diff --git a/tests/test_cli_error_render.py b/tests/test_cli_error_render.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b519750
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cli_error_render.py
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+"""CLI structured error renderer for typed BigQuery error responses.
+
+The server side maps BQ Forbidden/auth/badrequest errors into typed
+BqAccessError dicts that the FastAPI handler returns as `detail` JSON.
+Today the CLI side flattens them via `f"HTTP {code}: {body[:200]}"`,
+truncating the structured shape and hiding the operator-facing hints.
+
+`cli.error_render.render_error` recognizes a few canonical shapes and
+pretty-prints them; falls back to truncated form for anything else.
+
+Closes part of #160 §4.7.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def render_error():
+    from cli.error_render import render_error
+    return render_error
+
+
+def test_renders_typed_bq_access_error(render_error):
+    """`{detail: {kind, hint, billing_project, data_project}}` from
+    BqAccessError surfaces as a multi-line block with the kind line, the
+    key/value pairs, and the hint word-wrapped at 80 cols."""
+    body = {"detail": {
+        "kind": "cross_project_forbidden",
+        "message": "USER_PROJECT_DENIED on bigquery.googleapis.com",
+        "billing_project": "",
+        "data_project": "prj-example-data-001",
+        "hint": (
+            "Set data_source.bigquery.billing_project in /admin/server-config "
+            "to a project where the SA has serviceusage.services.use, or "
+            "grant the SA that role on the data project."
+        ),
+    }}
+    out = render_error(502, body)
+    # Single-line `f"HTTP {code}: ..."` style is the OLD form. The new
+    # renderer must produce multi-line output.
+    assert "\n" in out
+    # Kind appears prominently in the output.
+    assert "cross_project_forbidden" in out
+    # Key/value pairs visible.
+    assert "billing_project" in out
+    assert "prj-example-data-001" in out
+    # Hint text included.
+    assert "serviceusage.services.use" in out
+
+
+def test_renders_remote_scan_too_large(render_error):
+    """`{detail: {reason: 'remote_scan_too_large', scan_bytes, limit_bytes,
+    tables, suggestion}}` from the new /api/query guardrail formats with
+    the bytes + tables + suggestion clearly visible."""
+    body = {"detail": {
+        "reason": "remote_scan_too_large",
+        "scan_bytes": 10737418240,  # 10 GiB
+        "limit_bytes": 5368709120,  # 5 GiB
+        "tables": ["finance.unit_economics"],
+        "suggestion": (
+            "Use `da fetch <id> --select <cols> --where <predicate> "
+            "--estimate` to materialize a filtered subset, then query "
+            "the snapshot locally."
+        ),
+    }}
+    out = render_error(400, body)
+    assert "remote_scan_too_large" in out
+    assert "10737418240" in out or "10 GiB" in out or "10737418240" in str(out)
+    assert "finance.unit_economics" in out
+    assert "da fetch" in out
+
+
+def test_renders_bq_path_not_registered(render_error):
+    """`{detail: {reason: 'bq_path_not_registered', path, hint}}` from the
+    RBAC patch formats path + hint clearly."""
+    body = {"detail": {
+        "reason": "bq_path_not_registered",
+        "path": 'bq."secret_ds"."secret_tbl"',
+        "hint": "Direct bq.* references must point to a registered table.",
+    }}
+    out = render_error(403, body)
+    assert "bq_path_not_registered" in out
+    assert 'secret_ds' in out
+    assert "registered table" in out
+
+
+def test_falls_back_to_truncated_for_unrecognized_shape(render_error):
+    """Body without recognizable typed shape falls back to truncated form."""
+    body = "Internal Server Error: Something went wrong" * 20  # 800+ chars
+    out = render_error(500, body)
+    # Old-style truncation kicks in; output is single-line and short.
+    assert len(out) < 600
+    assert "500" in out
+
+
+def test_falls_back_when_detail_is_string(render_error):
+    """Many old endpoints return `detail: "<string message>"` — render that
+    as-is without trying to walk it as a structured error dict."""
+    body = {"detail": "Only single SELECT queries are allowed"}
+    out = render_error(400, body)
+    assert "Only single SELECT" in out
diff --git a/tests/test_cli_query_render.py b/tests/test_cli_query_render.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fdfe9bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cli_query_render.py
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+"""CLI commands route BQ-typed errors through the shared renderer.
+
+Three CLI paths surface BQ errors today:
+- `da query --remote` (cli/commands/query.py:_query_remote → /api/query)
+- `da query --register-bq` (cli/commands/query.py:_query_hybrid via
+  RemoteQueryError, which wraps server-side BqAccessError)
+- `da fetch` / `da schema` / etc. (cli/v2_client.V2ClientError → v2 endpoints)
+
+After the refactor they all call cli.error_render.render_error so analyst
+output is consistent and structured. Closes part of #160 §4.7.3.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+
+
+def test_v2_client_error_uses_renderer():
+    """`V2ClientError.__str__` calls render_error so any caller of the v2
+    HTTP helpers (api_get_json/api_post_json/api_post_arrow) automatically
+    surfaces typed BQ errors as structured output."""
+    from cli.v2_client import V2ClientError
+
+    body = {"detail": {
+        "kind": "cross_project_forbidden",
+        "message": "USER_PROJECT_DENIED",
+        "hint": "Set data_source.bigquery.billing_project",
+    }}
+    err = V2ClientError(status_code=502, body=body)
+    out = str(err)
+    # Old form: `HTTP 502: {'detail': {'kind': ...}}` (single line).
+    # New form: multi-line structured.
+    assert "\n" in out, f"V2ClientError must use multi-line renderer; got {out!r}"
+    assert "cross_project_forbidden" in out
+    assert "billing_project" in out
+
+
+def test_v2_client_error_drops_truncation_for_dicts():
+    """The OLD `message=str(body)[:200]` truncation hid the structured
+    `hint` field for any reasonably-sized error dict. The new renderer
+    must NOT pre-truncate dict bodies."""
+    from cli.v2_client import V2ClientError
+
+    body = {"detail": {
+        "kind": "bq_forbidden",
+        "billing_project": "x" * 200,  # padding to push past old 200-char limit
+        "data_project": "y" * 200,
+        "hint": "MUST_REACH_THIS_HINT_IN_OUTPUT",
+    }}
+    err = V2ClientError(status_code=502, body=body)
+    out = str(err)
+    assert "MUST_REACH_THIS_HINT_IN_OUTPUT" in out, \
+        "renderer must not pre-truncate dict bodies past the hint field"
+
+
+def test_remote_query_error_carries_details():
+    """`RemoteQueryError` already has a `details` field. Verify the type's
+    surface so cli/commands/query.py:_query_hybrid can rely on it."""
+    from src.remote_query import RemoteQueryError
+
+    err = RemoteQueryError(
+        error_type="cross_project_forbidden",
+        message="USER_PROJECT_DENIED",
+        details={"billing_project": "", "data_project": "prj"},
+    )
+    assert err.details == {"billing_project": "", "data_project": "prj"}
+    assert err.error_type == "cross_project_forbidden"
diff --git a/tests/test_remote_query_error_details.py b/tests/test_remote_query_error_details.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..006190b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_remote_query_error_details.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+"""`src/remote_query.py:RemoteQueryError` carries a `details` dict
+(verified to already exist) populated for raise sites that wrap an
+upstream BqAccessError.
+
+Currently only the BqAccessError-wrap path (lines 422 + 432) populates
+it. The other 11 raise sites (lines 134, 142, 167, 173, 259, 264, 282,
+289, 313, 322, 375) need an audit — for sites that wrap an external
+exception, populate `details` so the CLI renderer has the structured
+context it needs.
+
+Closes the audit half of #160 §4.7.3.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+
+def test_blocked_keyword_carries_keyword_in_details():
+    """`raise RemoteQueryError("blocked_keyword", ..., details={"blocked_keyword": kw})`
+    already populates the keyword. Lock it in via assertion so a future
+    refactor doesn't drop the field."""
+    from src.remote_query import RemoteQueryEngine, RemoteQueryError
+    import duckdb
+
+    conn = duckdb.connect(":memory:")
+    engine = RemoteQueryEngine(conn)
+    try:
+        engine.execute("DROP TABLE foo")
+    except RemoteQueryError as exc:
+        assert exc.error_type == "blocked_keyword", exc.error_type
+        # 'drop' is the keyword that triggers the block.
+        assert exc.details, "blocked_keyword raise must populate details"
+        assert "blocked_keyword" in exc.details
+    else:
+        raise AssertionError("expected blocked_keyword RemoteQueryError")
+
+
+def test_query_must_be_select_carries_no_unnecessary_details():
+    """A pure local-validation raise (SQL doesn't start with SELECT)
+    has nothing structured to surface. details=None is the right shape;
+    test locks that in so a future contributor doesn't add noise."""
+    from src.remote_query import RemoteQueryEngine, RemoteQueryError
+    import duckdb
+
+    conn = duckdb.connect(":memory:")
+    engine = RemoteQueryEngine(conn)
+    try:
+        engine.execute("WITH x AS (SELECT 1) SELECT * FROM x")
+    except RemoteQueryError as exc:
+        # `WITH ...` is treated as not-starting-with-SELECT today; this is
+        # the shape we want to assert: details may be empty/None for pure
+        # local-validation errors.
+        assert exc.error_type in ("query_must_be_select", "blocked_keyword"), exc.error_type
+        # Either empty dict or dict with explanatory keys is fine.
+        assert isinstance(exc.details, dict)
+    except Exception:
+        # If the engine accepts WITH, that's also fine — this test is
+        # primarily about details shape, not what gets blocked.
+        pass