diff --git a/cc-ci-plan/launch.sh b/cc-ci-plan/launch.sh
index b1f572d..17d5cf0 100755
--- a/cc-ci-plan/launch.sh
+++ b/cc-ci-plan/launch.sh
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ handoff_check() {
   idx="$(cur_idx)"
   sf="$BUILDER_DIR/$(phase_status "$idx")"; rf="$ADV_DIR/$(phase_review "$idx")"
   if [[ -f "$sf" ]]; then
-    now="$(grep -iE 'CLAIMED.*awaiting' "$sf" 2>/dev/null | grep -oiE 'M[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?|[A-Z][0-9]+' | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' | sort -u)"
+    now="$(grep -iE 'CLAIMED.*awaiting' "$sf" 2>/dev/null | grep -oiE 'M[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?|[A-Z][0-9]+' | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]' | sort -u || true)"
     if [[ -n "$_wd_baselined" ]]; then
       added="$(comm -13 <(printf '%s\n' "$_wd_awaiting" | sort -u) <(printf '%s\n' "$now" | sort -u) | grep -vE '^$' || true)"
       if [[ -n "$added" ]]; then
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ handoff_check() {
     _wd_awaiting="$now"; _wd_baselined=1
   fi
   if [[ -f "$rf" ]]; then
-    cur="$(md5sum "$rf" 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}')"
+    cur="$(md5sum "$rf" 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}' || true)"
     if [[ -n "$cur" && "$cur" != "$_wd_last_review" ]]; then
       [[ -n "$_wd_last_review" ]] && {
         log "handoff: $(phase_review "$idx") changed -> pinging Builder"