diff --git a/packages/backend/convex/githubClient.ts b/packages/backend/convex/githubClient.ts
index 48b242b..1b2b5f1 100644
--- a/packages/backend/convex/githubClient.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/convex/githubClient.ts
@@ -102,10 +102,20 @@ export const isRateLimitError = (error: unknown): boolean => {
   if (err.status !== 403 && err.status !== 429) return false;
   if (err.status === 429) return true;
   const message = typeof err.message === 'string' ? err.message.toLowerCase() : '';
-  if (message.includes('rate limit')) return true;
+  if (
+    message.includes('rate limit') ||
+    message.includes('secondary rate limit') ||
+    message.includes('abuse')
+  ) {
+    return true;
+  }
   const headers = err.response?.headers ?? {};
+  // Genuinely exhausted primary rate limit. Note: GitHub sends X-RateLimit-*
+  // headers (including x-ratelimit-reset) on essentially every REST response,
+  // so a bare reset header must NOT be treated as a rate limit — a plain 403
+  // auth failure ("Resource not accessible by integration") carries a positive
+  // x-ratelimit-remaining and must stay classified as an error, not rate limit.
   if (headers['x-ratelimit-remaining'] === '0') return true;
-  if (headers['x-ratelimit-reset'] !== undefined) return true;
   return false;
 };
 
diff --git a/packages/backend/tests/unit/rate-limit.test.ts b/packages/backend/tests/unit/rate-limit.test.ts
index d349da7..cdd6454 100644
--- a/packages/backend/tests/unit/rate-limit.test.ts
+++ b/packages/backend/tests/unit/rate-limit.test.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,24 @@ describe('isRateLimitError', () => {
     ).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  test('does not misclassify a plain 403 auth error as rate limited', () => {
+    // GitHub sends X-RateLimit-* headers on essentially every REST response,
+    // including a permission-denied 403 where remaining is still positive.
+    // A reset header being present must NOT count as a rate limit.
+    expect(
+      isRateLimitError({
+        status: 403,
+        message: 'Resource not accessible by integration',
+        response: {
+          headers: {
+            'x-ratelimit-remaining': '4998',
+            'x-ratelimit-reset': '1700000000',
+          },
+        },
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   test('returns false for a 404', () => {
     expect(isRateLimitError({ status: 404 })).toBe(false);
   });