diff --git a/pkg/workflow/apm_dependencies_test.go b/pkg/workflow/apm_dependencies_test.go
index f10ae1d6916..f556897ffac 100644
--- a/pkg/workflow/apm_dependencies_test.go
+++ b/pkg/workflow/apm_dependencies_test.go
@@ -952,7 +952,7 @@ func TestExtractAPMDependenciesFromImportsAPMPackages(t *testing.T) {
 			"dependencies": []any{"microsoft/from-dependencies"},
 		}
 		result, err := extractAPMDependenciesFromFrontmatter(frontmatter)
-		assert.Error(t, err, "Should return an error when both imports.apm-packages and dependencies are present")
+		require.Error(t, err, "Should return an error when both imports.apm-packages and dependencies are present")
 		assert.Nil(t, result, "Should return nil result on error")
 		assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "imports.apm-packages", "Error should mention imports.apm-packages")
 		assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "dependencies", "Error should mention dependencies")
diff --git a/pkg/workflow/frontmatter_extraction_metadata.go b/pkg/workflow/frontmatter_extraction_metadata.go
index 2d5f42728eb..b31570d5f06 100644
--- a/pkg/workflow/frontmatter_extraction_metadata.go
+++ b/pkg/workflow/frontmatter_extraction_metadata.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package workflow
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"maps"
 	"os"
@@ -269,10 +270,10 @@ func extractAPMDependenciesFromFrontmatter(frontmatter map[string]any) (*APMDepe
 
 	// It is an error to specify both sources simultaneously.
 	if hasImportsAPM && hasDependencies {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf(
-			"cannot use both 'imports.apm-packages' and 'dependencies' simultaneously. " +
-				"Remove 'dependencies' and use 'imports.apm-packages' exclusively. " +
-				"Run 'gh aw fix --write' to automatically migrate.",
+		return nil, errors.New(
+			"cannot use both 'imports.apm-packages' and 'dependencies' simultaneously; " +
+				"remove 'dependencies' and use 'imports.apm-packages' exclusively; " +
+				"run 'gh aw fix --write' to automatically migrate",
 		)
 	}