diff --git a/src/clew/clew.py b/src/clew/clew.py
index 5833a32..b11cc2a 100644
--- a/src/clew/clew.py
+++ b/src/clew/clew.py
@@ -43,10 +43,6 @@ def parse_args(argv: list[str]) -> argparse.Namespace:
     return parser.parse_args(argv)
 
 
-def fail(message: str) -> None:
-    raise SystemExit(f"clew: {message}")
-
-
 def resolve_output_root(output_root: Path) -> Path:
     if output_root.is_absolute():
         return output_root.resolve()
@@ -62,7 +58,7 @@ def prepare_output(output_root: Path, force: bool) -> tuple[Path, Path]:
     for name in MANAGED_DIRS:
         path = output_root / name
         if path.exists() and not force:
-            fail(f"refusing to overwrite existing output path: {path}")
+            raise SystemExit(f"clew: refusing to overwrite existing output path: {path}")
 
     if force:
         for name in MANAGED_DIRS:
@@ -87,7 +83,7 @@ def normalize_suffixes(suffixes: list[str] | None) -> list[str] | None:
     normalized = []
     for suffix in suffixes:
         if not suffix:
-            fail("suffix must not be empty")
+            raise SystemExit("clew: suffix must not be empty")
         if not suffix.startswith("."):
             suffix = f".{suffix}"
         normalized.append(suffix)
@@ -136,7 +132,7 @@ def run(args: argparse.Namespace) -> None:
     output_root = resolve_output_root(args.output_root)
 
     if not game_root.is_dir():
-        fail(f"game root is not a directory: {game_root}")
+        raise SystemExit(f"clew: game root is not a directory: {game_root}")
 
     suffixes = normalize_suffixes(args.suffix)
     extracted_dir, logs_dir = prepare_output(output_root, args.force)