diff --git a/packages/ai/src/background-removal.ts b/packages/ai/src/background-removal.ts
index 78c95648..bb69f62b 100644
--- a/packages/ai/src/background-removal.ts
+++ b/packages/ai/src/background-removal.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { randomUUID } from "node:crypto";
 import { readFile, unlink, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { join } from "node:path";
+import { isSafeMessageError, SafeError } from "@snapotter/shared";
 import sharp from "sharp";
 import { type ProgressCallback, parseStdoutJson, runPythonWithProgress } from "./bridge.js";
 
@@ -28,6 +29,20 @@ export function isMemoryAllocError(err: unknown): boolean {
   );
 }
 
+/**
+ * Wrap a background-removal failure in a SafeError so its message survives the
+ * API's Sentry scrubber, which otherwise reduces a plain Error to "Error:
+ * Error". The specific sidecar reason is kept as the message (callers and the
+ * existing tests rely on it, matching the ai-bridge behavior); an empty reason
+ * falls back to a constant. Errors we already author (the bridge's SafeError
+ * timeout/OOM) pass through unchanged so their kind is not masked.
+ */
+function toBgRemovalError(reason: unknown): Error {
+  if (isSafeMessageError(reason)) return reason;
+  const message = reason instanceof Error ? reason.message : String(reason ?? "");
+  return new SafeError(message || "Background removal failed", { kind: "bug" });
+}
+
 export async function removeBackground(
   inputBuffer: Buffer,
   outputDir: string,
@@ -96,7 +111,7 @@ async function runAndParse(
     const isOom = isMemoryAllocError(err);
     const canFallback = isOom && options.model !== OOM_FALLBACK_MODEL;
 
-    if (!canFallback) throw err;
+    if (!canFallback) throw toBgRemovalError(err);
 
     onProgress?.(5, `Retrying with lighter model (${OOM_FALLBACK_MODEL})`);
     const fallbackOpts = { ...options, model: OOM_FALLBACK_MODEL };
@@ -107,7 +122,7 @@ async function runAndParse(
     );
     const result = parseStdoutJson(stdout);
     if (!result.success) {
-      throw new Error(result.error || "Background removal failed");
+      throw toBgRemovalError(result.error || "Background removal failed");
     }
     return readFile(outputPath);
   }
diff --git a/tests/unit/ai/background-removal-error.test.ts b/tests/unit/ai/background-removal-error.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d7a613fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/ai/background-removal-error.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import sharp from "sharp";
+import { beforeAll, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+// Mock the sidecar bridge by its resolved path so background-removal's
+// `./bridge.js` import receives these stubs.
+const runPythonWithProgress = vi.fn();
+const parseStdoutJson = vi.fn();
+vi.mock("../../../packages/ai/src/bridge.js", () => ({
+  runPythonWithProgress: (...args: unknown[]) => runPythonWithProgress(...args),
+  parseStdoutJson: (...args: unknown[]) => parseStdoutJson(...args),
+}));
+
+import { isSafeMessageError, SafeError } from "@snapotter/shared";
+import { removeBackground } from "../../../packages/ai/src/background-removal.js";
+
+let png: Buffer;
+beforeAll(async () => {
+  png = await sharp({
+    create: { width: 4, height: 4, channels: 4, background: { r: 0, g: 0, b: 0, alpha: 0 } },
+  })
+    .png()
+    .toBuffer();
+});
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  runPythonWithProgress.mockReset();
+  parseStdoutJson.mockReset();
+});
+
+describe("removeBackground error surfacing", () => {
+  it("throws a SafeError titled 'Background removal failed' with the sidecar reason in the cause", async () => {
+    runPythonWithProgress.mockResolvedValue({ stdout: "{}" });
+    parseStdoutJson.mockReturnValue({ success: false, error: "rembg model load failed" });
+
+    let caught: unknown;
+    try {
+      await removeBackground(png, tmpdir(), { model: "u2net" });
+    } catch (e) {
+      caught = e;
+    }
+
+    expect(isSafeMessageError(caught)).toBe(true);
+    // The specific sidecar reason is preserved as the message (and survives scrubbing).
+    expect((caught as SafeError).message).toBe("rembg model load failed");
+    expect((caught as SafeError).kind).toBe("bug");
+    expect(runPythonWithProgress).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("still retries with the lighter model on OOM, and wraps the fallback failure too", async () => {
+    parseStdoutJson
+      .mockReturnValueOnce({ success: false, error: "CUDA out of memory" })
+      .mockReturnValueOnce({ success: false, error: "still failing" });
+    runPythonWithProgress.mockResolvedValue({ stdout: "{}" });
+
+    let caught: unknown;
+    try {
+      await removeBackground(png, tmpdir(), { model: "isnet-general-use" });
+    } catch (e) {
+      caught = e;
+    }
+
+    // OOM detection still works: the fallback attempt fired (two sidecar calls).
+    expect(runPythonWithProgress).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(isSafeMessageError(caught)).toBe(true);
+    expect((caught as SafeError).message).toBe("still failing");
+  });
+
+  it("passes a bridge SafeError (e.g. timeout) through unchanged, not re-wrapped as a bug", async () => {
+    const timeout = new SafeError("Python script timed out", {
+      kind: "operational",
+      code: "timeout",
+    });
+    runPythonWithProgress.mockRejectedValue(timeout);
+
+    await expect(removeBackground(png, tmpdir(), { model: "u2net" })).rejects.toBe(timeout);
+  });
+});