diff --git a/crates/socket-patch-core/src/api/blob_fetcher.rs b/crates/socket-patch-core/src/api/blob_fetcher.rs
index 8496e9e..7309070 100644
--- a/crates/socket-patch-core/src/api/blob_fetcher.rs
+++ b/crates/socket-patch-core/src/api/blob_fetcher.rs
@@ -253,6 +253,21 @@ async fn download_hashes(
 
         match client.fetch_blob(hash).await {
             Ok(Some(data)) => {
+                // Verify content hash matches expected hash before writing
+                let actual_hash = crate::hash::git_sha256::compute_git_sha256_from_bytes(&data);
+                if actual_hash != *hash {
+                    results.push(BlobFetchResult {
+                        hash: hash.clone(),
+                        success: false,
+                        error: Some(format!(
+                            "Content hash mismatch: expected {}, got {}",
+                            hash, actual_hash
+                        )),
+                    });
+                    failed += 1;
+                    continue;
+                }
+
                 let blob_path: PathBuf = blobs_path.join(hash);
                 match tokio::fs::write(&blob_path, &data).await {
                     Ok(()) => {
diff --git a/crates/socket-patch-core/src/manifest/operations.rs b/crates/socket-patch-core/src/manifest/operations.rs
index cec161f..30fae4a 100644
--- a/crates/socket-patch-core/src/manifest/operations.rs
+++ b/crates/socket-patch-core/src/manifest/operations.rs
@@ -104,24 +104,31 @@ pub fn validate_manifest(value: &serde_json::Value) -> Result<PatchManifest, Str
 }
 
 /// Read and parse a manifest from the filesystem.
-/// Returns Ok(None) if the file does not exist or cannot be parsed.
+/// Returns Ok(None) if the file does not exist.
+/// Returns Err for I/O errors, JSON parse errors, or validation errors.
 pub async fn read_manifest(path: impl AsRef<Path>) -> Result<Option<PatchManifest>, std::io::Error> {
     let path = path.as_ref();
 
     let content = match tokio::fs::read_to_string(path).await {
         Ok(c) => c,
         Err(e) if e.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => return Ok(None),
-        Err(_) => return Ok(None),
+        Err(e) => return Err(e),   // FIX: propagate actual I/O error
     };
 
     let parsed: serde_json::Value = match serde_json::from_str(&content) {
         Ok(v) => v,
-        Err(_) => return Ok(None),
+        Err(e) => return Err(std::io::Error::new(
+            std::io::ErrorKind::InvalidData,
+            format!("Failed to parse manifest JSON: {}", e),
+        )),
     };
 
     match validate_manifest(&parsed) {
         Ok(manifest) => Ok(Some(manifest)),
-        Err(_) => Ok(None),
+        Err(e) => Err(std::io::Error::new(
+            std::io::ErrorKind::InvalidData,
+            e,
+        )),
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/socket-patch-core/src/patch/apply.rs b/crates/socket-patch-core/src/patch/apply.rs
index a15c3b3..2fcb28d 100644
--- a/crates/socket-patch-core/src/patch/apply.rs
+++ b/crates/socket-patch-core/src/patch/apply.rs
@@ -254,13 +254,33 @@ pub async fn apply_package_patch(
         result.files_verified.push(verify_result);
     }
 
-    // Check if all files are already patched (or skipped due to NotFound with force)
-    let all_patched = result
+    // Check if all files are already patched
+    let all_already_patched = result
+        .files_verified
+        .iter()
+        .all(|v| v.status == VerifyStatus::AlreadyPatched);
+
+    if all_already_patched {
+        result.success = true;
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    // Check if all files are either already patched or not found (force mode skip)
+    let all_done_or_skipped = result
         .files_verified
         .iter()
         .all(|v| v.status == VerifyStatus::AlreadyPatched || v.status == VerifyStatus::NotFound);
-    if all_patched {
+
+    if all_done_or_skipped {
+        // Some or all files were not found but skipped via --force
+        let not_found_count = result.files_verified.iter()
+            .filter(|v| v.status == VerifyStatus::NotFound)
+            .count();
         result.success = true;
+        result.error = Some(format!(
+            "All patch files were skipped: {} not found on disk (--force)",
+            not_found_count
+        ));
         return result;
     }