diff --git a/.scripts/linux/run-clang-tidy.sh b/.scripts/linux/run-clang-tidy.sh
index fcc2cee3c6f..b6017e295fc 100755
--- a/.scripts/linux/run-clang-tidy.sh
+++ b/.scripts/linux/run-clang-tidy.sh
@@ -8,4 +8,13 @@ cd $REPO_DIR
 
 # -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=On is manually set because in CMake 3.16, just setting it in the CMakeLists.txt does not work.
 cmake -S . -B build -DFMT_SYS_DEP=On -DSPDLOG_SYS_DEP=On -DVW_BOOST_MATH_SYS_DEP=On -DBUILD_TESTING=Off -DVW_BUILD_VW_C_WRAPPER=Off -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=On
-run-clang-tidy -p build -header-filter=vw/*
+run-clang-tidy -p build -quiet -header-filter=vw/* 1>tidy_out.txt 2>tidy_error.txt || true
+grep -A 3 ": error" tidy_out.txt > tidy_onlyerrors.txt
+
+if [ -s tidy_onlyerrors.txt ]; then
+        # file has contents
+        cat tidy_onlyerrors.txt
+        exit 11
+else
+        cat tidy_out.txt
+fi