diff --git a/cli/src/commands.ts b/cli/src/commands.ts
index 919863bb..f40b5864 100644
--- a/cli/src/commands.ts
+++ b/cli/src/commands.ts
@@ -657,6 +657,37 @@ export function isRetryableExitCode(errMsg: string): boolean {
   return code === 255;
 }
 
+function handleUserInterrupt(errMsg: string): void {
+  if (!errMsg.includes("interrupted by user")) return;
+  console.error();
+  p.log.warn("Script interrupted (Ctrl+C).");
+  p.log.warn("If a server was already created, it may still be running.");
+  p.log.warn(`  Check your cloud provider dashboard to stop or delete any unused servers.`);
+  process.exit(130);
+}
+
+async function runWithRetries(script: string, prompt?: string): Promise<string | undefined> {
+  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= MAX_RETRIES + 1; attempt++) {
+    try {
+      await runBash(script, prompt);
+      return undefined; // success
+    } catch (err) {
+      const errMsg = getErrorMessage(err);
+      handleUserInterrupt(errMsg);
+
+      if (attempt <= MAX_RETRIES && isRetryableExitCode(errMsg)) {
+        const delay = RETRY_DELAYS[attempt - 1];
+        p.log.warn(`Script failed (${errMsg}). Retrying in ${delay}s (attempt ${attempt + 1}/${MAX_RETRIES + 1})...`);
+        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay * 1000));
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      return errMsg;
+    }
+  }
+  return "Script failed after all retries";
+}
+
 async function execScript(cloud: string, agent: string, prompt?: string, authHint?: string): Promise<void> {
   const url = `https://openrouter.ai/labs/spawn/${cloud}/${agent}.sh`;
   const ghUrl = `${RAW_BASE}/${cloud}/${agent}.sh`;
@@ -680,36 +711,10 @@ async function execScript(cloud: string, agent: string, prompt?: string, authHin
     // Non-fatal: don't block the spawn if history write fails
   }
 
-  let lastErr: string | undefined;
-  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= MAX_RETRIES + 1; attempt++) {
-    try {
-      await runBash(scriptContent, prompt);
-      return; // success
-    } catch (err) {
-      const errMsg = getErrorMessage(err);
-      if (errMsg.includes("interrupted by user")) {
-        console.error();
-        p.log.warn("Script interrupted (Ctrl+C).");
-        p.log.warn("If a server was already created, it may still be running.");
-        p.log.warn(`  Check your cloud provider dashboard to stop or delete any unused servers.`);
-        process.exit(130);
-      }
-      lastErr = errMsg;
-
-      // Only retry for potentially transient failures
-      if (attempt <= MAX_RETRIES && isRetryableExitCode(errMsg)) {
-        const delay = RETRY_DELAYS[attempt - 1];
-        p.log.warn(`Script failed (${errMsg}). Retrying in ${delay}s (attempt ${attempt + 1}/${MAX_RETRIES + 1})...`);
-        await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, delay * 1000));
-        continue;
-      }
-
-      // Non-retryable or out of retries
-      break;
-    }
+  const lastErr = await runWithRetries(scriptContent, prompt);
+  if (lastErr) {
+    reportScriptFailure(lastErr, cloud, agent, authHint, prompt);
   }
-
-  reportScriptFailure(lastErr!, cloud, agent, authHint, prompt);
 }
 
 function runBash(script: string, prompt?: string): Promise<void> {
diff --git a/shared/common.sh b/shared/common.sh
index 2619f8d5..b602d945 100644
--- a/shared/common.sh
+++ b/shared/common.sh
@@ -1176,6 +1176,34 @@ _make_api_request() {
 # Retries on: 429 (rate limit), 503 (service unavailable), network errors
 # Internal retry loop shared by generic_cloud_api and generic_cloud_api_custom_auth
 # Usage: _cloud_api_retry_loop REQUEST_FUNC MAX_RETRIES API_DESCRIPTION [REQUEST_FUNC_ARGS...]
+# Classify the result of an API request attempt.
+# Returns a retry reason string on stdout if the request failed with a retryable error,
+# or empty string on success. Caller checks the return string.
+_classify_api_result() {
+    local curl_ok="${1}"
+    if [[ "${curl_ok}" != "0" ]]; then
+        echo "Cloud API network error"
+    elif [[ "${API_HTTP_CODE}" == "429" ]]; then
+        echo "Cloud API returned rate limit (HTTP 429)"
+    elif [[ "${API_HTTP_CODE}" == "503" ]]; then
+        echo "Cloud API returned service unavailable (HTTP 503)"
+    fi
+}
+
+# Report a final API failure after retries are exhausted
+_report_api_failure() {
+    local retry_reason="${1}"
+    local max_retries="${2}"
+    log_error "${retry_reason} after ${max_retries} attempts"
+    if [[ "${retry_reason}" == "Cloud API network error" ]]; then
+        log_warn "Check your internet connection and verify the provider's API is reachable."
+    else
+        log_warn "This is usually caused by rate limiting or temporary provider issues."
+        log_warn "Wait a minute and try again, or check the provider's status page."
+        echo "${API_RESPONSE_BODY}"
+    fi
+}
+
 _cloud_api_retry_loop() {
     local request_func="${1}"
     local max_retries="${2}"
@@ -1187,30 +1215,19 @@ _cloud_api_retry_loop() {
     local max_interval=30
 
     while [[ "${attempt}" -le "${max_retries}" ]]; do
-        local retry_reason=""
+        local curl_ok=0
+        "${request_func}" "$@" || curl_ok=$?
 
-        if ! "${request_func}" "$@"; then
-            retry_reason="Cloud API network error"
-        elif [[ "${API_HTTP_CODE}" == "429" ]]; then
-            retry_reason="Cloud API returned rate limit (HTTP 429)"
-        elif [[ "${API_HTTP_CODE}" == "503" ]]; then
-            retry_reason="Cloud API returned service unavailable (HTTP 503)"
-        fi
+        local retry_reason
+        retry_reason=$(_classify_api_result "${curl_ok}")
 
-        # Success — no retryable error
         if [[ -z "${retry_reason}" ]]; then
             echo "${API_RESPONSE_BODY}"
             return 0
         fi
 
-        # Retry or fail
         if ! _api_should_retry_on_error "${attempt}" "${max_retries}" "${interval}" "${max_interval}" "${retry_reason}"; then
-            log_error "${retry_reason} after ${max_retries} attempts"
-            if [[ "${retry_reason}" == "Cloud API network error" ]]; then
-                log_warn "Check your internet connection and verify the provider's API is reachable."
-            else
-                echo "${API_RESPONSE_BODY}"
-            fi
+            _report_api_failure "${retry_reason}" "${max_retries}"
             return 1
         fi
         _update_retry_interval interval max_interval