diff --git a/src/__tests__/api.test.ts b/src/__tests__/api.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a243bfc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/__tests__/api.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { AxiosError, AxiosHeaders } from 'axios';
+
+import { isMissingScopeError } from '@lib/api';
+
+const axiosErrorWithStatus = (status: number): AxiosError => {
+  const error = new AxiosError('request failed');
+  error.response = {
+    status,
+    statusText: '',
+    data: {},
+    headers: {},
+    config: { headers: new AxiosHeaders() },
+  };
+  return error;
+};
+
+describe('isMissingScopeError', () => {
+  it('treats 401 as the benign missing-scope degradation', () => {
+    expect(isMissingScopeError(axiosErrorWithStatus(401))).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('treats 403 as the benign missing-scope degradation', () => {
+    expect(isMissingScopeError(axiosErrorWithStatus(403))).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('does not swallow other HTTP errors', () => {
+    expect(isMissingScopeError(axiosErrorWithStatus(500))).toBe(false);
+    expect(isMissingScopeError(axiosErrorWithStatus(404))).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('does not treat non-axios errors as missing-scope', () => {
+    expect(isMissingScopeError(new Error('boom'))).toBe(false);
+    expect(isMissingScopeError('boom')).toBe(false);
+    expect(isMissingScopeError(undefined)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/api.ts b/src/lib/api.ts
index ba478a82..c276f635 100644
--- a/src/lib/api.ts
+++ b/src/lib/api.ts
@@ -237,8 +237,9 @@ const IntegrationsResponseSchema = z.object({
 /**
  * Check whether the project already has a Slack integration connected.
  * Requires the `integration:read` scope. Throws on failure — callers
- * (including the SlackConnectScreen poll) decide how to degrade and
- * are responsible for capturing the error exactly once.
+ * (including the SlackConnectScreen poll) decide how to degrade. A
+ * missing-scope 401/403 is an expected outcome, not a crash: use
+ * `isMissingScopeError` to tell it apart from failures worth capturing.
  */
 export async function fetchSlackConnected(
   accessToken: string,
@@ -261,6 +262,21 @@ export async function fetchSlackConnected(
   return parsed.data.results.some((i) => i.kind === 'slack');
 }
 
+/**
+ * True when an error from `fetchSlackConnected` is the expected, documented
+ * degradation: the access token lacks the `integration:read` scope, so the
+ * integrations endpoint answers 401/403. This is a benign "scope unavailable
+ * / treat as not connected" outcome (see `CONNECT_SLACK_SCOPE_ADDITIONS`),
+ * not a crash — callers fall back to the connect nudge and should NOT capture
+ * it as an exception. Genuinely unexpected failures (network, 5xx, parse)
+ * return false here and stay worth capturing.
+ */
+export function isMissingScopeError(error: unknown): boolean {
+  if (!axios.isAxiosError(error)) return false;
+  const status = error.response?.status;
+  return status === 401 || status === 403;
+}
+
 export function handleApiError(error: unknown, operation: string): ApiError {
   if (axios.isAxiosError(error)) {
     const axiosError = error as AxiosError<{ detail?: string }>;
diff --git a/src/ui/tui/screens/SlackConnectScreen.tsx b/src/ui/tui/screens/SlackConnectScreen.tsx
index 9db8f74d..cac6dbf3 100644
--- a/src/ui/tui/screens/SlackConnectScreen.tsx
+++ b/src/ui/tui/screens/SlackConnectScreen.tsx
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ import { Colors, Icons } from '@ui/tui/styles';
 import { PickerMenu, LoadingBox } from '@ui/tui/primitives/index';
 import { useKeyBindings, KeyMatch } from '@ui/tui/hooks/useKeyBindings';
 import { getSlackAppCard } from '@lib/mcp-role-prompts';
-import { fetchSlackConnected } from '@lib/api';
+import { fetchSlackConnected, isMissingScopeError } from '@lib/api';
 import { Program } from '@lib/programs/program-registry';
 import { getOrAskForProjectData } from '@utils/setup-utils';
 import { analytics } from '@utils/analytics';
@@ -155,17 +155,23 @@ export const SlackConnectScreen = ({ store }: SlackConnectScreenProps) => {
         })
         .catch((err: unknown) => {
           if (cancelled) return;
-          // Capture once and stop polling — repeating a failing call
-          // every tick would spam error tracking. The nudge copy is
-          // the fallback either way; a failed check counts as not
-          // connected so the screen doesn't sit on the loading state.
+          // Stop polling either way — repeating a failing call every tick
+          // would spam. The nudge copy is the fallback; a failed check
+          // counts as not connected so the screen doesn't sit on the
+          // loading state.
           if (store.session.slackConnected === null) {
             store.setSlackConnected(false);
           }
-          analytics.captureException(
-            err instanceof Error ? err : new Error(String(err)),
-            { step: 'slack_connected_check' },
-          );
+          // A 401/403 is the documented degradation path: the token lacks
+          // `integration:read`, so the check can't run. That's expected and
+          // already handled by the nudge fallback — don't pollute error
+          // tracking with it. Capture only genuinely unexpected failures.
+          if (!isMissingScopeError(err)) {
+            analytics.captureException(
+              err instanceof Error ? err : new Error(String(err)),
+              { step: 'slack_connected_check' },
+            );
+          }
         });
     };
     check();