diff --git a/src/main/skills/skill-install-operation-error.ts b/src/main/skills/skill-install-operation-error.ts
index 66945544b91..441f952ff17 100644
--- a/src/main/skills/skill-install-operation-error.ts
+++ b/src/main/skills/skill-install-operation-error.ts
@@ -20,13 +20,19 @@ export function skillInstallFailureFromError(error: unknown): SkillInstallFailur
   if (error instanceof SkillInstallOperationError) {
     return error.data
   }
+  if (error && typeof error === 'object' && 'data' in error) {
+    const parsed = SkillInstallFailureSchema.safeParse((error as { data: unknown }).data)
+    if (parsed.success) {
+      return parsed.data
+    }
+  }
   if (error instanceof Error) {
     const classified = classifySkillInstallFailureCode(error.message)
     if (classified) {
       return classified
     }
     const code = (error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code
-    if (code) {
+    if (typeof code === 'string') {
       return {
         category: 'filesystem',
         code: 'skill-install-filesystem-failed',
@@ -34,9 +40,5 @@ export function skillInstallFailureFromError(error: unknown): SkillInstallFailur
       }
     }
   }
-  if (!error || typeof error !== 'object' || !('data' in error)) {
-    return null
-  }
-  const parsed = SkillInstallFailureSchema.safeParse((error as { data: unknown }).data)
-  return parsed.success ? parsed.data : null
+  return null
 }
diff --git a/src/main/skills/skill-remote-error-category-parity.test.ts b/src/main/skills/skill-remote-error-category-parity.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d879a4a3aa8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/skills/skill-remote-error-category-parity.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+import type { IPtyProvider } from '../providers/pty-provider-contract'
+import {
+  SkillInstallFailureCategorySchema,
+  type SkillInstallFailure
+} from '../../shared/skill-install-failure'
+import type { SkillInstallRequest } from '../../shared/skill-install-contract'
+
+const mocks = vi.hoisted(() => ({ callRuntimeEnvironment: vi.fn() }))
+
+vi.mock('../ipc/runtime-environment-transport-routing', () => ({
+  callRuntimeEnvironment: mocks.callRuntimeEnvironment
+}))
+
+import { skillInstallFailureFromError } from './skill-install-operation-error'
+import { installSkillOnRemoteRuntime } from './skill-remote-install-service'
+import { installSkillOnSshHost } from './skill-ssh-relay-service'
+
+const request: SkillInstallRequest = {
+  operationId: 'operation-1',
+  package: {
+    packageId: 'package-1',
+    versionId: 'version-1',
+    packageDigest: 'a'.repeat(64),
+    archiveSha256: 'b'.repeat(64),
+    compressedBytes: 12
+  },
+  ingress: {
+    kind: 'download-grant',
+    url: 'https://storage.googleapis.com/bucket/package.tar.gz',
+    expiresAt: '2099-01-01T00:00:00.000Z'
+  },
+  destination: { scope: 'global' }
+}
+
+const failures = SkillInstallFailureCategorySchema.options.map(
+  (category, index): SkillInstallFailure => ({
+    category,
+    code: `skill-contract-${category}`,
+    retryable: index % 2 === 0
+  })
+)
+
+async function capturedFailure(promise: Promise<unknown>): Promise<SkillInstallFailure | null> {
+  try {
+    await promise
+    throw new Error('expected-skill-install-failure')
+  } catch (error) {
+    return skillInstallFailureFromError(error)
+  }
+}
+
+describe('remote skill failure category parity', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    mocks.callRuntimeEnvironment.mockReset()
+  })
+
+  it.each(failures)('preserves $category across paired runtime and SSH', async (failure) => {
+    mocks.callRuntimeEnvironment.mockResolvedValue({
+      id: 'rpc-1',
+      ok: false,
+      error: { code: 'skill_install_failure', message: failure.code, data: failure },
+      _meta: { runtimeId: 'runtime-1' }
+    })
+    const paired = await capturedFailure(
+      installSkillOnRemoteRuntime({
+        userDataPath: '/state',
+        environmentId: 'environment-1',
+        request,
+        capabilities: ['skills.install.v1'],
+        requireHttps: true
+      })
+    )
+
+    const requestHostRpc = vi.fn(async (method: string) => {
+      if (method === 'relay.status') {
+        return { capabilities: ['skills.install.v1'] }
+      }
+      throw Object.assign(new Error(failure.code), { code: -32000, data: failure })
+    })
+    const ssh = await capturedFailure(
+      installSkillOnSshHost({
+        provider: { requestHostRpc } as unknown as IPtyProvider,
+        userDataPath: '/state',
+        request,
+        requireHttps: true
+      })
+    )
+
+    expect({ paired, ssh }).toEqual({ paired: failure, ssh: failure })
+  })
+})