diff --git a/pipelines/build.sh b/pipelines/build.sh
index 296c1f898b5eca1d47c42b38f7f43f139b664d63..7504ed49329960c725c6479004192762a3da1f06 100644
--- a/pipelines/build.sh
+++ b/pipelines/build.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ if [ "$JOB_NAME" != "csst_proto" ]; then
   curl -O https://csst-tb.bao.ac.cn/code/csst-l1/csst_proto/-/raw/main/pipelines/test_codestyle.py
 fi
 coverage run -m pytest
+unittest_status=$?
 
 echo "===================== make coverage ====================="
 coverage report
@@ -36,6 +37,14 @@ echo "===================== importability ====================="
 python -c "from $JOB_NAME.top_level_interface import *"
 
 echo "===================== POST BUILD BELOW ====================="
+
+# the exit value is determined from unit tests
+if [ "$unittest_status" != 0 ]; then
+  exit $unittest_status
+else
+  exit 0
+fi
+
 # In Jenkins:
 #!/bin/bash
 #sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://csst-tb.bao.ac.cn/code/csst-l1/csst_proto/-/raw/main/pipelines/build.sh)"
\ No newline at end of file