diff --git a/analyzer/processes.go b/analyzer/processes.go
index 26a0ba60..75f29903 100644
--- a/analyzer/processes.go
+++ b/analyzer/processes.go
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
-	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 
 	"github.com/brimdata/zed/zio"
@@ -31,12 +30,12 @@ func runProcesses(ctx context.Context, r io.Reader, confs ...Config) (*operation
 	var writers []io.Writer
 	group, ctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
 	for _, conf := range confs {
-		cmd, writer, err := command(conf)
+		cmd, err := command(conf)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		group.Go(cmd.Run)
-		writers = append(writers, writer)
+		writers = append(writers, cmd)
 	}
 	writeCounter := new(writeCounter)
 	writers = append(writers, writeCounter)
@@ -47,12 +46,6 @@ func runProcesses(ctx context.Context, r io.Reader, confs ...Config) (*operation
 				closer.Close()
 			}
 		}
-		// Broken pipe errors and ErrClose are a result of a process
-		// shutting down. Return nil here since the process errors are
-		// more interesting.
-		if isPipe(err) || errors.Is(err, fs.ErrClosed) {
-			err = nil
-		}
 		return err
 	})
 	return &operation{
@@ -61,29 +54,47 @@ func runProcesses(ctx context.Context, r io.Reader, confs ...Config) (*operation
 	}, nil
 }
 
-func command(conf Config) (*wrappedCmd, io.WriteCloser, error) {
+func command(conf Config) (*wrappedCmd, error) {
 	cmd := exec.Command(conf.Cmd, conf.Args...)
 	cmd.Dir = conf.WorkDir
 	pw, err := cmd.StdinPipe()
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, err
+		return nil, err
 	}
 	return &wrappedCmd{
 		Cmd:         cmd,
 		stderrPath:  conf.StderrPath,
 		stderrSaver: &prefixSuffixSaver{N: 32 << 10},
+		stdinWriter: pw,
 		stdoutPath:  conf.StdoutPath,
 		stdoutSaver: &prefixSuffixSaver{N: 32 << 10},
-	}, pw, nil
+	}, nil
 }
 
 type wrappedCmd struct {
 	*exec.Cmd
+	stdinWriter io.WriteCloser
 	stdoutPath  string
 	stdoutSaver *prefixSuffixSaver
 	stderrPath  string
 	stderrSaver *prefixSuffixSaver
-	wg          sync.WaitGroup
+}
+
+func (c *wrappedCmd) Write(b []byte) (int, error) {
+	n, err := c.stdinWriter.Write(b)
+	// Broken pipe errors and ErrClose are a result of a process
+	// shutting down. Since this maybe a case of the process legitimately
+	// exiting without needing to read all data, we ignore these errors
+	// and pretend the write was successful so as not to hold up data getting
+	// sent to other processes.
+	if isPipe(err) || errors.Is(err, fs.ErrClosed) {
+		return len(b), nil
+	}
+	return n, err
+}
+
+func (c *wrappedCmd) Close() error {
+	return c.stdinWriter.Close()
 }
 
 func (c *wrappedCmd) Run() error {
diff --git a/cmd/brimcap/ztests/analyze-process-readall.yaml b/cmd/brimcap/ztests/analyze-process-readall.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e684d1a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/brimcap/ztests/analyze-process-readall.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+script: |
+  mkdir wd1; mv noread.sh wd1
+  mkdir wd2; mv readall.sh wd2
+  bash gen.sh | brimcap analyze -config=config.yaml - | zq -z 'count()' -
+
+inputs:
+  - name: alerts.pcap
+  - name: config.yaml
+    data: |
+      analyzers:
+        - cmd: bash
+          args: [noread.sh]
+          name: noread
+          globs: ["*.json"] # so ztail will not try to read all the other schtuff
+          workdir: wd1
+        - cmd: bash
+          args: [readall.sh]
+          name: readall
+          globs: ["*.zson"]
+          workdir: wd2
+  - name: gen.sh
+    data: |
+      for i in {1..10000}; do
+        echo "{x: $i}"
+      done
+  - name: noread.sh
+    data: |
+      exit 0
+  - name: readall.sh
+    data: |
+      cat /dev/stdin > readall.zson
+
+outputs:
+  - name: stdout
+    data: |
+      10000(uint64)