diff --git a/pkg/crt/docker/dockercrtclient/dockercrtclient.go b/pkg/crt/docker/dockercrtclient/dockercrtclient.go
index e1be5da20..2ede2eed4 100644
--- a/pkg/crt/docker/dockercrtclient/dockercrtclient.go
+++ b/pkg/crt/docker/dockercrtclient/dockercrtclient.go
@@ -104,10 +104,16 @@ func (ref *Instance) BuildImage(options imagebuilder.DockerfileBuildOptions) err
 		}
 	}
 
+	// go-dockerclient's BuildImage() unconditionally rejects a nil OutputStream
+	// (see vendor/github.com/fsouza/go-dockerclient/image.go,
+	// ErrMissingOutputStream), so a destination must always be provided, not
+	// just when showBuildLogs is requested (mintoolkit/mint#87). The buffer is
+	// reset on every build so BuildOutputLog() can never return the output of
+	// a previous build, including when the caller supplies its own stream.
+	ref.buildLog.Reset()
 	if options.OutputStream != nil {
 		buildOptions.OutputStream = options.OutputStream
-	} else if ref.showBuildLogs {
-		ref.buildLog.Reset()
+	} else {
 		buildOptions.OutputStream = &ref.buildLog
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/crt/docker/dockercrtclient/repro_test.go b/pkg/crt/docker/dockercrtclient/repro_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ad2c7f4f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/crt/docker/dockercrtclient/repro_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+package dockercrtclient
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	docker "github.com/fsouza/go-dockerclient"
+
+	"github.com/mintoolkit/mint/pkg/imagebuilder"
+)
+
+// TestBuildImage_MissingOutputStream_Issue87 reproduces mintoolkit/mint#87
+// ("Missing output stream"): building a Dockerfile-based ("fat") image
+// through the internal build engine (dockercrtclient), WITHOUT passing an
+// explicit OutputStream and WITHOUT --show-blogs (showBuildLogs=false),
+// must not immediately fail with "missing output stream" coming from the
+// vendored fsouza/go-dockerclient BuildImage(), which requires a non-nil
+// OutputStream unconditionally.
+func TestBuildImage_MissingOutputStream_Issue87(t *testing.T) {
+	client, err := docker.NewClientFromEnv()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("no docker client available, skipping live repro: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := client.Ping(); err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("no docker daemon reachable, skipping live repro: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	dockerfile := "FROM scratch\nCOPY hello.txt /hello.txt\n"
+	if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, "Dockerfile"), []byte(dockerfile), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write Dockerfile: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, "hello.txt"), []byte("hello\n"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write hello.txt: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// Unique per run so the test can never overwrite or delete an image that
+	// happens to exist on the developer's machine, and so parallel runs on the
+	// same daemon don't collide.
+	imageTag := fmt.Sprintf("mint-issue87-repro-%d:test", time.Now().UnixNano())
+
+	b := NewBuilder(client, false) // showBuildLogs=false, matches the report (no --show-blogs)
+
+	opts := imagebuilder.DockerfileBuildOptions{
+		Dockerfile:   "Dockerfile",
+		BuildContext: dir,
+		ImagePath:    imageTag,
+		// OutputStream intentionally left nil - this is the exact shape
+		// buildFatImage() in pkg/app/master/command/build/image.go constructs.
+	}
+
+	buildErr := b.BuildImage(opts)
+	if buildErr == nil {
+		// Only clean up an image this test actually created.
+		t.Cleanup(func() {
+			if err := client.RemoveImage(imageTag); err != nil {
+				t.Logf("could not remove test image %s: %v", imageTag, err)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+
+	if buildErr != nil {
+		if strings.Contains(buildErr.Error(), "missing output stream") {
+			t.Fatalf("BuildImage failed with %q: options.OutputStream was nil and showBuildLogs=false, "+
+				"so no output destination was set and go-dockerclient rejected the build before running it", buildErr)
+		}
+		t.Fatalf("BuildImage failed for an unrelated reason: %v", buildErr)
+	}
+
+	if _, err := client.InspectImage(imageTag); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("image was not built despite BuildImage returning nil error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if b.BuildOutputLog() == "" {
+		t.Fatalf("expected the build log to be captured even with showBuildLogs=false")
+	}
+}