diff --git a/gopls/internal/lsp/cmd/vulncheck.go b/gopls/internal/lsp/cmd/vulncheck.go
index 5ee9b0e372..770455cfd9 100644
--- a/gopls/internal/lsp/cmd/vulncheck.go
+++ b/gopls/internal/lsp/cmd/vulncheck.go
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ func (v *vulncheck) Run(ctx context.Context, args ...string) error {
 	opts := source.DefaultOptions().Clone()
 	v.app.options(opts) // register hook
 	if opts == nil || opts.Hooks.Govulncheck == nil {
-		return tool.CommandLineErrorf("vulncheck feature is not available")
+		return fmt.Errorf("vulncheck feature is not available")
 	}
 
 	loadCfg := &packages.Config{
@@ -83,11 +83,11 @@ func (v *vulncheck) Run(ctx context.Context, args ...string) error {
 
 	res, err := opts.Hooks.Govulncheck(ctx, loadCfg, pattern)
 	if err != nil {
-		return tool.CommandLineErrorf("govulncheck failed: %v", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("vulncheck failed: %v", err)
 	}
 	data, err := json.MarshalIndent(res, " ", " ")
 	if err != nil {
-		return tool.CommandLineErrorf("failed to decode results: %v", err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("vulncheck failed to encode result: %v", err)
 	}
 	fmt.Printf("%s", data)
 	return nil
diff --git a/gopls/internal/vulncheck/command.go b/gopls/internal/vulncheck/command.go
index 9ed1e0ba2d..641c9ddeb6 100644
--- a/gopls/internal/vulncheck/command.go
+++ b/gopls/internal/vulncheck/command.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ package vulncheck
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"sort"
@@ -78,8 +79,8 @@ func (c *cmd) Run(ctx context.Context, cfg *packages.Config, patterns ...string)
 	logger.Println("loading packages...")
 	loadedPkgs, err := gvc.LoadPackages(cfg, patterns...)
 	if err != nil {
-		logger.Printf("package load failed: %v", err)
-		return nil, err
+		logger.Printf("%v", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("package load failed")
 	}
 
 	logger.Printf("analyzing %d packages...\n", len(loadedPkgs))