diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fb5bb696..2fdb66b0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 - The `--parallel` unsupported-OS warning no longer claims Alpine is excluded: Alpine has been a supported parallel platform since the race conditions were fixed, the message was simply never updated
 
 ### Fixed
+- A missing `--env`/`--boot` bootstrap file is now an error instead of a green run that tested nothing: the file used to be sourced unchecked, so a typo'd path leaked a raw `No such file or directory`, skipped the entire suite and still exited `0`. The report options (`--report-json`, `--log-junit`, `--report-tap`, `--report-html`, `--log-gha`) are likewise checked before the run instead of failing silently after it — an unwritable destination produced a passing run, no report on disk, and exit `0`. `--seed` now validates as a non-negative integer like the other numeric options (#875)
 - The numeric options (`--jobs`, `--retry`, `--test-timeout`, `--coverage-min`) and `--output` now reject an invalid value with a clear error and a non-zero exit, instead of dropping the setting. `--jobs abc` was the worst case: `[ n -lt abc ]` errors rather than returning false, so the Bash 3.x job-slot poll never reached its `break` and the run **hung**, while Bash 4.3+ silently ignored the concurrency limit. `--coverage-min abc` leaked a raw `[: abc: integer expression expected` and still exited `0`, so a CI job never enforced its threshold. Validation runs on the resolved configuration, so it covers the `BASHUNIT_*` environment variables too (#873)
 - An unknown option is now rejected with a clear error and a non-zero exit instead of being silently filed under test paths. A mistyped flag used to degrade the run while still reporting success: `bashunit --parralel tests/` ran sequentially and exited `0`, and `bashunit --filterr foo tests/` swallowed both the flag and its value and ran the whole suite. Applies to `test` and `bench`; the `assert` subcommand parses its own arguments and is unchanged (#871)
 - The quickstart's sample output showed durations as `16 ms` / `90 ms`; bashunit prints `16ms` / `90ms`
diff --git a/src/main.sh b/src/main.sh
index b0f570d7..e005b260 100644
--- a/src/main.sh
+++ b/src/main.sh
@@ -24,6 +24,30 @@ function bashunit::main::require_non_negative_int_or_exit() {
   esac
 }
 
+##
+# Exits non-zero unless the path can be written: either it already exists and is
+# writable, or its parent directory exists and is writable. Reports are produced
+# after the suite has finished, so an unwritable destination used to surface as a
+# raw redirect error on a run that had already reported success (#875).
+# Arguments: $1 - path, $2 - the setting name to quote in the error
+##
+function bashunit::main::require_writable_path_or_exit() {
+  local path=$1
+  local parent=${1%/*}
+  [ "$parent" = "$1" ] && parent="."
+  [ -z "$parent" ] && parent="/"
+
+  if [ -e "$path" ]; then
+    [ -w "$path" ] && return 0
+  elif [ -d "$parent" ] && [ -w "$parent" ]; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  printf "%sError: %s cannot be written: '%s'.%s\n" \
+    "${_BASHUNIT_COLOR_FAILED}" "$2" "$path" "${_BASHUNIT_COLOR_DEFAULT}" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
 ##
 # Validates the resolved configuration and exits non-zero on a bad value.
 # Runs after flag parsing so it covers both the flags and the BASHUNIT_* env
@@ -46,6 +70,19 @@ function bashunit::main::validate_config_or_exit() {
       "${BASHUNIT_COVERAGE_MIN}" "BASHUNIT_COVERAGE_MIN (--coverage-min)"
   fi
 
+  if [ -n "${BASHUNIT_SEED:-}" ]; then
+    bashunit::main::require_non_negative_int_or_exit "${BASHUNIT_SEED}" "BASHUNIT_SEED (--seed)"
+  fi
+
+  local _report_var _report_path
+  for _report_var in BASHUNIT_LOG_JUNIT BASHUNIT_LOG_GHA BASHUNIT_REPORT_HTML \
+    BASHUNIT_REPORT_TAP BASHUNIT_REPORT_JSON; do
+    _report_path=${!_report_var:-}
+    if [ -n "$_report_path" ]; then
+      bashunit::main::require_writable_path_or_exit "$_report_path" "$_report_var"
+    fi
+  done
+
   # Only TAP is implemented; an unrecognised name used to fall back to the
   # default renderer without a word, so `--output tpa` looked like it worked.
   case "${BASHUNIT_OUTPUT_FORMAT:-}" in
@@ -235,6 +272,13 @@ function bashunit::main::cmd_test() {
         BASHUNIT_BOOTSTRAP_ARGS="$boot_args"
         export -n BASHUNIT_BOOTSTRAP_ARGS
       fi
+      # A missing bootstrap used to leak a raw `source` error, abort the rest of
+      # the parse and exit 0 with no tests run at all (#875).
+      if [ ! -f "$boot_file" ] || [ ! -r "$boot_file" ]; then
+        printf "%sError: cannot read the bootstrap file: '%s'.%s\n" \
+          "${_BASHUNIT_COLOR_FAILED}" "$boot_file" "${_BASHUNIT_COLOR_DEFAULT}" >&2
+        exit 1
+      fi
       # Export all variables from the env file so they're available in subshells
       # (e.g., process substitution used in load_test_files)
       set -o allexport
@@ -568,6 +612,13 @@ function bashunit::main::cmd_bench() {
         BASHUNIT_BOOTSTRAP_ARGS="$boot_args"
         export -n BASHUNIT_BOOTSTRAP_ARGS
       fi
+      # A missing bootstrap used to leak a raw `source` error, abort the rest of
+      # the parse and exit 0 with no tests run at all (#875).
+      if [ ! -f "$boot_file" ] || [ ! -r "$boot_file" ]; then
+        printf "%sError: cannot read the bootstrap file: '%s'.%s\n" \
+          "${_BASHUNIT_COLOR_FAILED}" "$boot_file" "${_BASHUNIT_COLOR_DEFAULT}" >&2
+        exit 1
+      fi
       # Export all variables from the env file so they're available in subshells
       # (e.g., process substitution used in load_test_files)
       set -o allexport
diff --git a/tests/acceptance/bashunit_invalid_path_test.sh b/tests/acceptance/bashunit_invalid_path_test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6889add0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/acceptance/bashunit_invalid_path_test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+function set_up_before_script() {
+  TEST_ENV_FILE="tests/acceptance/fixtures/.env.default"
+  TEST_FILE="tests/acceptance/fixtures/tests_path/a_test.sh"
+}
+
+# A missing bootstrap used to leak a raw `source` error, run no tests at all and
+# still exit 0 -- a green build that tested nothing (#875).
+function test_bashunit_fails_when_the_bootstrap_file_is_missing() {
+  local ec=0
+  local output
+  output=$(./bashunit --env definitely_missing_bootstrap.sh "$TEST_FILE" 2>&1) || ec=$?
+
+  assert_general_error "" "" "$ec"
+  assert_contains "definitely_missing_bootstrap.sh" "$output"
+}
+
+function test_bashunit_fails_when_the_bootstrap_file_is_missing_via_boot_alias() {
+  local ec=0
+  local output
+  output=$(./bashunit --boot definitely_missing_bootstrap.sh "$TEST_FILE" 2>&1) || ec=$?
+
+  assert_general_error "" "" "$ec"
+}
+
+# The report was silently not written while the suite still reported success, so
+# a CI job uploaded an empty artifact from a green build.
+function test_bashunit_fails_when_a_report_path_is_not_writable() {
+  local ec=0
+  local output
+  output=$(./bashunit --env "$TEST_ENV_FILE" --report-json /nope/dir/out.json "$TEST_FILE" 2>&1) || ec=$?
+
+  assert_general_error "" "" "$ec"
+  assert_contains "/nope/dir/out.json" "$output"
+}
+
+function test_bashunit_fails_when_a_junit_report_path_is_not_writable() {
+  local ec=0
+  local output
+  output=$(./bashunit --env "$TEST_ENV_FILE" --log-junit /nope/dir/out.xml "$TEST_FILE" 2>&1) || ec=$?
+
+  assert_general_error "" "" "$ec"
+}
+
+function test_bashunit_fails_when_seed_is_not_a_number() {
+  local ec=0
+  local output
+  output=$(./bashunit --env "$TEST_ENV_FILE" --seed abc "$TEST_FILE" 2>&1) || ec=$?
+
+  assert_general_error "" "" "$ec"
+  assert_contains "--seed" "$output"
+}
+
+function test_bashunit_still_accepts_an_existing_bootstrap_file() {
+  local boot_file
+  boot_file="$(bashunit::temp_file)"
+  printf 'export BASHUNIT_TEST_BOOTSTRAP_MARKER=loaded\n' >"$boot_file"
+
+  local ec=0
+  local output
+  output=$(./bashunit --env "$boot_file" "$TEST_FILE" 2>&1) || ec=$?
+
+  assert_successful_code "" "" "$ec"
+  assert_contains "All tests passed" "$output"
+}
+
+function test_bashunit_still_writes_a_report_to_a_writable_path() {
+  local report_dir
+  report_dir="$(bashunit::temp_dir)"
+
+  local ec=0
+  local output
+  output=$(./bashunit --env "$TEST_ENV_FILE" --report-json "$report_dir/out.json" "$TEST_FILE" 2>&1) || ec=$?
+
+  assert_successful_code "" "" "$ec"
+  assert_file_exists "$report_dir/out.json"
+}