diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 8d2d9e6..c8766e3 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -284,11 +284,14 @@ fn start_ssh_agent() -> Result<(), String> {
     .stdout(Stdio::piped())
     .output()
     .map_err(|e| format!("failed to start ssh agent: {e}"))?;
-  let agent_output = String::from_utf8_lossy(&agent_output.stdout);
+  let agent_stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&agent_output.stdout);
+  if !agent_output.status.success() {
+    return Err("failed to start ssh agent; maybe try to run ssh-agent manually?".to_string());
+  }
 
   //set the env vars from the agent
   static ENV_VAR_REGEX: Lazy<Regex> = lazy_regex!("(.+?)=(.+?);");
-  for capture in ENV_VAR_REGEX.captures_iter(&agent_output) {
+  for capture in ENV_VAR_REGEX.captures_iter(&agent_stdout) {
     let (_, [env_var, value]) = capture.extract();
     env::set_var(env_var, value);
   }