diff --git a/bin/chromebox-watchdog.sh b/bin/chromebox-watchdog.sh
index 57db446..2c3e7e1 100755
--- a/bin/chromebox-watchdog.sh
+++ b/bin/chromebox-watchdog.sh
@@ -64,9 +64,9 @@ healthy() {
   local list
   list="$(cdp_list)" \
     || { HEALTH_FAIL_REASON="CDP unreachable on :$CDP_PORT"; return 1; }
-  echo "$list" | grep -q '"type": "page"' \
+  [[ "$list" == *'"type": "page"'* ]] \
     || { HEALTH_FAIL_REASON="CDP up but no page target in list"; return 1; }
-  echo "$list" | grep -E -q '"url": "https://muse\.ai' \
+  [[ "$list" == *'"url": "https://muse.ai'* ]] \
     || { HEALTH_FAIL_REASON="CDP up but not on muse.ai"; return 1; }
   warp_egress_healthy || return 1
   return 0
diff --git a/bin/netvm-exec.sh b/bin/netvm-exec.sh
index 76176ad..2638b37 100755
--- a/bin/netvm-exec.sh
+++ b/bin/netvm-exec.sh
@@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ NODE="${1:?usage: netvm-exec.sh <node> -- <cmd> [args...]}"; shift
 [ "${1:-}" = "--" ] && shift
 [ $# -gt 0 ] || { echo "usage: netvm-exec.sh <node> -- <cmd> [args...]"; exit 1; }
 [ -f "/etc/netvm/${NODE}.conf" ] || { echo "no warp identity for '$NODE' (human: netvm-new-identity.sh $NODE)"; exit 1; }
-ip netns list 2>/dev/null | grep -q "^warp-${NODE}" || { echo "node '$NODE' is not up (netvm-node-up.sh $NODE)"; exit 1; }
+[ "$(ip netns list 2>/dev/null | grep -c "^warp-${NODE}")" -ge 1 ] || { echo "node '$NODE' is not up (netvm-node-up.sh $NODE)"; exit 1; }
 exec sudo -n "$NETVM_BIN/netvm-enter.sh" "$NODE" "$(id -u)" "$(id -g)" "$HOME" -- "$@"