diff --git a/src/lib/admin/author.server.ts b/src/lib/admin/author.server.ts
index 293a12af..8c598f11 100644
--- a/src/lib/admin/author.server.ts
+++ b/src/lib/admin/author.server.ts
@@ -12,25 +12,58 @@ You output strict JSON conforming to the PackageDraft schema. Every package must
 Type semantics: skill = capability; playbook = multi-step decision flow; soul = personality/values layer; guardrail = safety boundary.
 Slug must be lowercase-kebab.`;
 
+// Author model fallback chain. The structured-output path (Output.object →
+// tool/function calling) is sensitive to provider/model quirks, so we try a
+// short, ordered list before giving up. First success wins. Adding a model
+// here is cheap; do NOT silently swallow failures — every attempt logs the
+// model + the error so the cause is visible in the server logs.
+const AUTHOR_MODEL_FALLBACKS = [
+  "google/gemini-3-flash-preview",
+  "google/gemini-2.5-flash",
+  "google/gemini-2.5-pro",
+  "openai/gpt-5.1-mini",
+] as const;
+
 export async function generateDraft(
   brief: string,
   type: "skill" | "playbook" | "soul" | "guardrail",
   vertical?: string,
   grounding?: string
 ) {
-  const model = getGatewayModel("google/gemini-3-flash-preview");
   const prompt = `Brief:\n${brief}\n\nType: ${type}${vertical ? `\nVertical: ${vertical}` : ""}${
     grounding ? `\n\nGrounding research (use as ground truth):\n${grounding.slice(0, 8000)}` : ""
   }\n\nDesign a complete, production-ready ${type} package. Return ONLY the JSON.`;
 
-  const { experimental_output } = await generateText({
-    model,
-    system: META_SYSTEM,
-    prompt,
-    experimental_output: Output.object({ schema: PackageDraftSchema }),
-  });
-  if (experimental_output.type !== type) experimental_output.type = type;
-  return experimental_output;
+  const attempts: Array<{ model: string; error: string }> = [];
+  for (const modelId of AUTHOR_MODEL_FALLBACKS) {
+    try {
+      const model = getGatewayModel(modelId);
+      const { experimental_output } = await generateText({
+        model,
+        system: META_SYSTEM,
+        prompt,
+        experimental_output: Output.object({ schema: PackageDraftSchema }),
+      });
+      if (experimental_output.type !== type) experimental_output.type = type;
+      if (attempts.length > 0) {
+        // We recovered — log so we can spot a regression on the primary model.
+        console.warn(
+          `[skillforge.author] recovered on ${modelId} after ${attempts.length} failure(s):`,
+          attempts,
+        );
+      }
+      return experimental_output;
+    } catch (e: any) {
+      const msg = e?.message ?? String(e);
+      attempts.push({ model: modelId, error: msg });
+      console.error(`[skillforge.author] ${modelId} failed:`, msg);
+    }
+  }
+  // All fallbacks exhausted. Surface a structured error so the upload
+  // pipeline can report it back to the caller instead of silently
+  // recording "failed".
+  const summary = attempts.map((a) => `${a.model}: ${a.error}`).join(" | ");
+  throw new Error(`SkillForge author failed across all fallback models — ${summary}`);
 }
 
 export async function insertDraftPackage(
diff --git a/src/lib/mcp/tools/skills.ts b/src/lib/mcp/tools/skills.ts
index 52d0eea4..13aac520 100644
--- a/src/lib/mcp/tools/skills.ts
+++ b/src/lib/mcp/tools/skills.ts
@@ -317,19 +317,39 @@ export const uploadPackagesTool = defineTool({
       // Always private. Marketplace listing requires an explicit user action in the UI.
       const results = await processBulkUpload(supabaseAdmin as any, userId, files);
       const ok = results.filter((r) => r.ok).length;
-      const response = {
+      const failed = results.length - ok;
+      // Surface the per-file errors at the top of the payload too. MCP
+      // clients (and the LLMs reading their output) often render only
+      // the first ~200 chars of a tool response and miss the buried
+      // `results[].error`, leaving users with a generic "failed: N"
+      // and no way to act. The summary line is short enough to survive
+      // truncation and points at the actual root cause.
+      const errorMessages = results
+        .filter((r) => !r.ok)
+        .map((r) => `${r.name}: ${r.error ?? "unknown"}`);
+      const response: Record<string, unknown> = {
         uploaded: ok,
-        failed: results.length - ok,
+        failed,
         visibility: "private_draft",
-        next_step: "Open /account/packages on superagentskill.com to submit a draft for admin review.",
+        next_step:
+          ok > 0
+            ? "Open /account/packages on superagentskill.com to submit a draft for admin review."
+            : "All files failed to normalise. See `error_summary` for the cause and retry.",
         results,
       };
-      if (idempotency_key) {
+      if (failed > 0) {
+        response.error_summary = errorMessages.slice(0, 3).join(" · ");
+      }
+      if (idempotency_key && ok > 0) {
+        // Only cache successful runs so a transient model failure doesn't
+        // poison the idempotency key for 24h.
         await putIdempotent(userId, "upload_packages", idempotency_key, response);
       }
       return json(response);
     } catch (e: any) {
-      return json({ error: e?.message ?? "upload_failed" });
+      const msg = e?.message ?? "upload_failed";
+      console.error(`[mcp.upload_packages] user=${userId} unexpected:`, e);
+      return json({ error: msg });
     }
   },
 });
diff --git a/src/lib/uploads/uploads.server.ts b/src/lib/uploads/uploads.server.ts
index e9ef53ed..e7f2325e 100644
--- a/src/lib/uploads/uploads.server.ts
+++ b/src/lib/uploads/uploads.server.ts
@@ -87,7 +87,16 @@ export async function processBulkUpload(
       out.type = inferred;
       out.forge_report_url = `/forge/report/${pkg.slug}`;
     } catch (e: any) {
-      out.error = e?.message ?? "failed";
+      const msg = e?.message ?? "failed";
+      out.error = msg;
+      // Server-side visibility — without this the MCP caller sees a
+      // generic "failed" while the real cause (model rejection, schema
+      // mismatch, DB error) is invisible. Keep the user/filename so we
+      // can correlate complaints to actual rows in the logs.
+      console.error(
+        `[uploads.processBulkUpload] user=${userId} file=${f.name} type=${f.type ?? "?"}: ${msg}`,
+        e,
+      );
     }
     results.push(out);
   }