diff --git a/src/specify_cli/workflows/steps/gate/__init__.py b/src/specify_cli/workflows/steps/gate/__init__.py
index a2e473244e..e07b6ebd62 100644
--- a/src/specify_cli/workflows/steps/gate/__init__.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/workflows/steps/gate/__init__.py
@@ -194,7 +194,14 @@ def validate(self, config: dict[str, Any]) -> list[str]:
                 f"Gate step {config.get('id', '?')!r}: 'on_reject' must be "
                 f"'abort', 'skip', or 'retry'."
             )
-        if on_reject in ("abort", "retry") and isinstance(options, list):
+        # Only inspect option text when every option is a string; otherwise the
+        # `o.lower()` below would raise AttributeError on a non-string option
+        # (already reported above) and break validate_workflow's never-raise contract.
+        if (
+            on_reject in ("abort", "retry")
+            and isinstance(options, list)
+            and all(isinstance(o, str) for o in options)
+        ):
             reject_choices = {"reject", "abort"}
             if not any(o.lower() in reject_choices for o in options):
                 errors.append(
diff --git a/tests/test_workflows.py b/tests/test_workflows.py
index cee02c46ba..6da3380808 100644
--- a/tests/test_workflows.py
+++ b/tests/test_workflows.py
@@ -1434,6 +1434,23 @@ def test_validate_invalid_on_reject(self):
         })
         assert any("on_reject" in e for e in errors)
 
+    def test_validate_non_string_options_does_not_raise(self):
+        """Non-string options with on_reject=abort/retry must be REPORTED as an
+        error, not crash: the reject-choice check calls o.lower() on each option,
+        which previously raised AttributeError on a non-string option and broke
+        validate_workflow's 'return errors, never raise' contract."""
+        from specify_cli.workflows.steps.gate import GateStep
+
+        step = GateStep()
+        # on_reject defaults to "abort", which triggers the option-text check.
+        errors = step.validate({"id": "test", "message": "Review", "options": [123]})
+        assert any("must be strings" in e for e in errors)
+        # also with an explicit retry on_reject
+        errors = step.validate(
+            {"id": "test", "message": "Review", "options": [True], "on_reject": "retry"}
+        )
+        assert any("must be strings" in e for e in errors)
+
     def test_interactive_prompt_renders_show_file(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch, capsys):
         from specify_cli.workflows.steps.gate import GateStep
         from specify_cli.workflows.base import StepContext, StepStatus