diff --git a/examples/238-main-exit-truncation.sx b/examples/238-main-exit-truncation.sx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea00d47
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/238-main-exit-truncation.sx
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+// Entry-point exit-code truncation (ERR step E4.2, non-failable integer main).
+// `main :: () -> T` (integer) exits with the return value truncated to u8 —
+// matching C `main` / the OS exit-status byte, so the JIT (`sx run`) and an AOT
+// binary agree. Here 1105 & 0xFF == 81, so this program exits 81 (NOT 1, which
+// was the old buggy "out of 0..255 range -> failure" behavior).
+//
+// Run: ./zig-out/bin/sx run examples/238-main-exit-truncation.sx ; echo $?   # 81
+
+#import "modules/std.sx";
+
+main :: () -> s32 {
+    print("returning 1105 -> exit {}\n", 1105 & 0xFF);   // 81
+    return 1105;
+}
diff --git a/src/target.zig b/src/target.zig
index 68f2615..ab6b56b 100644
--- a/src/target.zig
+++ b/src/target.zig
@@ -235,10 +235,14 @@ pub fn runJITFromObject(obj_buf: c.LLVMMemoryBufferRef) !u8 {
         return error.CompileError;
     }
 
-    // Cast to function pointer and call
+    // Cast to function pointer and call. The exit code is main's integer
+    // return truncated to u8 — matching the OS truncation an AOT binary's
+    // exit status already gets, so JIT and AOT agree (e.g. 1105 -> 81,
+    // -1 -> 255, 256 -> 0). Bit-cast i32 -> u32 first so negatives wrap
+    // as two's-complement low byte rather than being clamped.
     const main_fn: *const fn () callconv(.c) i32 = @ptrFromInt(main_addr);
     const result = main_fn();
-    return if (result >= 0 and result <= 255) @intCast(result) else 1;
+    return @truncate(@as(u32, @bitCast(result)));
 }
 
 // Android APK bundling (createApk, compileJniMainSources,
diff --git a/tests/expected/238-main-exit-truncation.exit b/tests/expected/238-main-exit-truncation.exit
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d88e313
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/expected/238-main-exit-truncation.exit
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+81
diff --git a/tests/expected/238-main-exit-truncation.txt b/tests/expected/238-main-exit-truncation.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e249d3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/expected/238-main-exit-truncation.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+returning 1105 -> exit 81