diff --git a/client/App.jsx b/client/App.jsx
index 13dbe8e..e78c76f 100644
--- a/client/App.jsx
+++ b/client/App.jsx
@@ -13,10 +13,21 @@ import ErrorBoundary from '@/components/ErrorBoundary';
 import PageLoader from '@/components/PageLoader';
 
 // TanStack Query
-import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from '@tanstack/react-query';
+import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider, QueryCache } from '@tanstack/react-query';
 import { ReactQueryDevtools } from '@tanstack/react-query-devtools';
+import { toast } from 'sonner';
 
 const queryClient = new QueryClient({
+  // Global error handling: pages render an inline error on the *initial* load
+  // (no data yet), so only surface a toast when a *background refetch* fails
+  // while stale data is still shown — otherwise the failure would be silent.
+  queryCache: new QueryCache({
+    onError: (error, query) => {
+      if (query.state.data !== undefined) {
+        toast.error(error?.message || 'Could not refresh — showing the last data.');
+      }
+    },
+  }),
   defaultOptions: {
     queries: {
       staleTime: 1000 * 60 * 2, // 2 minutes