diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2d1b4f4..4383efa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -86,3 +86,21 @@ The database is stored at `$XDG_DATA_HOME/local-wisper/transcripts.sqlite3`, or
 `~/.local/share/local-wisper/transcripts.sqlite3` when `XDG_DATA_HOME` is unset.
 Local Wisper restricts the directory to the current user, but the database
 contents are not encrypted.
+
+## Error logs
+
+The Sway wrapper appends errors and warnings to
+`$XDG_STATE_HOME/local-wisper/sway.log`, defaulting to
+`~/.local/state/local-wisper/sway.log`. It records the command, timestamp, and
+nonzero exit status. This includes transcription failures, cleanup warnings,
+and clipboard or typing failures. Transcript stdout is not added to this log.
+Reinstall the wrapper after updating to enable logging.
+
+```bash
+tail -n 100 ~/.local/state/local-wisper/sway.log
+```
+
+The model daemon also writes to `$XDG_CACHE_HOME/local-wisper/daemon.log`,
+defaulting to `~/.cache/local-wisper/daemon.log`.
+Direct CLI invocations print errors to stderr. Logs remain on this device and
+are not automatically rotated.
diff --git a/integrations/sway/local-wisper.sh b/integrations/sway/local-wisper.sh
index 57431e6..81f4cb8 100755
--- a/integrations/sway/local-wisper.sh
+++ b/integrations/sway/local-wisper.sh
@@ -19,6 +19,15 @@ LW_POST_PROCESS_MODEL="${LW_POST_PROCESS_MODEL:-}"
 LW_POST_PROCESS_TIMEOUT="${LW_POST_PROCESS_TIMEOUT:-20}"
 LW_POST_PROCESS_GLOSSARY_FILE="${LW_POST_PROCESS_GLOSSARY_FILE:-}"
 
+# Sway does not reliably retain stderr from shortcut commands.
+LW_LOG_DIR="${XDG_STATE_HOME:-${HOME}/.local/state}/local-wisper"
+if (umask 077; mkdir -p "${LW_LOG_DIR}" && touch "${LW_LOG_DIR}/sway.log"); then
+  exec 2>>"${LW_LOG_DIR}/sway.log"
+  printf '\n[%s] command=%s pid=%s\n' "$(date -Is)" "${1:-record}" "$$" >&2
+else
+  echo "local wisper: could not open persistent error log" >&2
+fi
+
 if [[ -z "${LW_BIN}" ]]; then
   if command -v notify-send >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     notify-send "local wisper" "'lw' is not in PATH; install it from https://github.com/none23/local-wisper"
@@ -63,4 +72,10 @@ case "${1:-}" in
     ;;
 esac
 
-exec "${LW_BIN}" "${args[@]}" "$@"
+if "${LW_BIN}" "${args[@]}" "$@"; then
+  exit 0
+else
+  status=$?
+  printf '[%s] command=%s pid=%s exited=%s\n' "$(date -Is)" "${1:-record}" "$$" "${status}" >&2
+  exit "${status}"
+fi