diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 159bbd2..501265a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@uschuster/webapp-scaffold",
-  "version": "0.3.4",
+  "version": "0.3.5",
   "description": "Shared build scripts + Vite config factories for webapp-template-derived projects.",
   "type": "module",
   "bin": {
diff --git a/src/core-fetch.ts b/src/core-fetch.ts
index a165531..f7c9da8 100644
--- a/src/core-fetch.ts
+++ b/src/core-fetch.ts
@@ -191,12 +191,18 @@ function safeJson(text: string): unknown | null {
  * JSON (may be null when the body isn't parseable).
  */
 async function readBody(r: Response): Promise<[string, unknown | null]> {
+    // Some mocks expose .json() but not .clone() (e.g. vitest object mocks).
+    // Try .json() directly; if it throws, fall back to .text().
     try {
-        const j = await r.clone().json();
+        const j = await r.json();
         return [JSON.stringify(j), j];
     } catch {
-        const text = await r.text().catch(() => '');
-        return [text, safeJson(text)];
+        try {
+            const text = await r.text();
+            return [text, safeJson(text)];
+        } catch {
+            return ['', null];
+        }
     }
 }