diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.test.ts
index d39230504..5117f73d2 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.test.ts
@@ -309,6 +309,35 @@ describe("captionImagesWithGemini — OpenRouter provider", () => {
     expect(fetchMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("classifies non-provider pipeline failures without leaking the local path", async () => {
+    const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "hf-caption-no-assets-"));
+    dirs.push(dir);
+    vi.stubEnv("OPENROUTER_API_KEY", "or-unused-key");
+
+    const warnings: string[] = [];
+    let outcome: VisionCaptionOutcome | undefined;
+    const captions = await captionImagesWithGemini(dir, () => {}, warnings, {
+      onOutcome: (value) => {
+        outcome = value;
+      },
+    });
+
+    expect(captions).toEqual({});
+    expect(warnings).toEqual(["OpenRouter captioning failed internally; captions omitted."]);
+    expect(warnings.join(" ")).not.toContain(dir);
+    expect(outcome).toEqual({
+      timedOutRequests: 0,
+      failedRequests: 0,
+      budgetExhausted: false,
+      internalError: true,
+    });
+    if (!outcome) throw new Error("Expected vision caption outcome");
+    expect(resolveVisionPhaseCompletion(outcome, 10_000)).toEqual({
+      status: "degraded",
+      reason: "internal-error",
+    });
+  });
+
   it("skips captioning entirely when no provider key is present", async () => {
     const dir = makeProjectWithImages();
     dirs.push(dir);
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.ts
index 7b9a909a6..acea6b11e 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/contentExtractor.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ export interface VisionCaptionOutcome {
   timedOutRequests: number;
   failedRequests: number;
   budgetExhausted: boolean;
+  /** Failure outside provider request handling (filesystem, module, or programming error). */
+  internalError?: boolean;
 }
 
 interface VisionCaptionOptions {
@@ -36,11 +38,14 @@ export function resolveVisionPhaseCompletion(
   | { status: "completed" }
   | {
       status: "degraded";
-      reason: "budget-exhausted" | "request-timeout" | "provider-error";
+      reason: "budget-exhausted" | "request-timeout" | "provider-error" | "internal-error";
     } {
   if (outcome.budgetExhausted || remainingMs <= 0) {
     return { status: "degraded", reason: "budget-exhausted" };
   }
+  if (outcome.internalError) {
+    return { status: "degraded", reason: "internal-error" };
+  }
   if (outcome.timedOutRequests > 0) {
     return { status: "degraded", reason: "request-timeout" };
   }
@@ -245,12 +250,15 @@ export async function captionImagesWithGemini(
   let timedOutCount = 0;
   let failedRequestCount = 0;
   let budgetExhausted = false;
+  let internalError = false;
   const reportOutcome = (): void => {
-    options.onOutcome?.({
+    const outcome: VisionCaptionOutcome = {
       timedOutRequests: timedOutCount,
       failedRequests: failedRequestCount,
       budgetExhausted,
-    });
+    };
+    if (internalError) outcome.internalError = true;
+    options.onOutcome?.(outcome);
   };
   if (options.skipVision) {
     reportOutcome();
@@ -546,8 +554,8 @@ export async function captionImagesWithGemini(
       );
     }
   } catch {
-    failedRequestCount = Math.max(1, failedRequestCount);
-    warnings.push(`${providerName} captioning failed; captions omitted.`);
+    internalError = true;
+    warnings.push(`${providerName} captioning failed internally; captions omitted.`);
   }
 
   reportOutcome();
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/index.ts
index 15d8e3d4a..b57be6e4a 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/capture/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/index.ts
@@ -267,7 +267,10 @@ export async function captureWebsite(
       httpStatus: navigationResponse?.status() ?? null,
       ...pageContentCheck,
     });
-    if (blockedReason) throw new Error(blockedReason);
+    if (blockedReason) {
+      phase("navigation", "degraded", "blocked");
+      throw new Error(blockedReason);
+    }
 
     phase("navigation", "completed");
     phase("core-extraction", "started");
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/pageBlockDetection.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/pageBlockDetection.test.ts
index 0c2cd9f0d..bf4eaef9a 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/capture/pageBlockDetection.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/pageBlockDetection.test.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,16 @@ describe("detectBlockedPage", () => {
         hasChallengeElement: false,
       },
     },
+    {
+      label: "classic Cloudflare interstitial",
+      evidence: {
+        httpStatus: 503,
+        title: "Attention Required! | Cloudflare",
+        textLength: 120,
+        bodyChildCount: 3,
+        hasChallengeElement: false,
+      },
+    },
   ])("rejects a minimal protection page: $label", ({ evidence }) => {
     expect(detectBlockedPage(evidence)).toMatch(/capture blocked/i);
   });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/pageBlockDetection.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/pageBlockDetection.ts
index 435a9c5d3..fc18797f2 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/capture/pageBlockDetection.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/pageBlockDetection.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export function detectBlockedPage(evidence: PageLoadEvidence): string | undefine
   const hasBlockedStatus =
     evidence.httpStatus === 401 || evidence.httpStatus === 403 || evidence.httpStatus === 429;
   const hasBlockedTitle =
-    /^(?:(?:error\s*)?(?:401|403|429)(?:\s*(?:[-:—]\s*)?(?:forbidden|unauthorized|access denied|too many requests))?|forbidden|access denied|attention required|just a moment(?:\.{3})?)(?:\s*[|—-]\s*(?:cloudflare|sucuri website firewall))?$/i.test(
+    /^(?:(?:error\s*)?(?:401|403|429)(?:\s*(?:[-:—]\s*)?(?:forbidden|unauthorized|access denied|too many requests))?|forbidden|access denied|attention required!?|just a moment(?:\.{3})?)(?:\s*[|—-]\s*(?:cloudflare|sucuri website firewall))?$/i.test(
       evidence.title.trim(),
     );
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/capture/types.ts b/packages/cli/src/capture/types.ts
index 9efda669d..f64b5f318 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/capture/types.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/capture/types.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,13 @@ export interface CapturePhaseProgress {
   status: "started" | "completed" | "degraded";
   /** Null before the post-navigation budget begins. */
   remainingMs: number | null;
-  reason?: "budget-exhausted" | "disabled" | "request-timeout" | "provider-error";
+  reason?:
+    | "budget-exhausted"
+    | "disabled"
+    | "request-timeout"
+    | "provider-error"
+    | "internal-error"
+    | "blocked";
 }
 
 export interface CaptureOptions {