diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 40486e0..177b244 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ This action uses the AWS SDK default credential provider chain. Configure AWS cr
 This action requires the following permissions:
 
 - cloudformation:DescribeStacks
+- cloudformation:GetTemplate
 - cloudformation:UpdateStack
 - cloudformation:DescribeStackEvents
 
@@ -62,6 +63,6 @@ The action will monitor stack update progress and fail if update fails.
 This action doesn't work for stacks that rely on template transformations
 (stack template has non-empty [“Transform” section][transform]).
 
-On such stacks UpdateStack API call does not recognize parameters-only changes and the action reports there's nothing to update.
+On such stacks the UpdateStack API call does not recognize parameters-only changes. The action detects a non-empty Transform section up front and fails with a clear error instead of silently reporting there's nothing to update.
 
 [transform]: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/transform-section-structure.html
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index dfc6fcf..e5644e8 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"crypto/rand"
 	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
@@ -66,6 +67,18 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, stackName string, args []string) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("DescribeStacks returned %d stacks, expected 1", l)
 	}
 	stack := desc.Stacks[0]
+
+	tmpl, err := svc.GetTemplate(ctx, &cloudformation.GetTemplateInput{
+		StackName:     &stackName,
+		TemplateStage: types.TemplateStageOriginal,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if hasTransform(unptr(tmpl.TemplateBody)) {
+		return errors.New("stack relies on template transformations (non-empty Transform section); parameters-only updates are not supported, see README")
+	}
+
 	var params []types.Parameter
 	for _, p := range stack.Parameters {
 		k := unptr(p.ParameterKey)
@@ -207,6 +220,35 @@ func parseKvs(list []string) (map[string]string, error) {
 	return out, nil
 }
 
+// hasTransform reports whether a CloudFormation template body declares a
+// non-empty top-level Transform section. Templates may be JSON or YAML; YAML
+// short-form intrinsics (!Ref, !GetAtt, …) make full parsing impractical, so the
+// YAML path only looks for a top-level Transform key.
+func hasTransform(body string) bool {
+	trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(body)
+	if strings.HasPrefix(trimmed, "{") {
+		var doc struct {
+			Transform json.RawMessage `json:"Transform"`
+		}
+		if json.Unmarshal([]byte(trimmed), &doc) != nil {
+			return false // let UpdateStack surface a malformed template
+		}
+		switch strings.TrimSpace(string(doc.Transform)) {
+		case "", "null", "[]", `""`:
+			return false
+		default:
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	for _, line := range strings.Split(body, "\n") {
+		line = strings.TrimRight(line, "\r")
+		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "Transform:") || strings.HasPrefix(line, "Transform ") {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 func unptr[T any](v *T) T {
 	var zero T
 	if v != nil {
diff --git a/main_test.go b/main_test.go
index bd25d7a..9a0c607 100644
--- a/main_test.go
+++ b/main_test.go
@@ -27,3 +27,27 @@ func Test_parseKvs(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_hasTransform(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		name string
+		body string
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{name: "yaml with transform", body: "AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'\nTransform: AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31\nResources: {}\n", want: true},
+		{name: "yaml transform list", body: "Transform:\n  - AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31\nResources: {}\n", want: true},
+		{name: "yaml no transform", body: "AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'\nResources:\n  Q:\n    Type: AWS::SQS::Queue\n", want: false},
+		{name: "yaml nested transform key", body: "Resources:\n  Transform: something\n", want: false},
+		{name: "json with transform", body: `{"Transform": "AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31", "Resources": {}}`, want: true},
+		{name: "json transform list", body: `{"Transform": ["AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31"], "Resources": {}}`, want: true},
+		{name: "json no transform", body: `{"Resources": {}}`, want: false},
+		{name: "json null transform", body: `{"Transform": null, "Resources": {}}`, want: false},
+		{name: "empty", body: "", want: false},
+	} {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			if got := hasTransform(tc.body); got != tc.want {
+				t.Errorf("hasTransform() = %v, want %v", got, tc.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}