diff --git a/.github/workflows/prerelease.yml b/.github/workflows/prerelease.yml
index 117cbdda8..c9bcf45d2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/prerelease.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/prerelease.yml
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ jobs:
         id: 'publishing'
         env:
           NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ env.NPM_TOKEN }}
-      - name: View output
+      - name: Fail if no output (publishing error)
         run: |
           echo ${{ steps.publishing.outputs.PUBLISHED_PACKAGES }}
           [ '${{ steps.publishing.outputs.PUBLISHED_PACKAGES }}' == '' ] && exit 1
diff --git a/publish.ts b/publish.ts
index a3a6748c6..796348956 100644
--- a/publish.ts
+++ b/publish.ts
@@ -12,24 +12,28 @@ const FAKE_OUTPUT = `
 `
 // publish packages as alpha and return the list of packages published
 function publish() {
-  const snapshot = child_process.execSync('yarn cs publish --tag alpha --no-git-tag')
-  // const snapshot = child_process.execSync(`echo "${FAKE_OUTPUT}"`)
-  const arrayOfLines = snapshot
-    .toString()
-    .split('\n')
-    .map((line: string) => {
-      const matches = line.match(/info Publishing @celo.*$/)
-      return matches
-    })
+  try {
+    const snapshot = child_process.execSync('yarn cs publish --tag alpha --no-git-tag')
+    // const snapshot = child_process.execSync(`echo "${FAKE_OUTPUT}"`)
+    const arrayOfLines = snapshot
+      .toString()
+      .split('\n')
+      .map((line: string) => {
+        const matches = line.match(/info Publishing @celo.*$/)
+        return matches
+      })
 
-  const pkgs = arrayOfLines
-    .filter((line) => !!line)
-    .map((line) => {
-      if (!line) return
-      return line[0].replace('info Publishing ', '').replace(' at ', '@')
-    })
-  const result = pkgs.length ? JSON.stringify(pkgs) : 'no-op'
-  process.stdout.write(result)
+    const pkgs = arrayOfLines
+      .filter((line) => !!line)
+      .map((line) => {
+        if (!line) return
+        return line[0].replace('info Publishing ', '').replace(' at ', '@')
+      })
+    const result = pkgs.length ? JSON.stringify(pkgs) : 'no-op'
+    process.stdout.write(result)
+  } catch (err) {
+    process.stderr.write(err)
+  }
 }
 
 publish()