diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/compile-time-only/build.sbt b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/compile-time-only/build.sbt
index 12bdd2f9a..b3a0950e2 100644
--- a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/compile-time-only/build.sbt
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/compile-time-only/build.sbt
@@ -1 +1,12 @@
-libraryDependencies += "org.scala-sbt" % "sbt" % sbtVersion.value
\ No newline at end of file
+libraryDependencies += "org.scala-sbt" % "sbt" % sbtVersion.value
+
+
+lazy val expectErrorNotCrash = taskKey[Unit]("Ensures that sbt properly set types on Trees so that the compiler doesn't crash on a bad reference to .value, but gives a proper error instead.")
+
+expectErrorNotCrash := {
+	val fail = (compile in Compile).failure.value
+	fail.directCause match {
+		case Some(x: xsbti.CompileFailed) => ()
+		case _ => error("Compiler crashed instead of providing a compile-time-only exception.")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/compile-time-only/test b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/compile-time-only/test
index 43b7af6f1..5b8d05504 100644
--- a/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/compile-time-only/test
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/actions/compile-time-only/test
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ $ copy-file changes/A1.scala A.scala
 > compile
 
 $ copy-file changes/A2.scala A.scala
--> compile
+> expectErrorNotCrash
 
 $ copy-file changes/A3.scala A.scala
--> compile
\ No newline at end of file
+> expectErrorNotCrash