diff --git a/api/exitcodes.func b/api/exitcodes.func
index f18c15b..be1c6c8 100644
--- a/api/exitcodes.func
+++ b/api/exitcodes.func
@@ -10,8 +10,15 @@
 # function name or behaviour changed with it.
 #
 # Turns a numeric exit status into a sentence, and sorts it into a category
-# for the telemetry field. Almost entirely a lookup table -- keep it in step
-# with docs/exit_codes.md, which has drifted from it before.
+# for the telemetry field. Almost entirely a lookup table, and the authoritative
+# copy of it.
+#
+# Two things have to move with it. core/error_handler.func carries a fallback
+# table for the container case, where this file is not loaded; and the aborted
+# branch of post_update_to_api has to agree with the user_aborted codes below,
+# or a run is filed as one thing and described as another. The pointer here used
+# to name docs/exit_codes.md, which does not exist.
+
 # ==============================================================================
 
 [[ -n "${_API_EXITCODES_LOADED:-}" ]] && return 0
@@ -165,6 +172,15 @@ explain_exit_code() {
   192) echo "MongoDB: Database not found" ;;
   193) echo "MongoDB: Fatal query error" ;;
 
+  # --- Engine (199) ---
+  # Not a failure of the install. It means the engine reported a terminal status
+  # without a code to go with it -- the flag file was unreadable, or a caller
+  # passed nothing. It used to be reported as 1, which is also what bash returns
+  # for any ordinary command failure, so a lost code and a real general error
+  # were the same number.
+
+  199) echo "Engine: exit code not reported" ;;
+
   # --- Proxmox Custom Codes (200-231) ---
   200) echo "Proxmox: Failed to create lock file" ;;
   203) echo "Proxmox: Missing CTID variable" ;;
@@ -263,7 +279,10 @@ categorize_error() {
   150 | 151 | 153 | 154) echo "service" ;;
   170 | 171 | 172 | 173 | 180 | 181 | 182 | 183 | 190 | 191 | 192 | 193) echo "database" ;;
   243 | 245 | 246 | 247 | 248 | 249) echo "runtime" ;;
-  129 | 130 | 143) echo "user_aborted" ;;
+  # Kept in step with the aborted branch of post_update_to_api: a code that
+  # makes the run "aborted" must not describe itself as something else here.
+
+  113 | 114 | 122 | 129 | 130 | 143 | 253 | 254) echo "user_aborted" ;;
   134 | 137) echo "resource" ;;
   139 | 141) echo "signal" ;;
   1 | 2) echo "shell" ;;
diff --git a/api/sysinfo.func b/api/sysinfo.func
index efd35e6..13715a6 100644
--- a/api/sysinfo.func
+++ b/api/sysinfo.func
@@ -92,8 +92,17 @@ detect_repo_source() {
     REPO_SOURCE="ProxmoxVED"
     REPO_SLUG="community-scripts/ProxmoxVED"
     ;;
-  "")
-    # No URL detected — hardcoded fallback (CI rewrites VED → VE on promotion)
+  "" | community-scripts/core)
+    # No script repo identified — hardcoded fallback (CI rewrites VED → VE on
+    # promotion).
+    #
+    # core lands here rather than in the fork branch below. The bootstrap line
+    # names the engine, not the repo the ct/ script came from, so the scraping
+    # above finds "community-scripts/core" for every run where
+    # COMMUNITY_SCRIPTS_URL was not set. That is not a fork, and filing it as
+    # one attributed thousands of official runs to "external" and gave the
+    # slug its own row on the dashboard, second only to ProxmoxVE.
+
     REPO_SOURCE="ProxmoxVED"
     REPO_SLUG="community-scripts/ProxmoxVED"
     ;;
diff --git a/api/telemetry.func b/api/telemetry.func
index d6a6b9e..1d9fd3e 100644
--- a/api/telemetry.func
+++ b/api/telemetry.func
@@ -313,7 +313,12 @@ post_update_to_api() {
   command -v curl &>/dev/null || return 0
 
   local status="${1:-failed}"
-  local raw_exit_code="${2:-1}"
+  # Deliberately not defaulted to 1. A caller with nothing to report and a
+  # caller reporting a genuine general error are different facts, and 1 is what
+  # bash returns for every ordinary command failure -- defaulting to it made
+  # the two indistinguishable in the data.
+
+  local raw_exit_code="${2-}"
   local force="${3:-}"
 
   POST_UPDATE_DONE=${POST_UPDATE_DONE:-false}
@@ -336,7 +341,11 @@ post_update_to_api() {
   elif [[ "$raw_exit_code" == "none" ]]; then
     exit_code=0
   else
-    exit_code=1
+    # Neither a number nor "none": the code was never passed, or was lost on
+    # the way up. 199 says exactly that, where 1 used to claim a general error
+    # the engine never observed.
+
+    exit_code=199
   fi
 
   local pb_status error_raw=""
@@ -349,9 +358,15 @@ post_update_to_api() {
     pb_status="aborted"
     ;;
   failed)
-    # Signal-based exits are user aborts, not installation failures
+    # Codes the engine raises when the person at the keyboard said no. A signal
+    # is the obvious case; 113, 114, 122 and 254 are the engine asking a
+    # question and being told no, and 253 is an update the user declined to
+    # migrate. Filing those as failures put user decisions in the failure rate:
+    # "exit 113" was one of the largest single signatures on the dashboard,
+    # sitting under exit code 1 in category "shell".
+
     case "$exit_code" in
-    129 | 130 | 143) pb_status="aborted" ;;
+    113 | 114 | 122 | 129 | 130 | 143 | 253 | 254) pb_status="aborted" ;;
     *) pb_status="failed" ;;
     esac
     ;;
diff --git a/core/error_handler.func b/core/error_handler.func
index 547b40e..23e4117 100644
--- a/core/error_handler.func
+++ b/core/error_handler.func
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ if ! declare -f explain_exit_code &>/dev/null; then
     191) echo "MongoDB: Authentication failed (bad user/password)" ;;
     192) echo "MongoDB: Database not found" ;;
     193) echo "MongoDB: Fatal query error" ;;
+    199) echo "Engine: exit code not reported" ;;
     200) echo "Proxmox: Failed to create lock file" ;;
     203) echo "Proxmox: Missing CTID variable" ;;
     204) echo "Proxmox: Missing PCT_OSTYPE variable" ;;
diff --git a/lib/API.txt b/lib/API.txt
index d1439e0..adf6d9a 100644
--- a/lib/API.txt
+++ b/lib/API.txt
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ _setup_intel_arc
 _setup_intel_legacy
 _setup_intel_modern
 _setup_mariadb_runtime_dir
+_setup_npm
 _setup_nvidia_gpu
 _setup_rocm
 _tools_cleanup_temp_dirs
diff --git a/pve/backend.func b/pve/backend.func
index dde65c2..ce3718a 100644
--- a/pve/backend.func
+++ b/pve/backend.func
@@ -1208,7 +1208,13 @@ PROFILE
     if [[ -n "${SESSION_ID:-}" ]]; then
       local error_flag="/root/.install-${SESSION_ID}.failed"
       if pct exec "$CTID" -- test -f "$error_flag" 2>/dev/null; then
-        install_exit_code=$(pct exec "$CTID" -- cat "$error_flag" 2>/dev/null || echo "1")
+        # The flag holds the container's own code. When it cannot be read, or
+        # comes back as something that is not a number, fall back to what
+        # lxc-attach returned rather than to 1: that is a code we actually
+        # observed, and it is already in hand a few lines up.
+
+        install_exit_code=$(pct exec "$CTID" -- cat "$error_flag" 2>/dev/null | tr -d '[:space:]') || true
+        [[ "$install_exit_code" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || install_exit_code="${lxc_exit:-199}"
         pct exec "$CTID" -- rm -f "$error_flag" 2>/dev/null || true
       fi
     fi