diff --git a/__snapshots__/main_test.snap b/__snapshots__/main_test.snap
index 9af4fbe6..76f66201 100755
--- a/__snapshots__/main_test.snap
+++ b/__snapshots__/main_test.snap
@@ -58,6 +58,44 @@ You must provide at least one path to either a lockfile or a directory containin
 
 ---
 
+[TestRun_APIError/#00 - 1]
+Loaded the following OSV databases:
+  api#http://<localhost>:<port> (using batches of 1000)
+  RubyGems (%% vulnerabilities, including withdrawn - last updated %%)
+
+<tempdir>/Gemfile.lock: found 1 package
+  Using config at <tempdir>/.osv-detector.yml (0 ignores)
+  Using db api#http://<localhost>:<port> (using batches of 1000)
+  Using db RubyGems (%% vulnerabilities, including withdrawn - last updated %%)
+
+  no known vulnerabilities found
+
+---
+
+[TestRun_APIError/#00 - 2]
+  an api error occurred while trying to check the packages listed in <tempdir>/Gemfile.lock: api returned unexpected status (POST http://<localhost>:<port>/querybatch 400)
+
+---
+
+[TestRun_APIError/#01 - 1]
+Loaded the following OSV databases:
+  api#http://<localhost>:<port> (using batches of 1000)
+  RubyGems (%% vulnerabilities, including withdrawn - last updated %%)
+
+<tempdir>/Gemfile.lock: found 1 package
+  Using config at <tempdir>/.osv-detector.yml (0 ignores)
+  Using db api#http://<localhost>:<port> (using batches of 1000)
+  Using db RubyGems (%% vulnerabilities, including withdrawn - last updated %%)
+
+  no known vulnerabilities found
+
+---
+
+[TestRun_APIError/#01 - 2]
+  an api error occurred while trying to check the packages listed in <tempdir>/Gemfile.lock: api response could not be parsed as json (POST http://<localhost>:<port>/querybatch): invalid character '<' looking for beginning of value
+
+---
+
 [TestRun_Configs/#00 - 1]
 Loaded the following OSV databases:
 
diff --git a/internal/reporter/reporter.go b/internal/reporter/reporter.go
index a3486455..f3a7adb9 100644
--- a/internal/reporter/reporter.go
+++ b/internal/reporter/reporter.go
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ type Reporter struct {
 	stderr       io.Writer
 	outputAsJSON bool
 	results      []Result
+
+	hasErrored bool
 }
 
 func New(stdout io.Writer, stderr io.Writer, outputAsJSON bool) *Reporter {
@@ -27,9 +29,15 @@ func New(stdout io.Writer, stderr io.Writer, outputAsJSON bool) *Reporter {
 	}
 }
 
+func (r *Reporter) HasErrored() bool {
+	return r.hasErrored
+}
+
 // PrintErrorf writes the given message to stderr, regardless of if the reporter
 // is outputting as JSON or not
 func (r *Reporter) PrintErrorf(msg string, a ...any) {
+	r.hasErrored = true
+
 	fmt.Fprintf(r.stderr, msg, a...)
 }
 
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index faa1ea4e..21ef194e 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -733,6 +733,10 @@ This flag can be passed multiple times to ignore different vulnerabilities`)
 		writeUpdatedConfigs(r, vulnsPerConfig)
 	}
 
+	if r.HasErrored() && exitCode == 0 {
+		exitCode = 127
+	}
+
 	return exitCode
 }
 
diff --git a/main_normalize_test.go b/main_normalize_test.go
index 00bf656f..2271a782 100644
--- a/main_normalize_test.go
+++ b/main_normalize_test.go
@@ -89,6 +89,16 @@ func normalizeDatabaseStats(t *testing.T, str string) string {
 	return re.ReplaceAllString(str, "$1 (%% vulnerabilities, including withdrawn - last updated %%)")
 }
 
+// normalizeLocalhostPort attempts to replace references to 127.0.0.1:<port>
+// with a placeholder, to ensure tests pass when using httptest.Server
+func normalizeLocalhostPort(t *testing.T, str string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+
+	re := cachedregexp.MustCompile(`127\.0\.0\.1:\d+`)
+
+	return re.ReplaceAllString(str, "<localhost>:<port>")
+}
+
 // normalizeErrors attempts to replace error messages on alternative OSs with their
 // known linux equivalents, to ensure tests pass across different OSs
 func normalizeErrors(t *testing.T, str string) string {
@@ -110,6 +120,7 @@ func normalizeSnapshot(t *testing.T, str string) string {
 		normalizeTempDirectory,
 		normalizeUserCacheDirectory,
 		normalizeDatabaseStats,
+		normalizeLocalhostPort,
 		normalizeErrors,
 	} {
 		str = normalizer(t, str)
diff --git a/main_test.go b/main_test.go
index f1c12a50..798434dd 100644
--- a/main_test.go
+++ b/main_test.go
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package main
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -883,3 +885,70 @@ func TestRun_EndToEnd(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestRun_APIError(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	tests := []struct{ handler http.HandlerFunc }{
+		{
+			handler: func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+				w.WriteHeader(http.StatusBadRequest)
+				_, _ = w.Write([]byte("{}"))
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			handler: func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+				_, _ = w.Write([]byte("<html></html>"))
+			},
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run("", func(t *testing.T) {
+			t.Parallel()
+
+			//nolint:usetesting // we need to customize the directory name to replace in snapshots
+			p, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "osv-detector-test-*")
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("could not create test directory: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			// ensure the test directory is removed when we're done testing
+			t.Cleanup(func() {
+				_ = os.RemoveAll(p)
+			})
+
+			// create a file for scanning
+			err = os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(p, "Gemfile.lock"), []byte(`
+GEM
+  remote: https://rubygems.org/
+  specs:
+    ast (2.4.2)
+`), 0600)
+
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+
+			// setup a fake api server
+			ts := httptest.NewServer(tt.handler)
+			t.Cleanup(ts.Close)
+
+			// create a config file setting up our api server
+			err = os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(p, ".osv-detector.yml"), []byte(`
+extra-databases:
+  - url: `+ts.URL,
+			), 0600)
+
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+
+			// run the cli in our tmp directory
+			testCli(t, cliTestCase{
+				name: "",
+				args: []string{p},
+				exit: 127,
+			})
+		})
+	}
+}