diff --git a/ci-automation/ci_automation_common.sh b/ci-automation/ci_automation_common.sh
index 80d1ac4cd03..fb38d87e5ae 100644
--- a/ci-automation/ci_automation_common.sh
+++ b/ci-automation/ci_automation_common.sh
@@ -232,10 +232,15 @@ function docker_image_from_buildcache() {
     local url="https://${BUILDCACHE_SERVER}/containers/${version}/${tgz}"
     local url_release="https://mirror.release.flatcar-linux.net/containers/${version}/${tgz}"
 
-    curl --fail --silent --show-error --location --retry-delay 1 --retry 60 \
+    local curl_progress=(--silent --show-error)
+    if [[ -t 2 ]]; then
+        curl_progress=(--progress-bar)
+    fi
+
+    curl --fail "${curl_progress[@]}" --location --retry-delay 1 --retry 60 \
         --retry-connrefused --retry-max-time 60 --connect-timeout 20 \
         --remote-name "${url}" \
-        || curl --fail --silent --show-error --location --retry-delay 1 --retry 60 \
+        || curl --fail "${curl_progress[@]}" --location --retry-delay 1 --retry 60 \
         --retry-connrefused --retry-max-time 60 --connect-timeout 20 \
         --remote-name "${url_release}"
 
@@ -254,7 +259,7 @@ function docker_image_from_registry_or_buildcache() {
         return
     fi
 
-    echo "Falling back to tar ball download..." >&2
+    echo "Container image not found in registry, downloading SDK tarball instead (this is normal for nightly builds)..." >&2
     docker_image_from_buildcache "${image}" "${version}" zst || \
         docker_image_from_buildcache "${image}" "${version}" gz
 }
diff --git a/sdk_lib/sdk_container_common.sh b/sdk_lib/sdk_container_common.sh
index 2e02da42f73..ba500787b78 100644
--- a/sdk_lib/sdk_container_common.sh
+++ b/sdk_lib/sdk_container_common.sh
@@ -303,6 +303,7 @@ function gnupg_ssh_gcloud_mount_opts() {
     if [[ -e ${GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS:-} ]] ; then
         creds_dir=$(dirname "${GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS}")
         if [[ -d ${creds_dir} ]] ; then
+            echo "Mounting gcloud credentials from ${creds_dir} (used for artifact uploads, safe to ignore if not needed, not baked into any image)"
             echo "-v $creds_dir:$creds_dir"
             args_ref+=( -v "${creds_dir}:${creds_dir}" )
         fi