diff --git a/scripts/src/platform-infra-k3s-build-benchmark.ts b/scripts/src/platform-infra-k3s-build-benchmark.ts
index 1e625d67..2b4cfa33 100644
--- a/scripts/src/platform-infra-k3s-build-benchmark.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/platform-infra-k3s-build-benchmark.ts
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ function startBenchmarks(plans: readonly TargetPlan[], options: K3sBuildBenchmar
     row.state,
     row.jobName,
     row.runId,
-    row.ok ? `status/logs/traffic` : `${row.blocker}: ${row.detail}`,
+    startRowDetail(row),
   ]);
   return {
     ok,
@@ -202,6 +202,17 @@ function startBenchmarks(plans: readonly TargetPlan[], options: K3sBuildBenchmar
   };
 }
 
+function startRowDetail(row: TargetPlan & { started: boolean; state: string; jobName: string; runId: string; result: unknown }): string {
+  if (!row.ok) return `${row.blocker}: ${row.detail}`;
+  if (row.started) return "status/logs/traffic";
+  const result = record(row.result);
+  const stderr = text(result.stderrPreview, "");
+  const stdout = text(result.stdoutPreview, "");
+  const exitCode = text(result.exitCode, "-");
+  const detail = stderr || stdout || "start-failed";
+  return `exit=${exitCode} ${detail.replace(/\s+/gu, " ").slice(0, 180)}`;
+}
+
 function statusBenchmarks(plans: readonly TargetPlan[], options: K3sBuildBenchmarkOptions): RenderedCliResult {
   const statuses = plans.map((plan): TargetStatus => {
     if (!plan.ok || plan.target === undefined || plan.profile === undefined) {
@@ -410,7 +421,7 @@ function benchmarkLabels(target: Sub2ApiTargetConfig, profile: K3sBuildBenchmark
 }
 
 function startScript(manifest: Record<string, unknown>, target: Sub2ApiTargetConfig, profile: K3sBuildBenchmarkProfile, runId: string, jobName: string): string {
-  const yaml = `${Bun.YAML.stringify(manifest).trim()}\n`;
+  const yaml = `${JSON.stringify(manifest, null, 2)}\n`;
   const encoded = Buffer.from(yaml, "utf8").toString("base64");
   return `
 set -eu
@@ -481,7 +492,7 @@ elif active:
     state = "running"
 else:
     state = "pending"
-failure_family = "none" if state == "succeeded" else "unknown"
+failure_family = "none" if state == "succeeded" else ("in-progress" if state in ("running", "pending") else "unknown")
 tail_text = (full_logs or logs)[-4000:]
 if state == "missing":
     failure_family = "job-missing"
@@ -553,11 +564,13 @@ function trafficSpec(target: Sub2ApiTargetConfig): EgressProxyTrafficSpec {
 function normalizeStatus(plan: TargetPlan, parsed: unknown, result: CommandResult): TargetStatus {
   const data = typeof parsed === "object" && parsed !== null ? parsed as Record<string, unknown> : {};
   const jobResult = record(data.result);
+  const state = text(data.state, result.exitCode === 0 ? "unknown" : "failed");
+  const commandOk = result.exitCode === 0 && state !== "failed" && state !== "missing" && text(data.reason, "") !== "kubectl-jobs-failed";
   const status: TargetStatus = {
-    ok: result.exitCode === 0 && data.ok === true,
+    ok: commandOk,
     targetId: plan.targetId,
     profile: text(data.profile, plan.profile?.id ?? "-"),
-    state: text(data.state, result.exitCode === 0 ? "unknown" : "failed"),
+    state,
     jobName: text(data.jobName),
     runId: text(data.runId),
     startedAt: text(data.startedAt),
@@ -566,7 +579,7 @@ function normalizeStatus(plan: TargetPlan, parsed: unknown, result: CommandResul
     outputMiB: nullableNumber(jobResult.outputMiB),
     downloadMiB: nullableNumber(jobResult.downloadMiB),
     payloadMiB: nullableNumber(jobResult.payloadMiB),
-    failureFamily: text(data.failureFamily, data.ok === true ? "none" : text(data.reason, "unknown")),
+    failureFamily: text(data.failureFamily, data.ok === true ? "none" : state === "running" || state === "pending" ? "in-progress" : text(data.reason, "unknown")),
     logTail: text(data.logTail, result.stderr.slice(-2000)),
   };
   return status;