diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs
index fe3432d..b3395db 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs
@@ -781,27 +781,74 @@ fn set_nspawn_flags(
     Ok(())
 }
 
+/// Spawn `nixos-container <args>` and pipe its stdout + stderr into
+/// `tracing` one line at a time so a long-running command (most
+/// notably `update`, which kicks off a full nix build that can run
+/// for minutes on a stale flake) shows progress in journald as it
+/// happens. The buffered `.output()` we used before only flushed the
+/// summary at exit, which made "slow" and "stuck" look identical to
+/// the operator watching `journalctl -u hive-c0re -f`.
+///
+/// stdout lines log at INFO, stderr at WARN. Stderr lines are also
+/// collected into a single string so the bailout message at the end
+/// can include the actual failure reason (nix dumps eval errors to
+/// stderr).
 async fn run(args: &[&str]) -> Result<()> {
-    let out = Command::new("nixos-container")
+    use tokio::io::{AsyncBufReadExt, BufReader};
+    let cmdline = args.join(" ");
+    let mut child = Command::new("nixos-container")
         .args(args)
-        .output()
+        .stdout(std::process::Stdio::piped())
+        .stderr(std::process::Stdio::piped())
+        .spawn()
+        .with_context(|| format!("invoke nixos-container {cmdline}"))?;
+
+    let stdout = child.stdout.take().expect("piped stdout");
+    let stderr = child.stderr.take().expect("piped stderr");
+
+    let stdout_cmdline = cmdline.clone();
+    let pump_stdout = tokio::spawn(async move {
+        let mut lines = BufReader::new(stdout).lines();
+        while let Ok(Some(line)) = lines.next_line().await {
+            tracing::info!(target: "nixos-container", cmdline = %stdout_cmdline, "{line}");
+        }
+    });
+
+    // Tail of stderr lines (last 32) for the bailout message. Newer
+    // lines push older ones out; nix's actual error usually lands
+    // in the last few lines.
+    let stderr_cmdline = cmdline.clone();
+    let stderr_tail: std::sync::Arc<std::sync::Mutex<std::collections::VecDeque<String>>> =
+        std::sync::Arc::new(std::sync::Mutex::new(std::collections::VecDeque::with_capacity(32)));
+    let stderr_tail_pump = stderr_tail.clone();
+    let pump_stderr = tokio::spawn(async move {
+        let mut lines = BufReader::new(stderr).lines();
+        while let Ok(Some(line)) = lines.next_line().await {
+            tracing::warn!(target: "nixos-container", cmdline = %stderr_cmdline, "{line}");
+            let mut tail = stderr_tail_pump.lock().unwrap();
+            if tail.len() == 32 {
+                tail.pop_front();
+            }
+            tail.push_back(line);
+        }
+    });
+
+    let status = child
+        .wait()
         .await
-        .with_context(|| format!("invoke nixos-container {}", args.join(" ")))?;
-    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stdout);
-    let stderr = String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr);
-    if !stdout.trim().is_empty() {
-        tracing::info!(target: "nixos-container", "{}", stdout.trim());
-    }
-    if !stderr.trim().is_empty() {
-        tracing::warn!(target: "nixos-container", "{}", stderr.trim());
-    }
-    if !out.status.success() {
-        bail!(
-            "nixos-container {} failed ({}): {}",
-            args.join(" "),
-            out.status,
-            stderr.trim()
-        );
+        .with_context(|| format!("wait nixos-container {cmdline}"))?;
+    let _ = pump_stdout.await;
+    let _ = pump_stderr.await;
+
+    if !status.success() {
+        let tail = stderr_tail
+            .lock()
+            .unwrap()
+            .iter()
+            .cloned()
+            .collect::<Vec<_>>()
+            .join("\n");
+        bail!("nixos-container {cmdline} failed ({status}): {tail}");
     }
     Ok(())
 }