diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/transcribe.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/transcribe.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b485cb6a74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/transcribe.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach, afterEach } from "vitest";
+import { writeFileSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { WhisperUnavailableError } from "../whisper/manager.js";
+
+// Make the whisper core report "unavailable" so we exercise the soft-skip path.
+const transcribeMock = vi.fn();
+vi.mock("../whisper/transcribe.js", () => ({ transcribe: transcribeMock }));
+
+const trackTranscribeUnavailable = vi.fn();
+const trackCommandFailure = vi.fn();
+vi.mock("../telemetry/events.js", () => ({
+  trackTranscribeUnavailable: (...a: unknown[]) => trackTranscribeUnavailable(...a),
+  trackCommandFailure: (...a: unknown[]) => trackCommandFailure(...a),
+}));
+
+import transcribeCmd from "./transcribe.js";
+
+function dummyAudio(): { dir: string; input: string } {
+  const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "hf-transcribe-test-"));
+  const input = join(dir, "narration.wav");
+  writeFileSync(input, "not-real-audio");
+  return { dir, input };
+}
+
+describe("transcribe — whisper unavailable", () => {
+  let dirs: string[] = [];
+  let priorExitCode: typeof process.exitCode;
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    dirs = [];
+    priorExitCode = process.exitCode;
+    process.exitCode = undefined;
+    transcribeMock.mockReset();
+    trackTranscribeUnavailable.mockReset();
+    trackCommandFailure.mockReset();
+    transcribeMock.mockRejectedValue(
+      new WhisperUnavailableError("whisper-cpp not found. Install: brew install whisper-cpp"),
+    );
+    vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => {});
+  });
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    process.exitCode = priorExitCode;
+    for (const d of dirs) rmSync(d, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it("explicit run exits non-zero and is NOT reported as a command failure", async () => {
+    const { dir, input } = dummyAudio();
+    dirs.push(dir);
+    await transcribeCmd.run!({ args: { input, json: true, optional: false } } as never);
+
+    expect(process.exitCode).toBe(1);
+    expect(trackTranscribeUnavailable).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ optional: false });
+    expect(trackCommandFailure).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it("--optional skips cleanly with exit 0", async () => {
+    const { dir, input } = dummyAudio();
+    dirs.push(dir);
+    await transcribeCmd.run!({ args: { input, json: true, optional: true } } as never);
+
+    expect(process.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    expect(trackTranscribeUnavailable).toHaveBeenCalledWith({ optional: true });
+    expect(trackCommandFailure).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/transcribe.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/transcribe.ts
index 7a283b736e..7a14844029 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/transcribe.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/transcribe.ts
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ export const examples: Example[] = [
 import { resolve, join, extname, dirname } from "node:path";
 import * as clack from "@clack/prompts";
 import { c } from "../ui/colors.js";
-import { DEFAULT_MODEL } from "../whisper/manager.js";
-import { trackCommandFailure } from "../telemetry/events.js";
+import { DEFAULT_MODEL, isWhisperUnavailable } from "../whisper/manager.js";
+import { trackCommandFailure, trackTranscribeUnavailable } from "../telemetry/events.js";
 
 export default defineCommand({
   meta: {
@@ -49,6 +49,12 @@ export default defineCommand({
       description: "Output result as JSON",
       default: false,
     },
+    optional: {
+      type: "boolean",
+      description:
+        "Treat captions as optional: if whisper-cpp is unavailable, skip and exit 0 instead of failing. For pipelines that continue without captions.",
+      default: false,
+    },
   },
   async run({ args }) {
     const inputPath = resolve(args.input);
@@ -77,6 +83,7 @@ export default defineCommand({
       model: args.model,
       language: args.language,
       json: args.json,
+      optional: args.optional,
     });
   },
 });
@@ -118,7 +125,7 @@ async function importTranscript(inputPath: string, dir: string, json: boolean):
 async function transcribeAudio(
   inputPath: string,
   dir: string,
-  opts: { model?: string; language?: string; json?: boolean },
+  opts: { model?: string; language?: string; json?: boolean; optional?: boolean },
 ): Promise<void> {
   const { transcribe } = await import("../whisper/transcribe.js");
   const { loadTranscript, patchCaptionHtml, stripBeforeOnset } =
@@ -175,6 +182,25 @@ async function transcribeAudio(
     }
   } catch (err) {
     const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+
+    // whisper-cpp is an optional prerequisite, not part of the CLI. When it is
+    // simply unavailable (no binary, no toolchain to build one), that is a setup
+    // condition, not a command crash — report it on its own metric so it does
+    // not inflate the cli_error budget, and let `--optional` callers continue.
+    if (isWhisperUnavailable(err)) {
+      trackTranscribeUnavailable({ optional: opts.optional === true });
+      if (opts.json) {
+        console.log(JSON.stringify({ ok: false, skipped: true, reason: "whisper_unavailable" }));
+      } else {
+        spin?.stop(c.warn(`Captions skipped — ${message}`));
+      }
+      // Optional callers (pipelines) treat a missing prerequisite as a clean
+      // skip; explicit runs still surface non-zero. Set the status and return
+      // rather than guarding a process.exit() on the flag.
+      process.exitCode = opts.optional ? 0 : 1;
+      return;
+    }
+
     trackCommandFailure("transcribe", err);
     if (opts.json) {
       console.log(JSON.stringify({ ok: false, error: message }));
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/telemetry/events.ts b/packages/cli/src/telemetry/events.ts
index 17262dba53..7762e4d8f2 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/telemetry/events.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/telemetry/events.ts
@@ -330,6 +330,14 @@ export function trackCommandFailure(command: string, err: unknown): void {
   });
 }
 
+// Whisper being absent/uninstallable is an environment prerequisite gap, not a
+// command crash — track it on its own low-severity metric instead of cli_error
+// so the command-failure budget reflects real bugs. `optional` records whether
+// the caller (init / skill pipeline) treated captions as skippable.
+export function trackTranscribeUnavailable(props: { optional: boolean }): void {
+  trackEvent("transcribe_unavailable", { optional: props.optional });
+}
+
 export function trackRenderFeedback(props: {
   rating: number;
   renderDurationMs: number;
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..763ccdc0e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
+import { WhisperUnavailableError, isWhisperUnavailable } from "./manager.js";
+
+describe("isWhisperUnavailable", () => {
+  it("recognizes WhisperUnavailableError instances", () => {
+    const err = new WhisperUnavailableError(
+      "whisper-cpp not found. Install: brew install whisper-cpp",
+    );
+    expect(isWhisperUnavailable(err)).toBe(true);
+    expect(err.code).toBe("WHISPER_UNAVAILABLE");
+    expect(err.name).toBe("WhisperUnavailableError");
+  });
+
+  it("recognizes a plain Error carrying the WHISPER_UNAVAILABLE code (cross-bundle safety)", () => {
+    const err = Object.assign(new Error("nope"), { code: "WHISPER_UNAVAILABLE" });
+    expect(isWhisperUnavailable(err)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("does NOT classify a genuine transcription failure as unavailable", () => {
+    // whisper present but the run crashed — must stay a real command failure.
+    expect(isWhisperUnavailable(new Error("Command failed: whisper-cli exited with code 1"))).toBe(
+      false,
+    );
+    expect(isWhisperUnavailable(new Error("whisper-cpp build failed. Ensure cmake..."))).toBe(
+      false,
+    );
+    expect(isWhisperUnavailable("whisper-cpp not found")).toBe(false);
+    expect(isWhisperUnavailable(undefined)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.ts b/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.ts
index e2e0af1e69..05a7c74489 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/whisper/manager.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,24 @@ export interface WhisperResult {
   source: WhisperSource;
 }
 
+// A missing/uninstallable whisper-cpp is an environment prerequisite gap (no
+// binary, no Homebrew, no compiler toolchain), not a transcription bug. Callers
+// that treat captions as optional (init, skill pipelines) skip on this and keep
+// going; explicit `transcribe` still fails, but it is reported as a setup
+// condition rather than a command crash.
+export class WhisperUnavailableError extends Error {
+  readonly code = "WHISPER_UNAVAILABLE" as const;
+  constructor(message: string) {
+    super(message);
+    this.name = "WhisperUnavailableError";
+  }
+}
+
+export function isWhisperUnavailable(err: unknown): err is WhisperUnavailableError {
+  if (err instanceof WhisperUnavailableError) return true;
+  return err instanceof Error && "code" in err && err.code === "WHISPER_UNAVAILABLE";
+}
+
 function getModelUrl(model: string): string {
   return `https://huggingface.co/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/resolve/main/ggml-${model}.bin`;
 }
@@ -184,7 +202,7 @@ export async function ensureWhisper(options?: {
   }
 
   // 4. Give up — tell the user how
-  throw new Error(`whisper-cpp not found. Install: ${getInstallInstructions()}`);
+  throw new WhisperUnavailableError(`whisper-cpp not found. Install: ${getInstallInstructions()}`);
 }
 
 export async function ensureModel(
diff --git a/skills/website-to-video/references/step-4-vo.md b/skills/website-to-video/references/step-4-vo.md
index 37e6d9e8ee..59b84c98d0 100644
--- a/skills/website-to-video/references/step-4-vo.md
+++ b/skills/website-to-video/references/step-4-vo.md
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ Generate the full script as `narration.wav` (or `.mp3`) in the project directory
 
 1. **Try again** — kill the process, run the same command again (transient failures are common)
 2. **Try different flags** — smaller model (`--model tiny.en`), different voice, shorter test sentence first
-3. **Try a different tool for the same task** — if `hyperframes transcribe` hangs, try `whisper-cli` directly, or Groq API (`npx hyperframes transcribe --provider groq`), or OpenAI API
+3. **Try a different tool for the same task** — if `hyperframes transcribe` hangs, run `whisper-cli` directly on the audio
 4. **Switch provider entirely** — if ElevenLabs is down, try HeyGen or Kokoro. If Kokoro hangs, try ElevenLabs.
 
 Never sit idle for 10 minutes hoping a stuck process will finish.