diff --git a/cargo-afl/build.rs b/cargo-afl/build.rs
index 27d0f719d..2eed8cfb7 100644
--- a/cargo-afl/build.rs
+++ b/cargo-afl/build.rs
@@ -17,11 +17,16 @@ fn main() {
 
     // smoelius: Build AFLplusplus only when installing and not building on docs.rs.
     if installing && !building_on_docs_rs {
-        config::config(&config::Args {
+        if let Err(error) = config::config(&config::Args {
             build: true,
             force: true,
             plugins: cfg!(feature = "plugins"),
             ..Default::default()
-        });
+        }) {
+            println!(
+                "cargo:warn=Could not build AFLplusplus; it will need to be built manually with \
+                 `cargo afl config --build`: {error}"
+            );
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/cargo-afl/src/config.rs b/cargo-afl/src/config.rs
index 89caeaec3..17de3bfe1 100644
--- a/cargo-afl/src/config.rs
+++ b/cargo-afl/src/config.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
+#![deny(clippy::expect_used, clippy::panic, clippy::unwrap_used)]
+
 use clap::Parser;
 use std::ffi::OsStr;
+use std::io::{Error, Result};
 use std::path::Path;
-use std::process::{self, Command, Stdio};
+use std::process::{Command, ExitStatus, Stdio};
 
 use super::common;
 
@@ -33,29 +36,31 @@ pub struct Args {
     pub verbose: bool,
 }
 
-pub fn config(args: &Args) {
+pub fn config(args: &Args) -> Result<()> {
     if !args.force && common::archive_file_path().exists() {
         let version = common::afl_rustc_version();
-        eprintln!(
-            "AFL LLVM runtime was already built for Rust {version}; run `cargo \
-             afl config --build --force` to rebuild it."
-        );
-        process::exit(1);
+        return Err(Error::other(format!(
+            "AFL LLVM runtime was already built for Rust {version}; run `cargo afl config --build \
+             --force` to rebuild it."
+        )));
     }
 
     let afl_src_dir = Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR")).join(AFL_SRC_PATH);
     let afl_src_dir_str = &afl_src_dir.to_string_lossy();
 
-    let tempdir = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+    let tempdir = tempfile::tempdir()?;
 
     if afl_src_dir.join(".git").is_dir() {
-        let status = Command::new("git")
+        let success = Command::new("git")
             .args(["clone", afl_src_dir_str, &*tempdir.path().to_string_lossy()])
             .status()
-            .expect("could not run 'git'");
-        assert!(status.success());
+            .as_ref()
+            .map_or(false, ExitStatus::success);
+        if !success {
+            return Err(Error::other("could not run 'git'"));
+        }
     } else {
-        fs_extra::dir::copy(
+        let _: u64 = fs_extra::dir::copy(
             afl_src_dir,
             tempdir.path(),
             &fs_extra::dir::CopyOptions {
@@ -63,25 +68,27 @@ pub fn config(args: &Args) {
                 ..Default::default()
             },
         )
-        .unwrap();
+        .map_err(Error::other)?;
     }
 
     let work_dir = tempdir.path();
 
-    build_afl(args, work_dir);
-    build_afl_llvm_runtime(args, work_dir);
+    build_afl(args, work_dir)?;
+    build_afl_llvm_runtime(args, work_dir)?;
 
     if args.plugins {
-        copy_afl_llvm_plugins(args, work_dir);
+        copy_afl_llvm_plugins(args, work_dir)?;
     }
 
-    eprintln!(
-        "Artifacts written to {}",
-        common::afl_dir().parent().unwrap().display()
-    );
+    let Some(dir) = common::afl_dir().parent().map(Path::to_path_buf) else {
+        return Err(Error::other("could not get afl dir parent"));
+    };
+    eprintln!("Artifacts written to {}", dir.display());
+
+    Ok(())
 }
 
-fn build_afl(args: &Args, work_dir: &Path) {
+fn build_afl(args: &Args, work_dir: &Path) -> Result<()> {
     // if you had already installed cargo-afl previously you **must** clean AFL++
     // smoelius: AFL++ is now copied to a temporary directory before being built. So `make clean`
     // is no longer necessary.
@@ -96,7 +103,7 @@ fn build_afl(args: &Args, work_dir: &Path) {
         .env_remove("DEBUG");
 
     if args.plugins {
-        let llvm_config = check_llvm_and_get_config();
+        let llvm_config = check_llvm_and_get_config()?;
         command.env("LLVM_CONFIG", llvm_config);
     } else {
         // build just the runtime to avoid troubles with Xcode clang on macOS
@@ -109,16 +116,20 @@ fn build_afl(args: &Args, work_dir: &Path) {
         command.stderr(Stdio::null());
     }
 
-    let status = command.status().expect("could not run 'make install'");
-    assert!(status.success());
+    let success = command.status().as_ref().map_or(false, ExitStatus::success);
+    if !success {
+        return Err(Error::other("could not run 'make install"));
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
 }
 
-fn build_afl_llvm_runtime(args: &Args, work_dir: &Path) {
-    std::fs::copy(
+fn build_afl_llvm_runtime(args: &Args, work_dir: &Path) -> Result<()> {
+    let _: u64 = std::fs::copy(
         work_dir.join("afl-compiler-rt.o"),
         common::object_file_path(),
     )
-    .expect("Couldn't copy object file");
+    .map_err(|error| Error::other(format!("could not copy object file: {error}")))?;
 
     let mut command = Command::new(AR_CMD);
     command
@@ -131,38 +142,52 @@ fn build_afl_llvm_runtime(args: &Args, work_dir: &Path) {
         command.stderr(Stdio::null());
     }
 
-    let status = command.status().expect("could not run 'ar'");
-    assert!(status.success());
+    let success = command.status().as_ref().map_or(false, ExitStatus::success);
+    if !success {
+        return Err(Error::other("could not run 'ar'"));
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
 }
 
-fn copy_afl_llvm_plugins(_args: &Args, work_dir: &Path) {
+fn copy_afl_llvm_plugins(_args: &Args, work_dir: &Path) -> Result<()> {
     // Iterate over the files in the directory.
-    for result in work_dir.read_dir().unwrap() {
-        let entry = result.unwrap();
+    for result in work_dir.read_dir()? {
+        let entry = result?;
         let file_name = entry.file_name();
 
         // Get the file extension. Only copy the files that are shared objects.
         if Path::new(&file_name).extension() == Some(OsStr::new("so")) {
             // Attempt to copy the shared object file.
-            std::fs::copy(
+            let _: u64 = std::fs::copy(
                 work_dir.join(&file_name),
                 common::afl_llvm_dir().join(&file_name),
             )
-            .unwrap_or_else(|error| {
-                panic!("Couldn't copy shared object file {file_name:?}: {error}")
-            });
+            .map_err(|error| {
+                Error::other(format!(
+                    "could not copy shared object file {file_name:?}: {error}"
+                ))
+            })?;
         }
     }
+
+    Ok(())
 }
 
-fn check_llvm_and_get_config() -> String {
+fn check_llvm_and_get_config() -> Result<String> {
     // Make sure we are on nightly for the -Z flags
-    assert!(
-        rustc_version::version_meta().unwrap().channel == rustc_version::Channel::Nightly,
-        "cargo-afl must be compiled with nightly for the plugins feature"
-    );
-    let version_meta = rustc_version::version_meta().unwrap();
-    let llvm_version = version_meta.llvm_version.unwrap().major.to_string();
+    let version_meta = rustc_version::version_meta().map_err(Error::other)?;
+    if version_meta.channel != rustc_version::Channel::Nightly {
+        return Err(Error::other(
+            "cargo-afl must be compiled with nightly for the plugins feature",
+        ));
+    }
+    let Some(llvm_version) = version_meta
+        .llvm_version
+        .map(|llvm_version| llvm_version.major.to_string())
+    else {
+        return Err(Error::other("could not get llvm version"));
+    };
 
     // Fetch the llvm version of the rust toolchain and set the LLVM_CONFIG environment variable to the same version
     // This is needed to compile the llvm plugins (needed for cmplog) from afl with the right LLVM version
@@ -173,19 +198,36 @@ fn check_llvm_and_get_config() -> String {
     };
 
     // check if llvm tools are installed and with the good version for the plugin compilation
-    let mut command = Command::new(llvm_config.clone());
+    let mut command = Command::new(&llvm_config);
     command.args(["--version"]);
-    let out = command
-        .output()
-        .unwrap_or_else(|_| panic!("could not run {llvm_config} --version"));
-
-    let version = String::from_utf8(out.stdout)
-        .expect("could not convert llvm-config --version output to utf8");
-    let major = version
-        .split('.')
-        .next()
-        .expect("could not get major from llvm-config --version output");
-    assert!(major == llvm_version);
-
-    llvm_config
+    let out = match command.output() {
+        Ok(out) => out,
+        Err(error) => {
+            return Err(Error::other(format!(
+                "could not run {llvm_config} --version: {error}"
+            )));
+        }
+    };
+
+    let version = match String::from_utf8(out.stdout) {
+        Ok(version) => version,
+        Err(error) => {
+            return Err(Error::other(format!(
+                "could not convert {llvm_config} --version output to utf8: {error}"
+            )));
+        }
+    };
+    let Some(major) = version.split('.').next() else {
+        return Err(Error::other(format!(
+            "could not get major from {llvm_config} --version output",
+        )));
+    };
+    if major != llvm_version {
+        return Err(Error::other(format!(
+            "{llvm_config} --version output does not contain expected major version \
+             ({llvm_version})",
+        )));
+    }
+
+    Ok(llvm_config)
 }
diff --git a/cargo-afl/src/main.rs b/cargo-afl/src/main.rs
index 5d605bdca..5e24f6820 100644
--- a/cargo-afl/src/main.rs
+++ b/cargo-afl/src/main.rs
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ fn main() {
             run_afl("afl-analyze", args);
         }
         Some(AflSubcommand::Config(args)) => {
-            config::config(args);
+            config::config(args).unwrap();
         }
         Some(AflSubcommand::Cmin { args }) => {
             run_afl("afl-cmin", args);