diff --git a/scripts/review-bot-watch.sh b/scripts/review-bot-watch.sh
index 064a71a..c75deb4 100755
--- a/scripts/review-bot-watch.sh
+++ b/scripts/review-bot-watch.sh
@@ -64,6 +64,36 @@ normalize_bool() {
   esac
 }
 
+gh_api_probe_looks_like_network_failure() {
+  local probe_output="$1"
+  [[ "$probe_output" =~ error[[:space:]]connecting[[:space:]]to[[:space:]]api\.github\.com|Could[[:space:]]not[[:space:]]resolve[[:space:]]host|could[[:space:]]not[[:space:]]resolve[[:space:]]host|Failed[[:space:]]to[[:space:]]connect|failed[[:space:]]to[[:space:]]connect|Network[[:space:]]is[[:space:]]unreachable|network[[:space:]]is[[:space:]]unreachable|Connection[[:space:]]timed[[:space:]]out|connection[[:space:]]timed[[:space:]]out|Temporary[[:space:]]failure[[:space:]]in[[:space:]]name[[:space:]]resolution|temporary[[:space:]]failure[[:space:]]in[[:space:]]name[[:space:]]resolution ]]
+}
+
+ensure_gh_auth_or_explain() {
+  local auth_output probe_output
+  if auth_output="$(gh auth status 2>&1)"; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  if probe_output="$(gh api user --jq .login 2>&1)"; then
+    echo "[review-bot-watch] gh auth status failed, but gh api user succeeded; continuing with usable GitHub auth." >&2
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  if gh_api_probe_looks_like_network_failure "$probe_output"; then
+    echo "[review-bot-watch] GitHub API is unreachable, so gh cannot validate the stored token." >&2
+    echo "[review-bot-watch] This is a network or Codex sandbox connectivity problem, not proof that the token is invalid." >&2
+    echo "$probe_output" >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
+
+  echo "[review-bot-watch] gh is not authenticated. Run: gh auth login" >&2
+  if [[ -n "$auth_output" ]]; then
+    echo "$auth_output" >&2
+  fi
+  return 1
+}
+
 ONCE=0
 
 while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
@@ -153,8 +183,7 @@ if ! command -v codex >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   exit 127
 fi
 
-if ! gh auth status >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-  echo "[review-bot-watch] gh is not authenticated. Run: gh auth login" >&2
+if ! ensure_gh_auth_or_explain; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
diff --git a/src/cli/main.js b/src/cli/main.js
index 21d12fa..4934fbd 100755
--- a/src/cli/main.js
+++ b/src/cli/main.js
@@ -3326,6 +3326,25 @@ function renderGeneratedReleaseNotes(entries, currentTag, previousTag) {
   return `GitGuardex ${currentTag}\n\n${intro}\n\n${sections}`;
 }
 
+function describeGhAuthFailure(ghBin, authStatus) {
+  if (authStatus.error) {
+    return `unable to run '${ghBin} auth status': ${authStatus.error.message}`;
+  }
+
+  const authDetails = (authStatus.stderr || authStatus.stdout || '').trim();
+  const apiProbe = run(ghBin, ['api', 'user', '--jq', '.login'], { timeout: 20_000 });
+  if (apiProbe.status === 0) {
+    return '';
+  }
+
+  const apiDetails = (apiProbe.stderr || apiProbe.stdout || apiProbe.error?.message || '').trim();
+  if (/error connecting to api\.github\.com|could not resolve host|failed to connect|network is unreachable|connection timed out|temporary failure in name resolution/i.test(apiDetails)) {
+    return `GitHub API is unreachable, so '${ghBin} auth status' cannot validate the stored token. This is a network or sandbox connectivity problem, not proof that the token is invalid.${apiDetails ? `\n${apiDetails}` : ''}`;
+  }
+
+  return `'${ghBin}' auth is unavailable.${authDetails ? `\n${authDetails}` : ''}`;
+}
+
 function buildReleaseNotesFromReadme(repoRoot, currentTag, previousTag) {
   const readme = readRepoReadme(repoRoot);
   const entries = parseReadmeReleaseEntries(readme);
@@ -3353,12 +3372,11 @@ function release(rawArgs) {
   }
 
   const ghAuthStatus = run(GH_BIN, ['auth', 'status'], { timeout: 20_000 });
-  if (ghAuthStatus.error) {
-    throw new Error(`Release blocked: unable to run '${GH_BIN} auth status': ${ghAuthStatus.error.message}`);
-  }
   if (ghAuthStatus.status !== 0) {
-    const details = (ghAuthStatus.stderr || ghAuthStatus.stdout || '').trim();
-    throw new Error(`Release blocked: '${GH_BIN}' auth is unavailable.${details ? `\n${details}` : ''}`);
+    const ghAuthFailure = describeGhAuthFailure(GH_BIN, ghAuthStatus);
+    if (ghAuthFailure) {
+      throw new Error(`Release blocked: ${ghAuthFailure}`);
+    }
   }
 
   const releasePackageJson = readReleaseRepoPackageJson(repoRoot);
diff --git a/templates/scripts/review-bot-watch.sh b/templates/scripts/review-bot-watch.sh
index 064a71a..c75deb4 100755
--- a/templates/scripts/review-bot-watch.sh
+++ b/templates/scripts/review-bot-watch.sh
@@ -64,6 +64,36 @@ normalize_bool() {
   esac
 }
 
+gh_api_probe_looks_like_network_failure() {
+  local probe_output="$1"
+  [[ "$probe_output" =~ error[[:space:]]connecting[[:space:]]to[[:space:]]api\.github\.com|Could[[:space:]]not[[:space:]]resolve[[:space:]]host|could[[:space:]]not[[:space:]]resolve[[:space:]]host|Failed[[:space:]]to[[:space:]]connect|failed[[:space:]]to[[:space:]]connect|Network[[:space:]]is[[:space:]]unreachable|network[[:space:]]is[[:space:]]unreachable|Connection[[:space:]]timed[[:space:]]out|connection[[:space:]]timed[[:space:]]out|Temporary[[:space:]]failure[[:space:]]in[[:space:]]name[[:space:]]resolution|temporary[[:space:]]failure[[:space:]]in[[:space:]]name[[:space:]]resolution ]]
+}
+
+ensure_gh_auth_or_explain() {
+  local auth_output probe_output
+  if auth_output="$(gh auth status 2>&1)"; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  if probe_output="$(gh api user --jq .login 2>&1)"; then
+    echo "[review-bot-watch] gh auth status failed, but gh api user succeeded; continuing with usable GitHub auth." >&2
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  if gh_api_probe_looks_like_network_failure "$probe_output"; then
+    echo "[review-bot-watch] GitHub API is unreachable, so gh cannot validate the stored token." >&2
+    echo "[review-bot-watch] This is a network or Codex sandbox connectivity problem, not proof that the token is invalid." >&2
+    echo "$probe_output" >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
+
+  echo "[review-bot-watch] gh is not authenticated. Run: gh auth login" >&2
+  if [[ -n "$auth_output" ]]; then
+    echo "$auth_output" >&2
+  fi
+  return 1
+}
+
 ONCE=0
 
 while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
@@ -153,8 +183,7 @@ if ! command -v codex >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   exit 127
 fi
 
-if ! gh auth status >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-  echo "[review-bot-watch] gh is not authenticated. Run: gh auth login" >&2
+if ! ensure_gh_auth_or_explain; then
   exit 1
 fi
 
diff --git a/test/agents.test.js b/test/agents.test.js
index b51ecdd..191b2b4 100644
--- a/test/agents.test.js
+++ b/test/agents.test.js
@@ -84,6 +84,36 @@ test('review-bot-watch uses explicit codex-agent flags for argument parsing comp
 });
 
 
+test('review-bot-watch reports GitHub network failure separately from invalid auth', () => {
+  const repoDir = initRepo();
+  seedCommit(repoDir);
+  const fakeGh = createFakeGhScript(`
+if [[ "$1" == "auth" && "$2" == "status" ]]; then
+  echo "github.com" >&2
+  echo "  X github.com: authentication failed" >&2
+  echo "  - The github.com token in /home/deadpool/.config/gh/hosts.yml is no longer valid." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [[ "$1" == "api" && "$2" == "user" ]]; then
+  echo "error connecting to api.github.com" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "unexpected gh args: $*" >&2
+exit 1
+`);
+  const fakeCodex = createFakeBin('codex', 'exit 0');
+
+  const result = runReviewBot(['--once'], repoDir, {
+    PATH: `${fakeGh.fakeBin}:${fakeCodex.fakeBin}:${process.env.PATH}`,
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(result.status, 1);
+  assert.match(result.stderr, /GitHub API is unreachable/);
+  assert.match(result.stderr, /network or Codex sandbox connectivity problem/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(result.stderr, /Run: gh auth login/);
+});
+
+
 test('review command launches local review-bot script and accepts legacy start token', () => {
   const repoDir = initRepo();
   const scriptsDir = path.join(repoDir, 'scripts');
diff --git a/test/release.test.js b/test/release.test.js
index 403bc8d..d780056 100644
--- a/test/release.test.js
+++ b/test/release.test.js
@@ -257,6 +257,96 @@ exit 1
 });
 
 
+test('release reports GitHub network failure separately from invalid auth', () => {
+  const repoDir = initRepoOnBranch('main');
+  seedReleasePackageManifest(repoDir);
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    path.join(repoDir, 'README.md'),
+    `## Release notes
+
+### v${cliVersion}
+- Current release fix.
+`,
+    'utf8',
+  );
+  seedCommit(repoDir);
+
+  const fakeGh = createFakeGhScript(`
+if [[ "$1" == "auth" && "$2" == "status" ]]; then
+  echo "github.com" >&2
+  echo "  X github.com: authentication failed" >&2
+  echo "  - The github.com token in /home/deadpool/.config/gh/hosts.yml is no longer valid." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [[ "$1" == "api" && "$2" == "user" ]]; then
+  echo "error connecting to api.github.com" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "unexpected gh args: $*" >&2
+exit 1
+`);
+
+  const result = runNodeWithEnv(['release'], repoDir, {
+    GUARDEX_RELEASE_REPO: repoDir,
+    GUARDEX_GH_BIN: fakeGh.fakePath,
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(result.status, 1);
+  assert.match(result.stderr, /GitHub API is unreachable/);
+  assert.match(result.stderr, /network or sandbox connectivity problem/);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(result.stderr, /Run: gh auth login/);
+});
+
+
+test('release continues when gh api proves auth despite auth status failure', () => {
+  const repoDir = initRepoOnBranch('main');
+  seedReleasePackageManifest(repoDir);
+  fs.writeFileSync(
+    path.join(repoDir, 'README.md'),
+    `## Release notes
+
+### v${cliVersion}
+- Current release fix.
+`,
+    'utf8',
+  );
+  seedCommit(repoDir);
+
+  const markerPath = path.join(repoDir, '.gh-release-auth-fallback-called');
+  const fakeGh = createFakeGhScript(`
+if [[ "$1" == "auth" && "$2" == "status" ]]; then
+  echo "github.com auth status failed" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [[ "$1" == "api" && "$2" == "user" ]]; then
+  echo "NagyVikt"
+  exit 0
+fi
+if [[ "$1" == "release" && "$2" == "list" ]]; then
+  exit 0
+fi
+if [[ "$1" == "release" && "$2" == "view" ]]; then
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [[ "$1" == "release" && "$2" == "create" ]]; then
+  printf '%s\\n' "$@" > "${markerPath}"
+  printf '%s\\n' "https://example.test/releases/tag/v${cliVersion}"
+  exit 0
+fi
+echo "unexpected gh args: $*" >&2
+exit 1
+`);
+
+  const result = runNodeWithEnv(['release'], repoDir, {
+    GUARDEX_RELEASE_REPO: repoDir,
+    GUARDEX_GH_BIN: fakeGh.fakePath,
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr || result.stdout);
+  assert.match(fs.readFileSync(markerPath, 'utf8'), /^create$/m);
+});
+
+
 test('typo helper maps relaese/realaese to release', () => {
   const repoDir = initRepoOnBranch('main');
   seedReleasePackageManifest(repoDir);