.py' -v
       - name: Run .gitea/scripts pytest suite
         run: python -m pytest .gitea/scripts/tests -q