diff --git a/apps/filmcraft-cli/src/main.rs b/apps/filmcraft-cli/src/main.rs
index 10592444..3040d434 100644
--- a/apps/filmcraft-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/apps/filmcraft-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ async fn cli() {
                 usage(format!("unknown mcp option `{opt}`"));
             }
             let server = match a.opt("--bridge") {
-                Some(addr) => filmcraft_automation::FilmcraftMcp::bridge(addr).unwrap_or_else(|e| fail(e)),
+                Some(addr) => filmcraft_automation::FilmcraftMcp::bridge(addr).unwrap_or_else(|e| usage(e)),
                 None => match Backend::open(&a) {
                     Backend::Local(s) => filmcraft_automation::FilmcraftMcp::headless(*s),
                     Backend::Bridge(_) => usage("mcp: use --bridge ADDR to drive a running app"),
diff --git a/apps/filmcraft-cli/tests/cli.rs b/apps/filmcraft-cli/tests/cli.rs
index 8552cc64..5548d6c6 100644
--- a/apps/filmcraft-cli/tests/cli.rs
+++ b/apps/filmcraft-cli/tests/cli.rs
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ fn help_and_usage_errors() {
     assert_eq!(cli(&[]).status.code(), Some(2));
     assert_eq!(cli(&["frobnicate"]).status.code(), Some(2));
     assert_eq!(cli(&["exec", "file.newBin", "notkv"]).status.code(), Some(2));
+    // Invalid --bridge is a usage error (exit 2) for both exec and mcp (#921).
+    assert_eq!(cli(&["--bridge", "0.0.0.0:9876", "exec", "inspect.project"]).status.code(), Some(2));
+    assert_eq!(cli(&["mcp", "--bridge", "0.0.0.0:9876"]).status.code(), Some(2));
 }
 
 #[test]