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diff --git a/‎README.md‎
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diff --git a/‎pyproject.toml‎
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diff --git a/‎socketsecurity/__init__.py‎
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diff --git a/‎socketsecurity/config.py‎
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diff --git a/‎socketsecurity/core/__init__.py‎
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diff --git a/‎socketsecurity/socketcli.py‎
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diff --git a/‎tests/core/test_sdk_methods.py‎
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@@ -1,5 +1,51 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 2.3.0
+
+### New: `--exit-code-on-api-error`
+
+Adds a configurable exit code for API / infrastructure failures (timeouts,
+network errors, unexpected exceptions), so CI pipelines can distinguish them
+from blocking security findings (exit `1`):
+
+```
+socketcli --exit-code-on-api-error 100 ...
+```
+
+Default is `3` (the code the CLI already used for these errors), so **default
+behavior is unchanged** — the exit code only changes when you pass the flag.
+Set it to a Buildkite `soft_fail` code, or to `0` to swallow infra errors.
+
+**Interaction to be aware of:** `--disable-blocking` forces exit `0` for *all*
+outcomes and therefore overrides `--exit-code-on-api-error`. Use the new flag
+*without* `--disable-blocking` if you want a custom infra-error code to take
+effect. See the exit-code reference in the README.
+
+> A future `3.0` release is planned to make infrastructure errors exit non-zero
+> even under `--disable-blocking` (so outages stop being silently swallowed).
+> That is a breaking change and is intentionally **not** in this release.
+
+### New: commit message auto-truncation
+
+`--commit-message` values longer than 200 characters are now automatically
+truncated before being sent to the API, preventing HTTP 413 errors from
+oversized URL query parameters (common with AI-generated commit messages or
+`$BUILDKITE_MESSAGE`).
+
+### Improved: Buildkite log formatting
+
+When running inside a Buildkite job (`BUILDKITE=true`), infrastructure errors
+emit Buildkite log section markers (`^^^ +++` / `--- :warning:`) so the error
+section auto-expands in the BK UI, plus a `soft_fail` hint. No effect on other
+CI platforms.
+
+### Fixed
+
+- `--timeout` is now honored end-to-end: it was only applied to the local
+  `CliClient`, but the full-scan diff comparison uses the Socket SDK instance,
+  which was constructed without the CLI timeout and defaulted to 1200s.
+- `--exclude-license-details` now propagates to the full-scan diff comparison
+  request (it was only applied to full-scan params / report URLs before).
 ## 2.2.93
 
 - Bundled twelve Dependabot dependency updates: `urllib3`, `gitpython`, `python-dotenv`, `pytest`, `uv`, `cryptography`, `pygments`, `requests`, and `idna` (main app), plus `axios`, `requests`, and `flask` (e2e fixtures). `idna` 3.11 → 3.15 includes the fix for CVE-2026-45409.
 
@@ -194,6 +194,48 @@ Minimal pattern:
     SOCKET_SECURITY_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SOCKET_SECURITY_API_TOKEN }}
 ```
 
+## Exit codes
+
+| Code | Meaning |
+|------|---------|
+| `0`  | Clean scan — no blocking issues (or `--disable-blocking` set) |
+| `1`  | Blocking security finding(s) detected |
+| `2`  | Scan interrupted (SIGINT / Ctrl+C) |
+| `3`  | Infrastructure or API error (timeout, network failure, unexpected error) |
+
+`--exit-code-on-api-error <N>` remaps the infrastructure-error code (`3`) to any
+value — e.g. a Buildkite `soft_fail` code, or `0` to swallow infra errors. Exit
+`3` is a Socket convention, not an industry standard.
+
+### How these options interact
+
+The two flags that affect exit codes can cancel each other out, so the order of
+precedence matters:
+
+- **`--disable-blocking` wins over everything.** It forces exit `0` for *all*
+  outcomes — security findings *and* infrastructure errors. If you set it,
+  `--exit-code-on-api-error` has no effect (you'll always get `0`).
+- **`--exit-code-on-api-error` only applies when `--disable-blocking` is *not*
+  set.** It changes the infra-error code (and the generic-error code); it never
+  touches the security-finding code (`1`).
+
+So for the common "don't let Socket outages block my pipeline, but still fail on
+real findings" goal, use `--exit-code-on-api-error` **without** `--disable-blocking`:
+
+```yaml
+# Buildkite: soft-fail only on infrastructure errors, still block on findings
+steps:
+  - label: ":lock: Socket Security Scan"
+    command: "socketcli --exit-code-on-api-error 100 ..."   # NOT --disable-blocking
+    soft_fail:
+      - exit_status: 100
+```
+
+Combining `--disable-blocking` with `--exit-code-on-api-error 100` would make the
+scan exit `0` on *both* findings and outages — the `soft_fail: 100` rule would
+never match, and real findings would stop blocking. That's usually not what you
+want.
+
 ## Common gotchas
 
 See [`docs/troubleshooting.md`](https://github.com/SocketDev/socket-python-cli/blob/main/docs/troubleshooting.md#common-gotchas).
 
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "socketsecurity"
-version = "2.2.93"
+version = "2.3.0"
 requires-python = ">= 3.11"
 license = {"file" = "LICENSE"}
 dependencies = [
 
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 __author__ = 'socket.dev'
-__version__ = '2.2.93'
+__version__ = '2.3.0'
 USER_AGENT = f'SocketPythonCLI/{__version__}'
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ class CliConfig:
     pending_head: bool = False
     enable_diff: bool = False
     timeout: Optional[int] = 1200
+    exit_code_on_api_error: int = 3
     exclude_license_details: bool = False
     include_module_folders: bool = False
     repo_is_public: bool = False
@@ -182,6 +183,19 @@ def from_args(cls, args_list: Optional[List[str]] = None) -> 'CliConfig':
         if commit_message and commit_message.startswith('"') and commit_message.endswith('"'):
             commit_message = commit_message[1:-1]
 
+        # Truncate to avoid 413s from oversized URL query parameters.
+        # The API has no application-layer length validation on commit_message;
+        # the 413 originates from an infrastructure-layer URL length limit
+        # (nginx/Cloudflare). 200 chars chosen as a conservative ceiling given
+        # URL encoding can 2-3x raw character count.
+        MAX_COMMIT_MESSAGE_LENGTH = 200
+        if commit_message and len(commit_message) > MAX_COMMIT_MESSAGE_LENGTH:
+            logging.debug(
+                f"commit_message truncated from {len(commit_message)} to "
+                f"{MAX_COMMIT_MESSAGE_LENGTH} characters to avoid API request size limits"
+            )
+            commit_message = commit_message[:MAX_COMMIT_MESSAGE_LENGTH]
+
         config_args = {
             'api_token': api_token,
             'repo': args.repo,
@@ -219,6 +233,7 @@ def from_args(cls, args_list: Optional[List[str]] = None) -> 'CliConfig':
             'integration_type': args.integration,
             'pending_head': args.pending_head,
             'timeout': args.timeout,
+            'exit_code_on_api_error': args.exit_code_on_api_error,
             'exclude_license_details': args.exclude_license_details,
             'include_module_folders': args.include_module_folders,
             'repo_is_public': args.repo_is_public,
@@ -802,6 +817,21 @@ def create_argument_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
         help="Timeout in seconds for API requests",
         required=False
     )
+    advanced_group.add_argument(
+        "--exit-code-on-api-error",
+        dest="exit_code_on_api_error",
+        type=int,
+        default=3,
+        metavar="<int>",
+        help=(
+            "Exit code to use when the CLI fails on an API or infrastructure error "
+            "(timeout, network failure, unexpected exception). Default: 3. Useful for "
+            "distinguishing infrastructure failures from security findings (exit 1) in "
+            "CI -- e.g. set to a Buildkite soft_fail code. NOTE: --disable-blocking "
+            "forces exit 0 for ALL outcomes and therefore overrides this flag; do not "
+            "combine the two if you want the custom code to take effect."
+        )
+    )
     advanced_group.add_argument(
         "--allow-unverified",
         action="store_true",
 
@@ -941,7 +941,8 @@ def get_license_text_via_purl(self, packages: dict[str, Package], batch_size: in
     def get_added_and_removed_packages(
             self,
             head_full_scan_id: str,
-            new_full_scan_id: str
+            new_full_scan_id: str,
+            include_license_details: bool = True
     ) -> Tuple[Dict[str, Package], Dict[str, Package], Dict[str, Package]]:
         """
         Get packages that were added and removed between scans.
@@ -958,12 +959,12 @@ def get_added_and_removed_packages(
         diff_start = time.time()
         try:
             diff_report = (
-                self.sdk.fullscans.stream_diff
-                           (
+                self.sdk.fullscans.stream_diff(
                     self.config.org_slug,
                     head_full_scan_id,
                     new_full_scan_id,
-                    use_types=True
+                    use_types=True,
+                    include_license_details=str(include_license_details).lower()
                 ).data
             )
         except APIFailure as e:
@@ -1175,7 +1176,11 @@ def create_new_diff(
             added_packages,
             removed_packages,
             packages
-        ) = self.get_added_and_removed_packages(head_full_scan_id, new_full_scan.id)
+        ) = self.get_added_and_removed_packages(
+            head_full_scan_id,
+            new_full_scan.id,
+            include_license_details=getattr(params, "include_license_details", True)
+        )
 
         # Separate unchanged packages from added/removed for --strict-blocking support
         unchanged_packages = {
 
@@ -27,6 +27,37 @@
 
 load_dotenv()
 
+# Buildkite sets BUILDKITE=true in every job environment. Used to gate log
+# section markers that would render as literal text on other CI platforms.
+IS_BUILDKITE = os.getenv("BUILDKITE") == "true"
+
+
+def _emit_infrastructure_error(message: str, include_traceback: bool = False) -> None:
+    """Emit a structured error for infrastructure/API failures.
+
+    When running in Buildkite, wraps the error in log-section markers
+    (`^^^ +++` expands the section in the BK UI) and prints a soft_fail hint.
+    On every other platform it's a plain log.error so the markers don't leak
+    as literal text. This is presentation only -- it does not decide the exit
+    code (the caller does that, honoring --disable-blocking and
+    --exit-code-on-api-error).
+    """
+    if IS_BUILDKITE:
+        print("^^^ +++", flush=True)
+        print("--- :warning: Socket infrastructure error", flush=True)
+
+    log.error(message)
+
+    if IS_BUILDKITE:
+        log.error(
+            "Tip: this is an infrastructure error, not a security finding. To keep it "
+            "from blocking the build, add a soft_fail rule for the CLI's API-error exit "
+            "code (default 3, or whatever you pass to --exit-code-on-api-error)."
+        )
+
+    if include_traceback:
+        traceback.print_exc()
+
 
 def build_license_artifact_payload(
     diff: Diff,
@@ -62,6 +93,23 @@ def _write_attribution_file(config, payload: dict) -> None:
     Core.save_file(config.license_file_name, json.dumps(payload, indent=2))
 
 
+DEFAULT_API_TIMEOUT = 1200
+
+
+def get_api_request_timeout(config: CliConfig) -> int:
+    return config.timeout if config.timeout is not None else DEFAULT_API_TIMEOUT
+
+
+def build_socket_sdk(config: CliConfig) -> socketdev:
+    cli_user_agent_string = f"SocketPythonCLI/{config.version}"
+    return socketdev(
+        token=config.api_token,
+        timeout=get_api_request_timeout(config),
+        allow_unverified=config.allow_unverified,
+        user_agent=cli_user_agent_string
+    )
+
+
 def cli():
     try:
         main_code()
@@ -73,12 +121,17 @@ def cli():
         else:
             sys.exit(0)
     except Exception as error:
-        log.error("Unexpected error when running the cli")
-        log.error(error)
-        traceback.print_exc()
         config = CliConfig.from_args()  # Get current config
+        _emit_infrastructure_error(
+            f"Unexpected error when running the CLI: {error}",
+            include_traceback=True,
+        )
+        # --disable-blocking forces a clean exit for ALL outcomes (it takes
+        # precedence over --exit-code-on-api-error); otherwise infra/API errors
+        # exit with the configurable code (default 3), keeping them distinct
+        # from blocking security findings (exit 1).
         if not config.disable_blocking:
-            sys.exit(3)
+            sys.exit(config.exit_code_on_api_error)
         else:
             sys.exit(0)
 
@@ -99,8 +152,7 @@ def main_code():
                  "1. Command line: --api-token YOUR_TOKEN\n"
                  "2. Environment variable: SOCKET_SECURITY_API_TOKEN")
         sys.exit(3)
-    cli_user_agent_string = f"SocketPythonCLI/{config.version}"
-    sdk = socketdev(token=config.api_token, allow_unverified=config.allow_unverified, user_agent=cli_user_agent_string)
+    sdk = build_socket_sdk(config)
 
     # Suppress urllib3 InsecureRequestWarning when using --allow-unverified
     if config.allow_unverified:
@@ -119,7 +171,7 @@ def main_code():
     socket_config = SocketConfig(
         api_key=config.api_token,
         allow_unverified_ssl=config.allow_unverified,
-        timeout=config.timeout if config.timeout is not None else 1200  # Use CLI timeout if provided
+        timeout=get_api_request_timeout(config)
     )
     log.debug("loaded socket_config")
     client = CliClient(socket_config)
 
@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ def test_get_added_and_removed_packages(core):
         "head",
         "new",
         use_types=True,
+        include_license_details="true",
     )
 
     # Verify the results
 
@@ -1,6 +1,45 @@
 import pytest
 from socketsecurity.config import CliConfig
 
+
+class TestExitCodeOnApiError:
+    def test_default_is_3(self):
+        config = CliConfig.from_args(["--api-token", "test"])
+        assert config.exit_code_on_api_error == 3
+
+    def test_custom_value(self):
+        config = CliConfig.from_args(
+            ["--api-token", "test", "--exit-code-on-api-error", "100"]
+        )
+        assert config.exit_code_on_api_error == 100
+
+    def test_zero_value(self):
+        config = CliConfig.from_args(
+            ["--api-token", "test", "--exit-code-on-api-error", "0"]
+        )
+        assert config.exit_code_on_api_error == 0
+
+
+class TestCommitMessageTruncation:
+    def test_passes_through_under_limit(self):
+        msg = "a normal short commit message"
+        config = CliConfig.from_args(["--api-token", "test", "--commit-message", msg])
+        assert config.commit_message == msg
+
+    def test_truncated_above_limit(self):
+        config = CliConfig.from_args(
+            ["--api-token", "test", "--commit-message", "a" * 250]
+        )
+        assert config.commit_message == "a" * 200
+
+    def test_quote_strip_runs_before_truncation(self):
+        quoted = '"' + ("b" * 250) + '"'
+        config = CliConfig.from_args(
+            ["--api-token", "test", "--commit-message", quoted]
+        )
+        assert config.commit_message == "b" * 200
+
+
 class TestCliConfig:
     def test_api_token_from_env(self, monkeypatch):
         monkeypatch.setenv("SOCKET_SECURITY_API_KEY", "test-token")
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -101,6 +101,7 @@ def test_get_added_and_removed_packages(core):`
`101`	`101`	`"head",`
`102`	`102`	`"new",`
`103`	`103`	`use_types=True,`
	`104`	`+ include_license_details="true",`
`104`	`105`	`)`
`105`	`106`
`106`	`107`	`# Verify the results`