diff --git a/bin/guides b/bin/guides
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index ae0906f82..df06dec63
--- a/bin/guides
+++ b/bin/guides
@@ -1,7 +1,138 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env php
 <?php
 
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+use Symfony\Component\Config\Definition\Exception\InvalidConfigurationException;
+use Symfony\Component\Config\Definition\Exception\InvalidTypeException;
+use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\ArgvInput;
+
 $root = dirname(__DIR__);
 
-require_once  $root . '/vendor/autoload.php';
-require_once  $root . '/vendor/phpdocumentor/guides-cli/bin/guides';
+require_once $root . '/vendor/autoload.php';
+
+/**
+ * Validates a guides.xml file against the XSD schema.
+ *
+ * @return array{valid: bool, errors: string[]}
+ */
+function validateGuidesXml(string $xmlPath, string $xsdPath): array
+{
+    $errors = [];
+
+    if (!file_exists($xmlPath)) {
+        return ['valid' => true, 'errors' => []];
+    }
+
+    if (!file_exists($xsdPath)) {
+        // XSD not found, skip validation
+        return ['valid' => true, 'errors' => []];
+    }
+
+    libxml_use_internal_errors(true);
+
+    $dom = new DOMDocument();
+    if (!$dom->load($xmlPath)) {
+        $errors[] = sprintf('Failed to load %s as XML', $xmlPath);
+        foreach (libxml_get_errors() as $error) {
+            $errors[] = sprintf('  Line %d, Column %d: %s', $error->line, $error->column, trim($error->message));
+        }
+        libxml_clear_errors();
+        return ['valid' => false, 'errors' => $errors];
+    }
+
+    if (!$dom->schemaValidate($xsdPath)) {
+        $errors[] = sprintf('Schema validation failed for %s', $xmlPath);
+        foreach (libxml_get_errors() as $error) {
+            $errors[] = sprintf('  Line %d, Column %d: %s', $error->line, $error->column, trim($error->message));
+        }
+        libxml_clear_errors();
+        return ['valid' => false, 'errors' => $errors];
+    }
+
+    libxml_clear_errors();
+    return ['valid' => true, 'errors' => []];
+}
+
+/**
+ * Outputs an error message to STDERR with formatting.
+ */
+function outputError(string $message, bool $isHeader = false): void
+{
+    if ($isHeader) {
+        fwrite(STDERR, "\033[37;41m " . $message . " \033[0m\n");
+    } else {
+        fwrite(STDERR, $message . "\n");
+    }
+}
+
+// Determine which guides.xml files will be loaded (mirrors upstream logic)
+$input = new ArgvInput();
+$vendorDir = $root . '/vendor';
+$xsdPath = $vendorDir . '/phpdocumentor/guides-cli/resources/schema/guides.xsd';
+
+$configFiles = [];
+
+// Project-level config
+$projectConfig = $vendorDir . '/../guides.xml';
+if (is_file($projectConfig)) {
+    $realPath = realpath($projectConfig);
+    if ($realPath !== false) {
+        $configFiles[] = $realPath;
+    }
+}
+
+// Local config (from --config or working directory)
+$workingDir = $input->getParameterOption(['--working-dir', '-w'], getcwd(), true);
+$localConfigDir = $input->getParameterOption(['--config', '-c'], $workingDir, true);
+$localConfig = $localConfigDir . '/guides.xml';
+
+if (is_file($localConfig)) {
+    $realLocalConfig = realpath($localConfig);
+    $realProjectConfig = isset($realPath) ? $realPath : null;
+    if ($realLocalConfig !== false && $realLocalConfig !== $realProjectConfig) {
+        $configFiles[] = $realLocalConfig;
+    }
+}
+
+// Validate all config files against XSD
+$hasValidationErrors = false;
+$allErrors = [];
+
+foreach ($configFiles as $configFile) {
+    $result = validateGuidesXml($configFile, $xsdPath);
+    if (!$result['valid']) {
+        $hasValidationErrors = true;
+        $allErrors = array_merge($allErrors, $result['errors']);
+    }
+}
+
+if ($hasValidationErrors) {
+    outputError('Invalid guides.xml configuration', true);
+    fwrite(STDERR, "\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "Your guides.xml file failed XSD schema validation:\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "\n");
+    foreach ($allErrors as $error) {
+        fwrite(STDERR, "\033[33m" . $error . "\033[0m\n");
+    }
+    fwrite(STDERR, "\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "See: https://docs.typo3.org/m/typo3/docs-how-to-document/main/en-us/GeneralConventions/GuideXml.html\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "\n");
+    exit(1);
+}
+
+// Validation passed, proceed with normal execution
+// Keep a fallback catch for any edge cases not covered by XSD
+try {
+    require_once $root . '/vendor/phpdocumentor/guides-cli/bin/guides';
+} catch (InvalidTypeException|InvalidConfigurationException $e) {
+    outputError('Invalid guides.xml configuration', true);
+    fwrite(STDERR, "\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "Your guides.xml file contains a configuration error:\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "  \033[33m" . $e->getMessage() . "\033[0m\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "Run \033[33mvendor/bin/typo3-guides lint-guides-xml\033[0m for detailed validation.\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "See: https://docs.typo3.org/m/typo3/docs-how-to-document/main/en-us/GeneralConventions/GuideXml.html\n");
+    fwrite(STDERR, "\n");
+    exit(1);
+}
diff --git a/tests/Integration/InvalidGuidesXmlTest.php b/tests/Integration/InvalidGuidesXmlTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ae970b3bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Integration/InvalidGuidesXmlTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace T3Docs\Typo3DocsTheme\Integration;
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use Symfony\Component\Process\Process;
+
+/**
+ * Tests error handling for invalid guides.xml configurations.
+ *
+ * The fixture is stored as guides.xml.fixture to avoid being picked up by lint-guides-xml.
+ * Tests copy it to a temp directory with the correct name before execution.
+ */
+final class InvalidGuidesXmlTest extends TestCase
+{
+    private const FIXTURE_SOURCE = __DIR__ . '/../fixtures/invalid-guides-xml';
+
+    private string $tempDir = '';
+
+    protected function setUp(): void
+    {
+        $this->tempDir = sys_get_temp_dir() . '/render-guides-invalid-test-' . uniqid();
+        mkdir($this->tempDir, 0755, true);
+
+        // Copy fixture files to temp directory
+        copy(self::FIXTURE_SOURCE . '/guides.xml.fixture', $this->tempDir . '/guides.xml');
+        copy(self::FIXTURE_SOURCE . '/Index.rst', $this->tempDir . '/Index.rst');
+    }
+
+    protected function tearDown(): void
+    {
+        if (is_dir($this->tempDir)) {
+            system('rm -rf ' . escapeshellarg($this->tempDir));
+        }
+    }
+
+    public function testInvalidGuidesXmlShowsHelpfulErrorMessage(): void
+    {
+        $binPath = dirname(__DIR__, 2) . '/bin/guides';
+
+        $process = new Process([
+            'php',
+            $binPath,
+            'run',
+            '--config=' . $this->tempDir,
+            $this->tempDir,
+        ]);
+
+        $process->run();
+
+        // Should fail with exit code 1, not crash with fatal error
+        self::assertSame(1, $process->getExitCode(), 'Expected exit code 1 for invalid guides.xml');
+
+        $stderr = $process->getErrorOutput();
+
+        // Should contain helpful error message, not PHP fatal error
+        self::assertStringContainsString('Invalid guides.xml configuration', $stderr);
+        self::assertStringNotContainsString('PHP Fatal error', $stderr);
+        self::assertStringNotContainsString('Stack trace', $stderr);
+
+        // Should reference documentation
+        self::assertStringContainsString('https://docs.typo3.org', $stderr);
+    }
+
+    public function testInvalidGuidesXmlShowsLineNumber(): void
+    {
+        $binPath = dirname(__DIR__, 2) . '/bin/guides';
+
+        $process = new Process([
+            'php',
+            $binPath,
+            'run',
+            '--config=' . $this->tempDir,
+            $this->tempDir,
+        ]);
+
+        $process->run();
+
+        $stderr = $process->getErrorOutput();
+
+        // Should show XSD validation error with line number
+        self::assertStringContainsString('Line 3', $stderr);
+        self::assertStringContainsString('theme', $stderr);
+    }
+
+    public function testValidGuidesXmlRendersSuccessfully(): void
+    {
+        $binPath = dirname(__DIR__, 2) . '/bin/guides';
+        $validFixturePath = __DIR__ . '/tests/getting-started/input';
+
+        // Skip if fixture doesn't exist
+        if (!is_dir($validFixturePath)) {
+            self::markTestSkipped('Valid fixture not available');
+        }
+
+        $outputPath = sys_get_temp_dir() . '/render-guides-test-' . uniqid();
+
+        $process = new Process([
+            'php',
+            $binPath,
+            'run',
+            '--config=' . $validFixturePath,
+            '--output=' . $outputPath,
+            $validFixturePath,
+        ]);
+
+        $process->run();
+
+        // Clean up
+        if (is_dir($outputPath)) {
+            system('rm -rf ' . escapeshellarg($outputPath));
+        }
+
+        // Should succeed
+        self::assertSame(0, $process->getExitCode(), 'Expected exit code 0 for valid guides.xml. Error: ' . $process->getErrorOutput());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/invalid-guides-xml/Index.rst b/tests/fixtures/invalid-guides-xml/Index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..50a726c9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/invalid-guides-xml/Index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+=====
+Test
+=====
+
+This should not render due to invalid guides.xml.
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/invalid-guides-xml/guides.xml.fixture b/tests/fixtures/invalid-guides-xml/guides.xml.fixture
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..88cc4c732
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fixtures/invalid-guides-xml/guides.xml.fixture
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<guides xmlns="https://www.phpdoc.org/guides">
+    <theme name="typo3docs" />
+    <project title="Test" />
+</guides>