diff --git a/e2e/tests-dfx/schema.bash b/e2e/tests-dfx/schema.bash
index 3886840934..8cdad36b6c 100644
--- a/e2e/tests-dfx/schema.bash
+++ b/e2e/tests-dfx/schema.bash
@@ -19,6 +19,6 @@ teardown() {
 }
 
 @test "dfx schema still works with broken dfx.json" {
-  jq '.broken_key="blahblahblah"' dfx.json | sponge dfx.json
+  echo '{}' | jq '.broken_key="blahblahblah"' > dfx.json
   assert_command dfx schema
 }
diff --git a/e2e/utils/_.bash b/e2e/utils/_.bash
index 391305a7ce..3b340a73ed 100644
--- a/e2e/utils/_.bash
+++ b/e2e/utils/_.bash
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-set -e
+set -eo pipefail
 load ../utils/bats-support/load
 load ../utils/assertions
 load ../utils/webserver