diff --git a/builtins/builtins.go b/builtins/builtins.go
index 23328eb5..332948aa 100644
--- a/builtins/builtins.go
+++ b/builtins/builtins.go
@@ -7,11 +7,13 @@ package builtins
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"io/fs"
 	"os"
 	"sort"
+	"syscall"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
@@ -199,6 +201,14 @@ func (c *CallContext) Errf(format string, a ...any) {
 	fmt.Fprintf(c.Stderr, format, a...)
 }
 
+// IsBrokenPipe reports whether err is a broken-pipe (EPIPE) error,
+// which occurs when writing to a pipe whose read end has been closed.
+// In bash this triggers SIGPIPE which silently terminates the writer;
+// builtins should use this to suppress error messages on pipe closure.
+func IsBrokenPipe(err error) bool {
+	return err != nil && errors.Is(err, syscall.EPIPE)
+}
+
 // FileID is a comparable file identity for cycle detection.
 // On Unix: device + inode. On Windows: volume serial + file index.
 // Used as map key for visited-set tracking.
diff --git a/builtins/cat/cat.go b/builtins/cat/cat.go
index 9b86473b..79530bd8 100644
--- a/builtins/cat/cat.go
+++ b/builtins/cat/cat.go
@@ -162,6 +162,9 @@ func registerFlags(fs *builtins.FlagSet) builtins.HandlerFunc {
 				err = catRaw(ctx, callCtx, file)
 			}
 			if err != nil {
+				if builtins.IsBrokenPipe(err) {
+					break
+				}
 				name := file
 				if file == "-" {
 					name = "standard input"
diff --git a/tests/scenarios/shell/pipe/basic/cat_head_no_broken_pipe.yaml b/tests/scenarios/shell/pipe/basic/cat_head_no_broken_pipe.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..17f910ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/scenarios/shell/pipe/basic/cat_head_no_broken_pipe.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+description: cat piped into head must not emit a broken-pipe error on stderr.
+setup:
+  files:
+    - path: big.txt
+      content: |+
+        line 1
+        line 2
+        line 3
+        line 4
+        line 5
+        line 6
+        line 7
+        line 8
+        line 9
+        line 10
+input:
+  allowed_paths: ["$DIR"]
+  script: |+
+    cat big.txt | head -n 3
+expect:
+  stdout: |+
+    line 1
+    line 2
+    line 3
+  stderr: |+
+  exit_code: 0