diff --git a/crates/gpu/src/tests.rs b/crates/gpu/src/tests.rs
index 696402d6..84f64a6d 100644
--- a/crates/gpu/src/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/gpu/src/tests.rs
@@ -49,18 +49,29 @@ pub(crate) fn hold_gpu_lock() {
 
 /// The shared test device (the calling test holds [`hold_gpu_lock`]).
 pub(crate) fn gpu() -> Option<&'static Gpu> {
-    static G: OnceLock<Option<Gpu>> = OnceLock::new();
+    static G: OnceLock<Result<Gpu, String>> = OnceLock::new();
     hold_gpu_lock();
-    G.get_or_init(|| {
-        let g = Gpu::headless();
-        if g.is_none() {
-            eprintln!("effectcraft-gpu tests: no GPU adapter, skipping GPU comparisons");
-        } else if let Some(g) = &g {
-            eprintln!("effectcraft-gpu tests: adapter {}", g.ctx.name);
+    let g = G.get_or_init(|| {
+        let g = Gpu::try_headless();
+        match &g {
+            Ok(g) => eprintln!("effectcraft-gpu tests: adapter {}", g.ctx.name),
+            Err(e) => eprintln!("effectcraft-gpu tests: no GPU ({e}), skipping GPU comparisons"),
         }
         g
-    })
-    .as_ref()
+    });
+    require_gpu("effectcraft-gpu tests", g.as_ref())
+}
+
+/// `g`, or `None` (the GPU tests skip) when there is no GPU, unless `EFFECTCRAFT_REQUIRE_GPU=1`
+/// (as in `tests_init`): then a GPU that didn't start fails the test, with why.
+pub(crate) fn require_gpu<G>(tests: &str, g: Result<G, &String>) -> Option<G> {
+    match g {
+        Ok(g) => Some(g),
+        Err(e) if std::env::var("EFFECTCRAFT_REQUIRE_GPU").is_ok_and(|v| v == "1") => {
+            panic!("{tests}: EFFECTCRAFT_REQUIRE_GPU=1 but GPU initialization failed: {e}")
+        }
+        Err(_) => None,
+    }
 }
 
 /// The test device is on wgpu's OpenGL backend (Mesa's llvmpipe on the FreeBSD CI job).
diff --git a/crates/gpu/src/tests_adv3d.rs b/crates/gpu/src/tests_adv3d.rs
index ee99c5c0..869c60aa 100644
--- a/crates/gpu/src/tests_adv3d.rs
+++ b/crates/gpu/src/tests_adv3d.rs
@@ -17,11 +17,13 @@ use crate::Gpu;
 /// A device of the test's own (the test holds [`crate::tests::hold_gpu_lock`]).
 fn gpu() -> Option<Gpu> {
     crate::tests::hold_gpu_lock();
-    let g = Gpu::headless();
-    if g.is_none() {
-        eprintln!("effectcraft-gpu adv3d tests: no GPU adapter, skipping");
+    match Gpu::try_headless() {
+        Ok(g) => Some(g),
+        Err(e) => {
+            eprintln!("effectcraft-gpu adv3d tests: no GPU ({e}), skipping");
+            crate::tests::require_gpu("effectcraft-gpu adv3d tests", Err(&e))
+        }
     }
-    g
 }
 
 fn add(p: &mut Project, cid: ItemId, src: LayerSource, edit: impl FnOnce(&mut effectcraft_project::Layer)) {
diff --git a/crates/gpu/src/tests_deferred.rs b/crates/gpu/src/tests_deferred.rs
index e798bd8f..b6e43b55 100644
--- a/crates/gpu/src/tests_deferred.rs
+++ b/crates/gpu/src/tests_deferred.rs
@@ -17,19 +17,19 @@ use crate::tests::{Pattern, Scene, diff, n, set, tolerance, v3};
 /// The device, held exclusively: deferred state is per device and a frame renders at a time
 /// (a frame worker renders one frame at a time too).
 pub(crate) fn deferred_gpu() -> Option<(&'static Gpu, std::sync::MutexGuard<'static, ()>)> {
-    static G: OnceLock<Option<Gpu>> = OnceLock::new();
+    static G: OnceLock<Result<Gpu, String>> = OnceLock::new();
     static LOCK: std::sync::Mutex<()> = std::sync::Mutex::new(());
     // Also no other GPU test while it runs (see `hold_gpu_lock`).
     crate::tests::hold_gpu_lock();
-    let g = G
-        .get_or_init(|| {
-            let g = pollster::block_on(Gpu::request_deferred()).map_err(|e| eprintln!("deferred gpu tests skipped: {e}")).ok();
-            if let Some(g) = &g {
-                eprintln!("deferred gpu tests: adapter {}", g.ctx.name);
-            }
-            g
-        })
-        .as_ref()?;
+    let g = G.get_or_init(|| {
+        let g = pollster::block_on(Gpu::request_deferred());
+        match &g {
+            Ok(g) => eprintln!("deferred gpu tests: adapter {}", g.ctx.name),
+            Err(e) => eprintln!("deferred gpu tests: no GPU ({e}), skipping"),
+        }
+        g
+    });
+    let g = crate::tests::require_gpu("deferred gpu tests", g.as_ref())?;
     Some((g, LOCK.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())))
 }