diff --git a/scripts/native/cicd/taskrun-drilldown.mjs b/scripts/native/cicd/taskrun-drilldown.mjs
index 6d8c7786..bc3f45a1 100644
--- a/scripts/native/cicd/taskrun-drilldown.mjs
+++ b/scripts/native/cicd/taskrun-drilldown.mjs
@@ -36,9 +36,15 @@ async function main() {
   if (resolution.taskRun === null) {
     console.log(JSON.stringify({
       ok: false,
-      degradedReason: "taskrun-not-found",
+      degradedReason: resolution.degradedReason || "taskrun-not-found",
+      message: resolution.message || null,
       query: { namespace, taskRun: query, pipelineRun: pipelineRunName || null, pipelineRunPrefix: pipelineRunPrefix || null },
       candidates: resolution.candidates,
+      resolution: {
+        mode: resolution.mode,
+        bounded: true,
+        namespaceTaskRunList: false,
+      },
       statusAuthority: useServiceAccount ? "kubernetes-api-serviceaccount" : "target-node-kubectl-raw",
       parsedDownstreamCliOutput: false,
     }));
@@ -121,10 +127,21 @@ async function main() {
 async function resolveTaskRun() {
   const direct = await getJson(`/apis/tekton.dev/v1/namespaces/${encodeURIComponent(namespace)}/taskruns/${encodeURIComponent(query)}`, false);
   if (direct !== null) return { mode: "direct-name", taskRun: direct, candidates: [] };
+  if (!pipelineRunName) {
+    const fullNameMiss = pipelineRunPrefix.length > 0 && query.startsWith(`${pipelineRunPrefix}-`);
+    return {
+      mode: fullNameMiss ? "direct-name-not-found" : "pipeline-run-required",
+      degradedReason: fullNameMiss ? "taskrun-not-found" : "pipeline-run-required",
+      message: fullNameMiss
+        ? `TaskRun ${query} was not found in namespace ${namespace}`
+        : "--pipeline-run is required for pipeline-task alias lookup; namespace-wide TaskRun listing is disabled",
+      taskRun: null,
+      candidates: [],
+    };
+  }
   const selectors = [];
-  if (pipelineRunName) selectors.push(`tekton.dev/pipelineRun=${pipelineRunName},tekton.dev/pipelineTask=${query}`);
-  selectors.push(`tekton.dev/pipelineTask=${query}`);
-  selectors.push(`tekton.dev/task=${query}`);
+  selectors.push(`tekton.dev/pipelineRun=${pipelineRunName},tekton.dev/pipelineTask=${query}`);
+  selectors.push(`tekton.dev/pipelineRun=${pipelineRunName},tekton.dev/task=${query}`);
   for (const selector of selectors) {
     const list = await getJson(`/apis/tekton.dev/v1/namespaces/${encodeURIComponent(namespace)}/taskruns?labelSelector=${encodeURIComponent(selector)}`, false);
     const candidates = taskRunCandidates(list);
diff --git a/scripts/src/cicd-branch-follower.ts b/scripts/src/cicd-branch-follower.ts
index 31fcd52d..9e997505 100644
--- a/scripts/src/cicd-branch-follower.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/cicd-branch-follower.ts
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ function parseFollower(root: Record<string, unknown>, index: number): FollowerSp
   const budgets = recordField(root, "budgets", label);
   const commands = recordField(root, "commands", label);
   const nativeStatus = recordField(root, "nativeStatus", label);
-  const drillDown = recordField(root, "drillDown", label);
+  const drillDown = asOptionalRecord(root.drillDown);
   const closeout = recordField(root, "closeout", label);
   const configRefs = stringMap(recordField(target, "configRefs", `${label}.target`), `${label}.target.configRefs`);
   return {
@@ -406,7 +406,7 @@ function parseFollower(root: Record<string, unknown>, index: number): FollowerSp
       logs: parseCommand(recordField(commands, "logs", `${label}.commands`), `${label}.commands.logs`),
     },
     nativeStatus: parseNativeStatus(nativeStatus, `${label}.nativeStatus`),
-    drillDown: parseDrillDown(drillDown, `${label}.drillDown`),
+    drillDown: drillDown === null ? null : parseDrillDown(drillDown, `${label}.drillDown`),
     closeoutChecks: stringArrayField(closeout, "checks", `${label}.closeout`),
   };
 }
diff --git a/scripts/src/cicd-drilldown-render.ts b/scripts/src/cicd-drilldown-render.ts
index 72f8d4ba..977ca738 100644
--- a/scripts/src/cicd-drilldown-render.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/cicd-drilldown-render.ts
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ function renderTaskRunHuman(payload: Record<string, unknown>): string {
   const timing = asOptionalRecord(result?.nodeCicdTiming);
   const query = asOptionalRecord(payload.query);
   const command = asOptionalRecord(payload.command);
+  const identity = asOptionalRecord(command?.identity);
   return [
     `CI/CD BRANCH-FOLLOWER TASKRUN (${payload.ok === false ? "failed" : "ok"})`,
     "",
@@ -59,9 +60,11 @@ function renderTaskRunHuman(payload: Record<string, unknown>): string {
     logs.length === 0 ? "" : `\nLOG TAILS\n${table(["POD", "CONTAINER", "STATUS", "REASON", "LINES", "BYTES", "TIMING", "MESSAGE"], logs.map(logRow))}`,
     errors.length === 0 ? "" : `\nERRORS\n${table(["POD", "CONTAINER", "REASON", "MESSAGE"], errors.map((item) => [item.pod, item.container, item.degradedReason, item.message]))}`,
     timing === null ? "" : `\nNODE_CICD_TIMING\n${JSON.stringify(timing, null, 2)}`,
+    command === null ? "" : `\nTARGET COMMAND\n${table(["ROUTE", "SCRIPT", "NAMESPACE", "TASKRUN", "PIPELINERUN", "EXIT", "PARSE_ERROR"], [[identity?.route ?? "-", identity?.script ?? "-", identity?.namespace ?? "-", identity?.taskRun ?? "-", identity?.pipelineRun ?? "-", command.exitCode ?? "-", command.parseError ?? "-"]])}`,
+    command?.stdoutTail ? `\nSTDOUT_TAIL\n${command.stdoutTail}` : "",
+    command?.stderrTail ? `\nSTDERR_TAIL\n${command.stderrTail}` : "",
     "",
     `policy: tailLines=${policy?.logsTailLines ?? "-"} maxLogBytes=${policy?.maxLogBytes ?? "-"} timeoutSeconds=${policy?.taskRunTimeoutSeconds ?? "-"} maxContainers=${policy?.maxContainers ?? "-"}`,
-    command?.stderrTail ? `stderr: ${command.stderrTail}` : "",
     "",
   ].filter((line) => line !== "").join("\n");
 }
diff --git a/scripts/src/cicd-taskrun-drilldown.ts b/scripts/src/cicd-taskrun-drilldown.ts
index 7734bbc0..b850870c 100644
--- a/scripts/src/cicd-taskrun-drilldown.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/cicd-taskrun-drilldown.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,30 @@ export async function runBranchFollowerTaskRunDrillDown(
   if (follower.nativeStatus.tekton === null) throw new Error(`follower ${follower.id} has no Tekton native status config`);
   const taskRun = options.taskRunName;
   if (taskRun === null) throw new Error("taskrun drill-down requires --taskrun <taskrun-name|pipeline-task>");
+  if (follower.drillDown === null) {
+    return {
+      ok: false,
+      action: "taskrun",
+      follower: follower.id,
+      adapter: follower.adapter,
+      degradedReason: "drilldown-policy-missing",
+      message: `follower ${follower.id} registry is missing drillDown policy; apply the current config before TaskRun drill-down`,
+      query: {
+        taskRun,
+        pipelineRun: options.pipelineRunName,
+        tektonNamespace: follower.nativeStatus.tekton.namespace,
+        pipelineRunPrefix: follower.nativeStatus.tekton.pipelineRunPrefix,
+      },
+      policy: null,
+      result: null,
+      statusAuthority: options.inCluster ? "kubernetes-api-serviceaccount" : "target-node-kubectl-raw",
+      parsedDownstreamCliOutput: false,
+      next: {
+        apply: "bun scripts/cli.ts cicd branch-follower apply --confirm --wait",
+        status: `bun scripts/cli.ts cicd branch-follower status --follower ${follower.id}`,
+      },
+    };
+  }
   const policy = {
     taskRunTimeoutSeconds: options.timeoutSeconds ?? follower.drillDown.taskRunTimeoutSeconds,
     logsTailLines: options.logsTailLines ?? follower.drillDown.logsTailLines,
@@ -42,7 +66,9 @@ export async function runBranchFollowerTaskRunDrillDown(
   ].join("\n");
   const startedAt = Date.now();
   const result = runKubeScript(registry, options, script, "", policy.taskRunTimeoutSeconds * 1000);
-  const parsed = result.exitCode === 0 ? parseJsonObject(result.stdout) : null;
+  const parsedResult = result.exitCode === 0 ? parseJsonObject(result.stdout) : { value: null, error: "target-command-failed" };
+  const parsed = parsedResult.value;
+  const includeTails = result.exitCode !== 0 || parsed === null || parsed.ok === false;
   return {
     ok: result.exitCode === 0 && parsed !== null && parsed.ok !== false,
     action: "taskrun",
@@ -59,10 +85,19 @@ export async function runBranchFollowerTaskRunDrillDown(
     policy,
     result: parsed,
     command: {
+      identity: {
+        route: options.inCluster ? "in-cluster" : registry.controller.kubeRoute,
+        script: "scripts/native/cicd/taskrun-drilldown.mjs",
+        namespace: follower.nativeStatus.tekton.namespace,
+        taskRun,
+        pipelineRun: options.pipelineRunName,
+      },
       exitCode: result.exitCode,
       timedOut: result.timedOut,
       elapsedMs: Date.now() - startedAt,
-      stderrTail: result.exitCode === 0 ? "" : redactText(tailText(result.stderr || result.stdout, 1200)),
+      parseError: parsedResult.error,
+      stdoutTail: includeTails ? redactText(tailText(result.stdout, 1600)) : "",
+      stderrTail: includeTails ? redactText(tailText(result.stderr, 1200)) : "",
     },
     next: {
       status: `bun scripts/cli.ts cicd branch-follower status --follower ${follower.id}`,
@@ -71,14 +106,16 @@ export async function runBranchFollowerTaskRunDrillDown(
   };
 }
 
-function parseJsonObject(text: string): Record<string, unknown> | null {
+function parseJsonObject(text: string): { value: Record<string, unknown> | null; error: string | null } {
   const trimmed = text.trim();
-  if (trimmed.length === 0) return null;
+  if (trimmed.length === 0) return { value: null, error: "empty-stdout" };
   try {
     const parsed = JSON.parse(trimmed) as unknown;
-    return typeof parsed === "object" && parsed !== null && !Array.isArray(parsed) ? parsed as Record<string, unknown> : null;
-  } catch {
-    return null;
+    return typeof parsed === "object" && parsed !== null && !Array.isArray(parsed)
+      ? { value: parsed as Record<string, unknown>, error: null }
+      : { value: null, error: "stdout-json-not-object" };
+  } catch (error) {
+    return { value: null, error: `stdout-json-parse-failed: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}` };
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/src/cicd-types.ts b/scripts/src/cicd-types.ts
index bb50b0ad..b26492c1 100644
--- a/scripts/src/cicd-types.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/cicd-types.ts
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ export interface FollowerSpec {
     maxLogBytes: number;
     maxMessageBytes: number;
     maxContainers: number;
-  };
+  } | null;
   closeoutChecks: string[];
 }