diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5259aee07..b768a4101 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ breaking changes may land in a minor release.
 
 ### Added
 
+- The TEA plugin now prints an operator-visible notice when a gate's artifacts can't be found or parsed and the gate fails open.
+
 - Prove real-tmux teardown reaps the exact detached child after identity publication fails (DW-149).
 
 - **The accepted-park arm's `_harvest_gate_exclude` join is now graded engine-side**
diff --git a/src/bmad_loop/data/plugins/tea/tea_plugin.py b/src/bmad_loop/data/plugins/tea/tea_plugin.py
index 4a2d6d870..7f02abbbf 100644
--- a/src/bmad_loop/data/plugins/tea/tea_plugin.py
+++ b/src/bmad_loop/data/plugins/tea/tea_plugin.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import json
+import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
 
@@ -169,6 +170,11 @@ def on_pre_commit(self, ctx: "HookContext") -> None:
         for gate in gates:
             verdict = self._gate_verdict(gate, artifacts_dir)
             if verdict is None:
+                print(
+                    f"tea: gate {gate!r} has no parseable verdict under "
+                    f"{artifacts_dir}; failing open (treated as pass, commit proceeds)",
+                    file=sys.stderr,
+                )
                 continue  # fail-open: missing / unparseable / not-evaluated
             verdicts[gate] = verdict
             if verdict in BLOCKING_VERDICTS:
diff --git a/tests/test_plugin_tea.py b/tests/test_plugin_tea.py
index 38442b5c8..2147d57aa 100644
--- a/tests/test_plugin_tea.py
+++ b/tests/test_plugin_tea.py
@@ -524,21 +524,29 @@ def test_advisory_gate_never_blocks(project):
     assert "tea_gates" not in ctx.shared
 
 
-def test_missing_artifact_is_fail_open(project):
-    """A blocking gate with no artifact on disk never blocks the commit."""
+def test_missing_artifact_is_fail_open(project, capsys):
+    """A blocking gate with no artifact on disk never blocks the commit, and the
+    operator gets a visible stderr notice that the gate failed open."""
     ctx = pre_commit_ctx(project)
     _tea_instance(trace_blocking=True).on_pre_commit(ctx)
     assert not ctx.vetoed
+    stderr = capsys.readouterr().err
+    assert "trace" in stderr
+    assert "fail" in stderr.lower()
 
 
-def test_garbled_artifact_is_fail_open(project):
-    """An unparseable gate artifact never wrongly stops a commit."""
+def test_garbled_artifact_is_fail_open(project, capsys):
+    """An unparseable gate artifact never wrongly stops a commit, and the operator
+    gets a visible stderr notice that the gate failed open."""
     art = project.project / "_bmad-output" / "test-artifacts"
     art.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
     (art / "gate-decision.json").write_text("{ this is not json", encoding="utf-8")
     ctx = pre_commit_ctx(project)
     _tea_instance(trace_blocking=True).on_pre_commit(ctx)
     assert not ctx.vetoed
+    stderr = capsys.readouterr().err
+    assert "trace" in stderr
+    assert "fail" in stderr.lower()
 
 
 def test_not_evaluated_verdict_is_fail_open(project):