diff --git a/Dir.zig b/Dir.zig
index 111166e5dc8f60cf3069a7eeb6167bc0212c453a..4f72b39f0941524200b7ed240f0f4faca037b7b5 100644
--- a/Dir.zig
+++ b/Dir.zig
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ fd: nfs.Handle,
 
 // Resource allocation may fail; resource deallocation must succeed.
 pub fn close(self: Dir) void {
-    return sys.close(@intFromEnum(self.fd)) catch {};
+    return sys.close(@intFromEnum(self.fd)) catch if (builtin.mode == .Debug) unreachable;
 }
 
 pub fn openFile(self: Dir, sub_path: [:0]const u8, flags: OpenFileFlags) !File {
diff --git a/File.zig b/File.zig
index b7319eb54e81964cbbf79d59c40c3a1e15fcb2b6..dacc256c1b928c3ca639df15086cefed51ae2d55 100644
--- a/File.zig
+++ b/File.zig
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ fd: nfs.Handle,
 
 // Resource allocation may fail; resource deallocation must succeed.
 pub fn close(self: File) void {
-    sys.close(@intFromEnum(self.fd)) catch {};
+    sys.close(@intFromEnum(self.fd)) catch if (builtin.mode == .Debug) unreachable;
 }
 
 const R = nio.Readable(@This(), ._bare);