diff --git a/.changeset/tidy-stars-tell.md b/.changeset/tidy-stars-tell.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a1e9d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tidy-stars-tell.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@diginodes/stellarforge-cli": patch
+---
+
+Clarify Stellar CLI diagnostic remediation for unavailable, malformed, and unsupported versions.
diff --git a/src/diagnostics/stellar.ts b/src/diagnostics/stellar.ts
index 216991e..e0ddaf0 100644
--- a/src/diagnostics/stellar.ts
+++ b/src/diagnostics/stellar.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import { isAtLeast, parseNumericVersion } from './version.js';
 // software-version matrix. Keep this compatibility floor explicit and review
 // it when StellarForge changes its supported network/tooling baseline.
 const MINIMUM_STELLAR_CLI = { major: 27, minor: 1, patch: 0 } as const;
+const STELLAR_CLI_INSTALL_URL =
+  'https://developers.stellar.org/docs/tools/cli/install-cli';
 
 function parseStellarVersion(output: string): string | null {
   const value = output.trim();
@@ -35,7 +37,7 @@ export function createStellarDiagnostic(
           status: 'fail',
           message: 'Stellar CLI is unavailable or could not be executed.',
           remediation:
-            'Install the current Stellar CLI and ensure `stellar` is available on PATH. See https://developers.stellar.org/docs/tools/cli/install-cli.',
+            `Install or update the official Stellar CLI (${STELLAR_CLI_INSTALL_URL}), then ensure \`stellar\` is on PATH and \`stellar version --only-version\` reports a version.`,
         };
       }
 
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ export function createStellarDiagnostic(
           status: 'fail',
           message: 'Stellar CLI returned an unrecognized version.',
           remediation:
-            'Verify `stellar version --only-version` works and reinstall Stellar CLI if necessary.',
+            `Run \`stellar version --only-version\`; if it does not report a semantic version, reinstall or update the official Stellar CLI (${STELLAR_CLI_INSTALL_URL}).`,
         };
       }
 
@@ -60,7 +62,7 @@ export function createStellarDiagnostic(
           status: 'fail',
           message: `Unsupported Stellar CLI version ${version}.`,
           remediation:
-            'Upgrade to Stellar CLI >=27.1.0 before using StellarForge Stellar workflows.',
+            `Update the official Stellar CLI to >=27.1.0 (${STELLAR_CLI_INSTALL_URL}), then verify \`stellar version --only-version\` reports a supported version.`,
         };
       }
 
diff --git a/tests/template-generation.test.ts b/tests/template-generation.test.ts
index 283b35f..27d7798 100644
--- a/tests/template-generation.test.ts
+++ b/tests/template-generation.test.ts
@@ -80,12 +80,14 @@ describe('template generation', () => {
     withTempDirectory((root) => {
       const templateRoot = join(root, 'template');
       mkdirSync(templateRoot);
-      writeFileSync(join(templateRoot, 'good.txt'), 'created first');
-      writeFileSync(join(templateRoot, 'bad.txt'), '{{unsupportedToken}}');
+      writeFileSync(join(templateRoot, 'a-good.txt'), 'created first');
+      writeFileSync(join(templateRoot, 'z-bad.txt'), '{{unsupportedToken}}');
 
       expect(() =>
         generateProjectFromTemplate(context(root), { templateRoot }),
-      ).toThrow(ValidationCliError);
+      ).toThrow(
+        "Template contains unsupported substitution token '{{unsupportedToken}}'.",
+      );
 
       expect(existsSync(join(root, 'demo-app'))).toBe(false);
       expect(
@@ -95,6 +97,30 @@ describe('template generation', () => {
       ).toEqual([]);
     }));
 
+  it('preserves pre-existing user content and an empty destination after partial failure', () =>
+    withTempDirectory((root) => {
+      const templateRoot = join(root, 'template');
+      const destination = join(root, 'demo-app');
+      const userFile = join(root, 'user-notes.txt');
+      mkdirSync(templateRoot);
+      mkdirSync(destination);
+      writeFileSync(userFile, 'keep this content');
+      writeFileSync(join(templateRoot, 'a-good.txt'), 'created first');
+      writeFileSync(join(templateRoot, 'z-bad.txt'), '{{unsupportedToken}}');
+
+      expect(() =>
+        generateProjectFromTemplate(context(root), { templateRoot }),
+      ).toThrow(ValidationCliError);
+
+      expect(readdirSync(destination)).toEqual([]);
+      expect(readFileSync(userFile, 'utf8')).toBe('keep this content');
+      expect(
+        readdirSync(root).filter((name) =>
+          name.startsWith('.stellarforge-demo-app-'),
+        ),
+      ).toEqual([]);
+    }));
+
   it('refuses to overwrite a non-empty destination', () =>
     withTempDirectory((root) => {
       const templateRoot = join(root, 'template');