diff --git a/src/engine/build/activation.rs b/src/engine/build/activation.rs
index c9c61e3..ce3a063 100644
--- a/src/engine/build/activation.rs
+++ b/src/engine/build/activation.rs
@@ -638,6 +638,7 @@ impl HandlerData {
         let result = outcome::finish_execution(
             output,
             last_err,
+            attempts_used,
             duration_ms,
             on_error,
             &node,
diff --git a/src/engine/build/outcome.rs b/src/engine/build/outcome.rs
index cbf019c..6505a54 100644
--- a/src/engine/build/outcome.rs
+++ b/src/engine/build/outcome.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ const BACKOFF_POLL_MS: u64 = 25;
 pub(super) async fn finish_execution<F>(
     output: Option<crate::nodes::NodeOutput>,
     last_err: Option<EngineError>,
+    // How many times the executor actually ran. Reported on the
+    // retries-exhausted warning so "after retries" carries a number.
+    attempts: u32,
     duration_ms: u128,
     on_error: &str,
     node: &crate::model::Node,
@@ -161,7 +164,22 @@ where
             Ok(emit(update, port, &output.items))
         }
         None => {
-            tracing::warn!(node = %node.id, "node failed after retries");
+            // Report the cause, not just the fact. `last_err` is a parameter of
+            // this function and is not unwrapped until the `let Some(err)`
+            // below, so without naming it here nothing in the log could say
+            // why the node failed — the line was node id and nothing else.
+            // Borrowed, not moved: the unwrap below still takes it by value.
+            //
+            // Deliberately logged here rather than after the unwrap: the `None`
+            // arm below is the defensive unreachable path, and moving this line
+            // past it would stop that case reporting at all.
+            tracing::warn!(
+                node = %node.id,
+                attempts,
+                on_error = %on_error,
+                error = ?last_err,
+                "node failed after retries"
+            );
             // Recover the data-binding diagnostics of the failed
             // attempt: the executor computes them while resolving config
             // but discards them on the error path, so re-resolve the same
diff --git a/tests/node_failure_diagnostics_e2e.rs b/tests/node_failure_diagnostics_e2e.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1da8338
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/node_failure_diagnostics_e2e.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,209 @@
+#![cfg(feature = "mock")]
+//! The retries-exhausted warning has to carry the cause.
+//!
+//! `[outcome] node failed after retries` is the only line emitted when a node
+//! gives up, and it used to carry the node id and nothing else — so a report of
+//! it (openhuman#5626) could not be root-caused at all: the log said a node
+//! failed but not why, and not how many attempts it took.
+//!
+//! What is pinned here is the *presence* of the diagnostic fields, not their
+//! exact rendering. An assertion that the `error` field merely renders
+//! non-empty would still pass if the field were dropped again, because a
+//! missing field and an empty one are indistinguishable once formatted — so
+//! these look the field up by name and fail if it is absent.
+//!
+//! The failing node is a `tool_call` with no `slug`, the same deterministic
+//! failure `tests/error_recovery_e2e.rs` uses: its executor returns a
+//! `Capability` error on every attempt.
+//!
+//! Gated behind the `mock` cargo feature.
+
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
+use std::fmt;
+use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
+
+use serde_json::{Value, json};
+use tracing::field::{Field, Visit};
+use tracing::span;
+use tracing::{Event, Metadata, Subscriber};
+
+use tinyflows::caps::mock::mock_capabilities;
+use tinyflows::compiler::compile;
+use tinyflows::engine::run;
+use tinyflows::model::{Edge, Node, NodeKind, TriggerKind, WorkflowGraph};
+
+/// One captured `tracing` event: its message plus every other field, keyed by
+/// name so a test can distinguish "absent" from "empty".
+#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
+struct CapturedEvent {
+    message: String,
+    fields: BTreeMap<String, String>,
+}
+
+#[derive(Default)]
+struct FieldVisitor {
+    message: String,
+    fields: BTreeMap<String, String>,
+}
+
+impl Visit for FieldVisitor {
+    fn record_debug(&mut self, field: &Field, value: &dyn fmt::Debug) {
+        let rendered = format!("{value:?}");
+        if field.name() == "message" {
+            self.message = rendered;
+        } else {
+            self.fields.insert(field.name().to_string(), rendered);
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn record_str(&mut self, field: &Field, value: &str) {
+        if field.name() == "message" {
+            self.message = value.to_string();
+        } else {
+            self.fields
+                .insert(field.name().to_string(), value.to_string());
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// A minimal global subscriber that keeps every event.
+///
+/// Hand-rolled rather than pulling in `tracing-subscriber`: this crate takes
+/// `tracing` with `default-features = false` and carries no subscriber
+/// dependency, and one visitor is cheaper than a new dev-dependency.
+/// Registered globally rather than with `with_default` because the engine runs
+/// on tokio worker threads and a thread-local dispatcher would miss them.
+struct CapturingSubscriber {
+    events: Arc<Mutex<Vec<CapturedEvent>>>,
+}
+
+impl Subscriber for CapturingSubscriber {
+    fn enabled(&self, _metadata: &Metadata<'_>) -> bool {
+        true
+    }
+
+    fn new_span(&self, _attrs: &span::Attributes<'_>) -> span::Id {
+        span::Id::from_u64(1)
+    }
+
+    fn record(&self, _span: &span::Id, _values: &span::Record<'_>) {}
+
+    fn record_follows_from(&self, _span: &span::Id, _follows: &span::Id) {}
+
+    fn event(&self, event: &Event<'_>) {
+        let mut visitor = FieldVisitor::default();
+        event.record(&mut visitor);
+        self.events
+            .lock()
+            .expect("captured events mutex poisoned")
+            .push(CapturedEvent {
+                message: visitor.message,
+                fields: visitor.fields,
+            });
+    }
+
+    fn enter(&self, _span: &span::Id) {}
+
+    fn exit(&self, _span: &span::Id) {}
+}
+
+fn node(id: &str, kind: NodeKind, config: Value) -> Node {
+    Node {
+        id: id.to_string(),
+        kind,
+        type_version: 1,
+        name: id.to_string(),
+        config,
+        ports: vec![],
+        position: None,
+    }
+}
+
+fn trigger(id: &str) -> Node {
+    node(
+        id,
+        NodeKind::Trigger,
+        json!({ "kind": TriggerKind::Manual }),
+    )
+}
+
+fn edge(from_node: &str, from_port: &str, to_node: &str) -> Edge {
+    Edge {
+        from_node: from_node.to_string(),
+        from_port: from_port.to_string(),
+        to_node: to_node.to_string(),
+        to_port: "main".to_string(),
+    }
+}
+
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn retries_exhausted_warning_reports_the_cause_and_the_attempt_count() {
+    let events = Arc::new(Mutex::new(Vec::new()));
+    tracing::subscriber::set_global_default(CapturingSubscriber {
+        events: Arc::clone(&events),
+    })
+    .expect("this test binary registers the only global subscriber");
+
+    // trigger -> failing tool_call, three attempts, default `stop` policy.
+    let graph = WorkflowGraph {
+        nodes: vec![
+            trigger("t"),
+            node(
+                "summarize",
+                NodeKind::ToolCall,
+                json!({ "retry": { "max_attempts": 3 } }),
+            ),
+        ],
+        edges: vec![edge("t", "main", "summarize")],
+        ..Default::default()
+    };
+    let compiled = compile(&graph).expect("graph should compile");
+    let _ = run(&compiled, json!({}), &mock_capabilities()).await;
+
+    let captured = events
+        .lock()
+        .expect("captured events mutex poisoned")
+        .clone();
+    let warning = captured
+        .iter()
+        .find(|event| event.message == "node failed after retries")
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("expected a retries-exhausted warning, captured: {captured:#?}"));
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        warning.fields.get("node").map(String::as_str),
+        Some("summarize"),
+        "the warning must name the node; fields were {:?}",
+        warning.fields
+    );
+
+    // The point of the change: the cause has to be on the line. Looked up by
+    // name so a dropped field fails here rather than rendering as empty.
+    let error = warning.fields.get("error").unwrap_or_else(|| {
+        panic!(
+            "the retries-exhausted warning carries no `error` field, so nothing \
+             in the log can say why the node failed; fields were {:?}",
+            warning.fields
+        )
+    });
+    assert!(
+        error.contains("Capability"),
+        "the `error` field must render the executor's error, got {error:?}"
+    );
+
+    // "after retries" with no number is the second thing you want and don't
+    // have: three configured attempts, three reported.
+    assert_eq!(
+        warning.fields.get("attempts").map(String::as_str),
+        Some("3"),
+        "the warning must report how many attempts ran; fields were {:?}",
+        warning.fields
+    );
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        warning.fields.get("on_error").map(String::as_str),
+        Some("stop"),
+        "the warning must report the policy that decided what happened next; \
+         fields were {:?}",
+        warning.fields
+    );
+}