diff --git a/docs/tools/forge-cli.md b/docs/tools/forge-cli.md
index 63876e89..3aec91ea 100644
--- a/docs/tools/forge-cli.md
+++ b/docs/tools/forge-cli.md
@@ -1278,7 +1278,7 @@ Get/set this user's watch subscription on a repo, or --list all watched repos
 ###### **Options:**
 
 * `--watch` — Subscribe (watch the repo)
-* `--ignore` — Mute (mark ignored)
+* `--ignore` — Unsupported: Forgejo's subscription endpoint can't mark a repo ignored without also watching it. Always refuses with an error
 * `--unwatch` — Unsubscribe (clear watch + ignore)
 * `--list` — List every repo the current user watches (ignores `[repo]`)
 
diff --git a/hive-forge/src/verbs/subscription.rs b/hive-forge/src/verbs/subscription.rs
index 5dabb859..46161cdf 100644
--- a/hive-forge/src/verbs/subscription.rs
+++ b/hive-forge/src/verbs/subscription.rs
@@ -40,7 +40,26 @@ pub struct Args {
 /// # Errors
 /// Propagates transport / non-2xx errors from the Forgejo client calls
 /// and from `print_json`.
+/// Error text for a refused `--ignore`. Forgejo's PUT subscription endpoint
+/// takes no body — it always subscribes (watch), with no way to mark a repo
+/// ignored without also watching it. The old raw client sent a
+/// `{subscribed, ignored}` body which the server ignored, so `--ignore`
+/// silently behaved like `--watch` (the opposite of what it promises)
+/// instead of failing. Refuse instead of lying about what happened. A free
+/// function (rather than inlined in `run`) so it's testable without a real
+/// `Client` — the refusal fires before any API call is made.
+fn ignore_refusal_message() -> String {
+    "subscription --ignore is not supported: Forgejo's subscription endpoint \
+     has no way to mark a repo ignored without also watching it. Use \
+     --unwatch to stop watching, or --watch if muted-but-watched is what \
+     you actually want."
+        .to_owned()
+}
+
 pub fn run(client: &Client, args: Args) -> Result<()> {
+    if args.ignore {
+        anyhow::bail!(ignore_refusal_message());
+    }
     if args.list {
         // List every repo the authed user watches, so an agent can audit
         // its notification firehose and decide what to `--unwatch`. Not
@@ -73,21 +92,6 @@ pub fn run(client: &Client, args: Args) -> Result<()> {
         println!("unsubscribed");
         return Ok(());
     }
-    if args.ignore {
-        // Forgejo's PUT subscription endpoint takes no body — it always
-        // subscribes (watch), it has no way to mark a repo ignored
-        // without also watching it. The old raw client sent a
-        // `{subscribed, ignored}` body which the server ignored, so
-        // `--ignore` silently behaved like `--watch` (the opposite of
-        // what it promises) instead of failing. Refuse instead of lying
-        // about what happened.
-        anyhow::bail!(
-            "subscription --ignore is not supported: Forgejo's subscription \
-             endpoint has no way to mark a repo ignored without also \
-             watching it. Use --unwatch to stop watching, or --watch if \
-             muted-but-watched is what you actually want."
-        );
-    }
     if args.watch {
         let resp = client
             .api()
@@ -113,3 +117,16 @@ pub fn run(client: &Client, args: Args) -> Result<()> {
         Err(e) => Err(e.into()),
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::ignore_refusal_message;
+
+    #[test]
+    fn ignore_is_rejected_pointing_at_unwatch() {
+        let msg = ignore_refusal_message();
+        assert!(msg.contains("--unwatch"));
+        assert!(msg.contains("--watch"));
+        assert!(msg.contains("not supported"));
+    }
+}