diff --git a/_config.yml b/_config.yml
index 6047b501..9dcca032 100644
--- a/_config.yml
+++ b/_config.yml
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ parse:
 sphinx:
   config:
     linkcheck_ignore: ["https://doi.org/*",]
+    nb_execution_raise_on_error: true  # raise exception in build if there are notebook errors
     html_favicon: notebooks/images/icons/favicon.ico
     html_last_updated_fmt: '%-d %B %Y'
     html_theme: sphinx_pythia_theme
diff --git a/notebooks/notebook-template.ipynb b/notebooks/notebook-template.ipynb
index 4266bdab..b265ee66 100644
--- a/notebooks/notebook-template.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/notebook-template.ipynb
@@ -74,6 +74,16 @@
     "---"
    ]
   },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": null,
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "# THIS IS JUST FOR TESTING -- should raise exception\n",
+    "print(bob)"
+   ]
+  },
   {
    "cell_type": "markdown",
    "metadata": {},
@@ -295,7 +305,7 @@
    "name": "python",
    "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
    "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
-   "version": "3.11.0"
+   "version": "3.10.8"
   },
   "nbdime-conflicts": {
    "local_diff": [