diff --git a/cmd/ninja/cmd/login.go b/cmd/ninja/cmd/login.go
index d456e53..478a724 100644
--- a/cmd/ninja/cmd/login.go
+++ b/cmd/ninja/cmd/login.go
@@ -38,11 +38,19 @@ func newLoginCmd() *cobra.Command {
 			fmt.Printf("Visit %s?user_code=%s to authorize.\n", start.Msg.VerificationUri, start.Msg.UserCode)
 			interval := time.Duration(start.Msg.IntervalSeconds) * time.Second
 			deadline := time.Now().Add(time.Duration(start.Msg.ExpiresInSeconds) * time.Second)
+			warned := false
 			for time.Now().Before(deadline) {
 				time.Sleep(interval)
 				poll, err := cli.Auth.PollDevice(ctx, connect.NewRequest(&v1.PollDeviceRequest{DeviceCode: start.Msg.DeviceCode}))
 				if err != nil {
-					return err
+					if !pollRetryable(err) {
+						return err
+					}
+					if !warned {
+						fmt.Printf("Temporary error while waiting for approval (will keep trying): %v\n", err)
+						warned = true
+					}
+					continue
 				}
 				switch poll.Msg.Status {
 				case "pending":
@@ -82,6 +90,18 @@ func newLoginCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	return cmd
 }
 
+// pollRetryable reports whether a PollDevice error is worth retrying until
+// the device-code deadline. Transient transport failures (a proxy 502 while
+// the backend restarts, timeouts) must not abort an attended login; NotFound
+// and InvalidArgument mean the server can never approve this code.
+func pollRetryable(err error) bool {
+	switch connect.CodeOf(err) {
+	case connect.CodeNotFound, connect.CodeInvalidArgument:
+		return false
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
 func newWhoamiCmd() *cobra.Command {
 	return &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "whoami",
diff --git a/cmd/ninja/cmd/login_test.go b/cmd/ninja/cmd/login_test.go
index 3037b23..bff8d4c 100644
--- a/cmd/ninja/cmd/login_test.go
+++ b/cmd/ninja/cmd/login_test.go
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 package cmd
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"testing"
 
+	"connectrpc.com/connect"
+
 	"git.dev.alexdunmow.com/block/cli/internal/creds"
 )
 
@@ -25,3 +28,18 @@ func TestApplyPolledAccount_EmptyFallsThrough(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("hc = %+v, want untouched", hc)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestPollRetryable(t *testing.T) {
+	if pollRetryable(connect.NewError(connect.CodeNotFound, errors.New("unknown device code"))) {
+		t.Error("NotFound must not be retried — the server no longer knows the code")
+	}
+	if pollRetryable(connect.NewError(connect.CodeInvalidArgument, errors.New("device_code is required"))) {
+		t.Error("InvalidArgument must not be retried")
+	}
+	if !pollRetryable(connect.NewError(connect.CodeUnavailable, errors.New("unavailable: 502 Bad Gateway"))) {
+		t.Error("Unavailable (proxy 502 during backend restart) must be retried")
+	}
+	if !pollRetryable(errors.New("plain network error")) {
+		t.Error("non-connect errors must be retried")
+	}
+}