diff --git a/deploy/apptainer/qc.sh b/deploy/apptainer/qc.sh
index 21d28a0..40fb1c8 100755
--- a/deploy/apptainer/qc.sh
+++ b/deploy/apptainer/qc.sh
@@ -248,10 +248,11 @@ restore_hint() {  # list earlier data sets next to $QC_DATA (from --rebuild-data
   for d in $(ls -1dt "$QC_DATA".* 2>/dev/null); do
     [[ -f "$d/universe/universe.csv" ]] || continue
     if [[ $n == 0 ]]; then say "   earlier data sets found (newest first):"; fi
-    when="$(grep -o '"setup_at": *"[^"]*"' "$d/manifest.json" 2>/dev/null | head -n 1 | sed 's/.*"\([^"]*\)"$/\1/')"
+    when="$(grep -o '"setup_at": *"[^"]*"' "$d/manifest.json" 2>/dev/null | head -n 1 | sed 's/.*"\([^"]*\)"$/\1/' || true)"
     stocks=$(( $(wc -l < "$d/universe/universe.csv") - 1 ))
     say "     $d   ($stocks stocks, built ${when:-?})"
-    n=$((n + 1)); [[ $n -ge 4 ]] && break
+    n=$((n + 1))
+    if [[ $n -ge 4 ]]; then break; fi
   done
   if [[ $n -gt 0 ]]; then say "   restore one with: $0 data-import <folder>"; fi
 }
@@ -534,8 +535,9 @@ cmd_status() {
   step "API $QC_API_URL"
   if h="$(http_get "$QC_API_URL/health")"; then
     local api_setup host_setup
-    api_setup="$(printf '%s' "$h" | grep -o '"setup_at":"[^"]*"' | head -n 1)"
-    host_setup="$(grep -o '"setup_at": *"[^"]*"' "$QC_DATA/manifest.json" 2>/dev/null | head -n 1 | tr -d ' ')"
+    # `|| true`: under pipefail a grep without a match would end the script silently
+    api_setup="$(printf '%s' "$h" | grep -o '"setup_at":"[^"]*"' | head -n 1 || true)"
+    host_setup="$(grep -o '"setup_at": *"[^"]*"' "$QC_DATA/manifest.json" 2>/dev/null | head -n 1 | tr -d ' ' || true)"
     if [[ "$api_setup" != "$host_setup" ]]; then
       warn "the running API serves a different data set than $QC_DATA (API ${api_setup:-none}, folder ${host_setup:-none}).
          Run: $0 restart"