diff --git a/src/browser/PlaywrightElectronActiveActions.ts b/src/browser/PlaywrightElectronActiveActions.ts
index 0376935610..d06657e86b 100644
--- a/src/browser/PlaywrightElectronActiveActions.ts
+++ b/src/browser/PlaywrightElectronActiveActions.ts
@@ -151,14 +151,17 @@ export const runElectronActions = async (
       stoppedBy = options.signal?.aborted ? "cancelled" : "failed";
       actionError = safeActionErrorMessage(cause);
     }
+    const outcome =
+      actionError === null
+        ? { status: "completed" as const, error: null }
+        : { status: stoppedBy ?? "failed", error: actionError };
     actions.push({
       step_id: action.step_id,
       kind: action.kind,
       window_index: windowIndex,
       target,
-      status: stoppedBy ?? "completed",
+      ...outcome,
       elapsed_ms: Math.max(0, Math.round(performance.now() - actionStartedAt)),
-      error: actionError,
     });
     if (handleOwner !== undefined) {
       cleanupError = await releaseActionWindow(
diff --git a/src/process/capture/ProcessCaptureObservation.test.ts b/src/process/capture/ProcessCaptureObservation.test.ts
index de071301b0..81deb057e1 100644
--- a/src/process/capture/ProcessCaptureObservation.test.ts
+++ b/src/process/capture/ProcessCaptureObservation.test.ts
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ it("returns detached terminal observations", async () => {
       const utf8Bytes = Buffer.byteLength(value);
       return utf8Bytes <= maxBytes
         ? { state: "normalized", value, utf8Bytes }
-        : { state: "over_budget" };
+        : { state: "over_budget", reason: "retention" };
     },
     recordEvent: (collection, index) =>
       observed.push(`${collection}:${String(index)}`),