diff --git a/src/cron/isolated-agent.payload-model-override.test.ts b/src/cron/isolated-agent.payload-model-override.test.ts
index 62107b16a3e..ae264324531 100644
--- a/src/cron/isolated-agent.payload-model-override.test.ts
+++ b/src/cron/isolated-agent.payload-model-override.test.ts
@@ -28,8 +28,9 @@ const withTempHome = withTempCronHome;
  */
 function lastEmbeddedCall(): { provider?: string; model?: string } {
   const calls = vi.mocked(runEmbeddedPiAgent).mock.calls;
-  expect(calls.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-  return calls.at(-1)?.[0] as { provider?: string; model?: string };
+  const last = calls.at(-1)?.[0] as { provider?: string; model?: string } | undefined;
+  if (!last) throw new Error("runEmbeddedPiAgent was never called");
+  return last;
 }
 
 async function runCronWithModel(