diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index b6f6215ab..a975a0f1c 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1226,6 +1226,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "clio",
  "derive_more 1.0.0",
  "hugr",
+ "human-panic",
  "predicates",
  "rstest",
  "serde_json",
@@ -1375,6 +1376,22 @@ dependencies = [
  "pyo3",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "human-panic"
+version = "2.0.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ac63a746b187e95d51fe16850eb04d1cfef203f6af98e6c405a6f262ad3df00a"
+dependencies = [
+ "anstream",
+ "anstyle",
+ "backtrace",
+ "os_info",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_derive",
+ "toml",
+ "uuid",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "hyper"
 version = "1.6.0"
@@ -2014,6 +2031,18 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "os_info"
+version = "3.12.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "d0e1ac5fde8d43c34139135df8ea9ee9465394b2d8d20f032d38998f64afffc3"
+dependencies = [
+ "log",
+ "plist",
+ "serde",
+ "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "outref"
 version = "0.5.2"
@@ -2145,6 +2174,19 @@ version = "0.3.32"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7edddbd0b52d732b21ad9a5fab5c704c14cd949e5e9a1ec5929a24fded1b904c"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "plist"
+version = "1.7.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3af6b589e163c5a788fab00ce0c0366f6efbb9959c2f9874b224936af7fce7e1"
+dependencies = [
+ "base64",
+ "indexmap 2.10.0",
+ "quick-xml",
+ "serde",
+ "time",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "plotters"
 version = "0.3.7"
@@ -2398,6 +2440,15 @@ version = "1.2.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "a1d01941d82fa2ab50be1e79e6714289dd7cde78eba4c074bc5a4374f650dfe0"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "quick-xml"
+version = "0.38.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9845d9dccf565065824e69f9f235fafba1587031eda353c1f1561cd6a6be78f4"
+dependencies = [
+ "memchr",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "quote"
 version = "1.0.40"
@@ -2800,6 +2851,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "serde_spanned"
+version = "1.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "40734c41988f7306bb04f0ecf60ec0f3f1caa34290e4e8ea471dcd3346483b83"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "serde_urlencoded"
 version = "0.7.1"
@@ -3148,12 +3208,33 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "toml"
+version = "0.9.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "75129e1dc5000bfbaa9fee9d1b21f974f9fbad9daec557a521ee6e080825f6e8"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+ "serde_spanned",
+ "toml_datetime 0.7.0",
+ "toml_writer",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "toml_datetime"
 version = "0.6.11"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "22cddaf88f4fbc13c51aebbf5f8eceb5c7c5a9da2ac40a13519eb5b0a0e8f11c"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "toml_datetime"
+version = "0.7.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "bade1c3e902f58d73d3f294cd7f20391c1cb2fbcb643b73566bc773971df91e3"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "toml_edit"
 version = "0.22.27"
@@ -3161,10 +3242,16 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "41fe8c660ae4257887cf66394862d21dbca4a6ddd26f04a3560410406a2f819a"
 dependencies = [
  "indexmap 2.10.0",
- "toml_datetime",
+ "toml_datetime 0.6.11",
  "winnow",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "toml_writer"
+version = "1.0.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "fcc842091f2def52017664b53082ecbbeb5c7731092bad69d2c63050401dfd64"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "tower"
 version = "0.5.2"
@@ -3392,6 +3479,7 @@ version = "1.17.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3cf4199d1e5d15ddd86a694e4d0dffa9c323ce759fea589f00fef9d81cc1931d"
 dependencies = [
+ "getrandom",
  "js-sys",
  "wasm-bindgen",
 ]
@@ -3654,6 +3742,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows_x86_64_msvc 0.42.2",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "windows-sys"
+version = "0.52.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "282be5f36a8ce781fad8c8ae18fa3f9beff57ec1b52cb3de0789201425d9a33d"
+dependencies = [
+ "windows-targets 0.52.6",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "windows-sys"
 version = "0.59.0"
diff --git a/hugr-cli/Cargo.toml b/hugr-cli/Cargo.toml
index 37372092c..b171a0e4d 100644
--- a/hugr-cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/hugr-cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ anyhow.workspace = true
 thiserror.workspace = true
 tracing = "0.1.41"
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3.19", features = ["fmt"] }
+human-panic = "2"
 
 [lints]
 workspace = true
@@ -37,6 +38,9 @@ workspace = true
 enum_missing = "warn"
 struct_missing = "warn"
 
+[features]
+panic-test = []
+
 [dev-dependencies]
 assert_cmd = { workspace = true }
 assert_fs = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/hugr-cli/src/main.rs b/hugr-cli/src/main.rs
index 28e64020f..428edc466 100644
--- a/hugr-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/hugr-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,15 @@ use hugr_cli::{CliArgs, CliCommand};
 use tracing::{error, metadata::LevelFilter};
 
 fn main() {
+    // Enable human-panic for release builds, or when tests force it via env.
+    if cfg!(not(debug_assertions)) || std::env::var_os("FORCE_HUMAN_PANIC").is_some() {
+        human_panic::setup_panic!();
+    }
+
+    // Test-only panic trigger (harmless in production; only fires if env is set).
+    if std::env::var_os("PANIC_FOR_TESTS").is_some() {
+        panic!("triggered by test");
+    }
     let cli_args = CliArgs::parse();
 
     let level = match cli_args.verbose.filter() {
diff --git a/hugr-cli/tests/human_panic_integration.rs b/hugr-cli/tests/human_panic_integration.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7e08326f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hugr-cli/tests/human_panic_integration.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+//! Integration test for `human-panic`.
+//!
+//! Builds the release binary with the `panic-test` feature, runs it with a
+//! test-only panic trigger and an isolated temp dir, asserts the banner,
+//! and verifies a TOML report is written. Temp dir is removed at the end.
+
+//! Black-box integration test for `human-panic`.
+
+use predicates::str::contains; // for cargo_bin()
+use std::process::Command;
+use tempfile::TempDir;
+
+#[test]
+fn human_panic_writes_report() {
+    // Isolated temp dir for the crash report.
+    let tmp = TempDir::new().expect("create tempdir");
+    let tmp_path = tmp.path();
+
+    // Run the release CLI binary from the workspace root.
+    // No features needed: main() installs human-panic in release builds.
+    let mut cmd = Command::new("cargo");
+    cmd.args([
+        "run",
+        "--release",
+        "-p",
+        "hugr-cli",
+        "--bin",
+        "hugr",
+        "--", // end cargo args; program args would follow
+    ]);
+
+    // Isolate temp location & trigger the test panic in the child process.
+    if cfg!(windows) {
+        cmd.env("TEMP", tmp_path).env("TMP", tmp_path);
+    } else {
+        cmd.env("TMPDIR", tmp_path);
+    }
+    cmd.env("PANIC_FOR_TESTS", "1");
+
+    // Expect non-zero exit and the banner on stderr (release only).
+    assert_cmd::Command::from_std(cmd)
+        .assert()
+        .failure()
+        .stderr(contains("Well, this is embarrassing."));
+
+    // Confirm a .toml report exists in our temp dir.
+    let made_report = std::fs::read_dir(tmp_path)
+        .unwrap()
+        .filter_map(Result::ok)
+        .any(|e| {
+            e.path()
+                .extension()
+                .and_then(|ext| ext.to_str())
+                .is_some_and(|ext| ext.eq_ignore_ascii_case("toml"))
+        });
+    assert!(
+        made_report,
+        "expected a human-panic report in {:?}",
+        tmp_path
+    );
+
+    // Explicit cleanup; surface any removal errors.
+    tmp.close().expect("failed to remove temp dir");
+}