diff --git a/lib/asciidoctor/cli/invoker.rb b/lib/asciidoctor/cli/invoker.rb
index 74458f07b2..d531c2eebc 100644
--- a/lib/asciidoctor/cli/invoker.rb
+++ b/lib/asciidoctor/cli/invoker.rb
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ def invoke!
         return unless @options
 
         old_verbose = $VERBOSE
+        logger = LoggerManager.logger
         old_logger = old_logger_level = nil
         opts = {}
         infiles = []
@@ -67,13 +68,12 @@ def invoke!
             when 0
               $VERBOSE = nil
               old_logger = LoggerManager.logger
-              LoggerManager.logger = NullLogger.new
+              LoggerManager.logger = (logger = NullLogger.new)
             when 1
               $VERBOSE = false
             when 2
               $VERBOSE = true
-              old_logger_level = LoggerManager.logger.level
-              LoggerManager.logger.level = ::Logger::Severity::DEBUG
+              old_logger_level, logger.level = logger.level, ::Logger::Severity::DEBUG
             end
           else
             opts[key] = val unless val.nil?
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ def invoke!
             end
           end
         end
+        @code = 1 if (logger.respond_to? :max_severity) && (max_severity = logger.max_severity) && max_severity >= opts[:failure_level]
       rescue ::Exception => e
         if ::SignalException === e
           @code = e.signo
@@ -155,7 +156,7 @@ def invoke!
         if old_logger
           LoggerManager.logger = old_logger
         elsif old_logger_level
-          LoggerManager.logger.level = old_logger_level
+          logger.level = old_logger_level
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/asciidoctor/cli/options.rb b/lib/asciidoctor/cli/options.rb
index dd4828b794..50ce165a42 100644
--- a/lib/asciidoctor/cli/options.rb
+++ b/lib/asciidoctor/cli/options.rb
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ def initialize(options = {})
         self[:base_dir] = options[:base_dir]
         self[:source_dir] = options[:source_dir] || nil
         self[:destination_dir] = options[:destination_dir] || nil
+        self[:failure_level] = ::Logger::Severity::FATAL
         self[:trace] = false
         self[:timings] = false
       end
@@ -119,6 +120,10 @@ def parse!(args)
               'may be specified more than once') do |path|
             (self[:requires] ||= []).concat(path.split ',')
           end
+          opts.on('--failure-level LEVEL', %w(warning WARNING error ERROR), 'set severity level that triggers a non-zero exit code: [WARN, ERROR] (default: FATAL)') do |level|
+            level = 'WARN' if (level = level.upcase) == 'WARNING'
+            self[:failure_level] = ::Logger::Severity.const_get level
+          end
           opts.on('-q', '--quiet', 'suppress warnings (default: false)') do |verbose|
             self[:verbose] = 0
           end
diff --git a/lib/asciidoctor/logging.rb b/lib/asciidoctor/logging.rb
index 9b4aa06310..3d9efadc14 100644
--- a/lib/asciidoctor/logging.rb
+++ b/lib/asciidoctor/logging.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 module Asciidoctor
 class Logger < ::Logger
+  attr_reader :max_severity
+
   def initialize *args
     super
     self.progname = 'asciidoctor'
@@ -9,6 +11,13 @@ def initialize *args
     self.level = WARN
   end
 
+  def add severity, message = nil, progname = nil
+    if (severity ||= UNKNOWN) > (@max_severity ||= severity)
+      @max_severity = severity
+    end
+    super
+  end
+
   class BasicFormatter < Formatter
     SEVERITY_LABELS = { 'WARN' => 'WARNING', 'FATAL' => 'FAILED' }
 
@@ -37,23 +46,32 @@ def initialize
 
   def add severity, message = nil, progname = nil
     message = block_given? ? yield : progname unless message
-    @messages << { :severity => SEVERITY_LABELS[severity], :message => message }
+    @messages << { :severity => SEVERITY_LABELS[severity || UNKNOWN], :message => message }
     true
   end
 
+  def clear
+    @messages.clear
+  end
+
   def empty?
     @messages.empty?
   end
 
-  def clear
-    @messages.clear
+  def max_severity
+    empty? ? nil : @messages.map {|m| Severity.const_get m[:severity] }.max
   end
 end
 
 class NullLogger < ::Logger
+  attr_reader :max_severity
+
   def initialize; end
 
-  def add *args
+  def add severity, message = nil, progname = nil
+    if (severity ||= UNKNOWN) > (@max_severity ||= severity)
+      @max_severity = severity
+    end
     true
   end
 end
diff --git a/test/invoker_test.rb b/test/invoker_test.rb
index 4d66a6e854..d44bb1dd45 100644
--- a/test/invoker_test.rb
+++ b/test/invoker_test.rb
@@ -179,6 +179,18 @@ def readlines
     assert_equal '', warnings
   end
 
+  test 'should return non-zero exit code if failure level is reached' do
+    input = <<-EOS
+2. second
+3. third
+    EOS
+    exit_code, messages = redirect_streams do |_, err|
+      [invoke_cli(%w(-q --failure-level=WARN -o /dev/null), '-') { input }.code, err.string]
+    end
+    assert_equal 1, exit_code
+    assert messages.empty?
+  end
+
   test 'should report usage if no input file given' do
     redirect_streams do |out, err|
       invoke_cli [], nil
diff --git a/test/options_test.rb b/test/options_test.rb
index a8d097aaeb..a262998342 100644
--- a/test/options_test.rb
+++ b/test/options_test.rb
@@ -202,6 +202,33 @@
     end
   end
 
+  test 'should set failure level to FATAL by default' do
+    options = Asciidoctor::Cli::Options.parse! %W(test/fixtures/sample.asciidoc)
+    assert_equal ::Logger::Severity::FATAL, options[:failure_level]
+  end
+
+  test 'should allow failure level to be set to WARN' do
+    %w(w warn WARN warning WARNING).each do |val|
+      options = Asciidoctor::Cli::Options.parse!(%W(--failure-level=#{val} test/fixtures/sample.asciidoc))
+      assert_equal ::Logger::Severity::WARN, options[:failure_level]
+    end
+  end
+
+  test 'should allow failure level to be set to ERROR' do
+    %w(e err ERR error ERROR).each do |val|
+      options = Asciidoctor::Cli::Options.parse!(%W(--failure-level=#{val} test/fixtures/sample.asciidoc))
+      assert_equal ::Logger::Severity::ERROR, options[:failure_level]
+    end
+  end
+
+  test 'should not allow failure level to be set to unknown value' do
+    exit_code, messages = redirect_streams do |_, err|
+      [(Asciidoctor::Cli::Options.parse! %W(--failure-level=foobar test/fixtures/sample.asciidoc)), err.string]
+    end
+    assert_equal 1, exit_code
+    assert_includes messages, 'invalid argument: --failure-level=foobar'
+  end
+
   test 'should set verbose to 2 when -v flag is specified' do
     options = Asciidoctor::Cli::Options.parse!(%w(-v test/fixtures/sample.asciidoc))
     assert_equal 2, options[:verbose]