diff --git a/.github/helper/spawnGit.js b/.github/helper/spawnGit.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..82027e3ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/helper/spawnGit.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+const cp = require('child_process')
+
+function spawnGit (args, { mock = false } = {}) {
+  console.log('> git', args.join(' '))
+  if (mock) return
+  const result = cp.spawnSync('git', args, { stdio: 'inherit', shell: false })
+  if (result.error) {
+    throw result.error
+  }
+  if (result.status !== 0) {
+    throw new Error(`git ${args.join(' ')} failed with exit code ${result.status}`)
+  }
+}
+
+module.exports = spawnGit
diff --git a/.github/helper/updator.js b/.github/helper/updator.js
index 9245b80f2..91980deaf 100644
--- a/.github/helper/updator.js
+++ b/.github/helper/updator.js
@@ -3,11 +3,10 @@
  * Updator script triggered from minecraft-data repository to auto generate PR
  */
 const fs = require('fs')
-const cp = require('child_process')
 const assert = require('assert')
 const github = require('gh-helpers')()
 const { join } = require('path')
-const exec = (cmd) => github.mock ? console.log('> ', cmd) : (console.log('> ', cmd), cp.execSync(cmd, { stdio: 'inherit' }))
+const spawnGit = require('./spawnGit')
 
 console.log('Starting update process...')
 // Sanitize and validate environment variables all non alpha numeric / underscore / dot
@@ -56,12 +55,12 @@ async function main () {
   }
 
   const branchName = 'pc' + newVersion.replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9_]/g, '_')
-  exec(`git checkout -b ${branchName}`)
-  exec('git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"')
-  exec('git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"')
-  exec('git add --all')
-  exec(`git commit -m "Update to version ${newVersion}"`)
-  exec(`git push origin ${branchName} --force`)
+  spawnGit(['checkout', '-b', branchName], { mock: github.mock })
+  spawnGit(['config', 'user.name', 'github-actions[bot]'], { mock: github.mock })
+  spawnGit(['config', 'user.email', '41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com'], { mock: github.mock })
+  spawnGit(['add', '--all'], { mock: github.mock })
+  spawnGit(['commit', '-m', `Update to version ${newVersion}`], { mock: github.mock })
+  spawnGit(['push', 'origin', branchName, '--force'], { mock: github.mock })
   //     createPullRequest(title: string, body: string, fromBranch: string, intoBranch?: string): Promise<{ number: number, url: string }>;
   const pr = await github.createPullRequest(
     `🎈 ${newVersion}`,
diff --git a/test/spawnGitTest.js b/test/spawnGitTest.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f4b9e2c7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/spawnGitTest.js
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/* eslint-env mocha */
+const assert = require('assert')
+const cp = require('child_process')
+const spawnGit = require('../.github/helper/spawnGit')
+
+describe('spawnGit', () => {
+  const original = cp.spawnSync
+  afterEach(() => { cp.spawnSync = original })
+
+  it('throws when git exits with a non-zero status', () => {
+    cp.spawnSync = () => ({ status: 1, error: undefined })
+    assert.throws(() => spawnGit(['push', 'origin', 'branch']), /exit code 1/)
+  })
+
+  it('throws when spawning git itself fails', () => {
+    const spawnError = new Error('spawn git ENOENT')
+    cp.spawnSync = () => ({ status: null, error: spawnError })
+    assert.throws(() => spawnGit(['commit', '-m', 'x']), /ENOENT/)
+  })
+
+  it('does not throw when git exits 0', () => {
+    cp.spawnSync = () => ({ status: 0, error: undefined })
+    assert.doesNotThrow(() => spawnGit(['add', '--all']))
+  })
+
+  it('skips spawning entirely in mock mode', () => {
+    let called = false
+    cp.spawnSync = () => { called = true; return { status: 0 } }
+    spawnGit(['push'], { mock: true })
+    assert.strictEqual(called, false)
+  })
+})