diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/gentoo-utils.yml b/.gitea/workflows/gentoo-utils.yml
index c9f56ac..717ee99 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/gentoo-utils.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/gentoo-utils.yml
@@ -191,5 +191,11 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v5
 
       - name: grep for patterns
+        # negate git grep ret code because 1 means no findings
         run: |
-          git grep -E 'todo!|dbg!' -- '*.rs' && exit 1 || exit 0
+          if git --no-pager grep -E 'todo!|dbg!' -- '*.rs'; then
+            exit 0
+          else
+            exit 1
+          fi
+