diff --git a/tagbot/action/repo.py b/tagbot/action/repo.py
index 1af04774..edbfdc81 100644
--- a/tagbot/action/repo.py
+++ b/tagbot/action/repo.py
@@ -1627,7 +1627,7 @@ def _release_already_exists(exc: GithubException) -> bool:
             if e.status == 422 and _release_already_exists(e):
                 logger.info(f"Release for tag {version_tag} already exists, skipping")
                 return
-            elif e.status == 403 and "resource not accessible" in str(e).lower():
+            elif self._is_resource_not_accessible_error(e):
                 logger.error(
                     "Release creation blocked: token lacks required permissions. "
                     "Use a PAT with contents:write (and workflows if tagging "
@@ -1641,6 +1641,17 @@ def _release_already_exists(exc: GithubException) -> bool:
             raise
         logger.info(f"GitHub release {version_tag} created successfully")
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _is_resource_not_accessible_error(exc: GithubException) -> bool:
+        """Identify GitHub's known 403 integration access error variant."""
+        if exc.status != 403:
+            return False
+        data = getattr(exc, "data", {}) or {}
+        message = str(data.get("message", "")) if isinstance(data, dict) else str(data)
+        if "resource not accessible" in message.lower():
+            return True
+        return "resource not accessible" in str(exc).lower()
+
     def _check_rate_limit(self) -> None:
         """Check and log GitHub API rate limit status."""
         try:
@@ -1655,43 +1666,55 @@ def _check_rate_limit(self) -> None:
 
     def handle_error(self, e: Exception, *, raise_abort: bool = True) -> None:
         """Handle an unexpected error."""
-        allowed = False
         internal = True
+        report_error = True
+        fatal = True
         trace = self._sanitize(traceback.format_exc())
         if isinstance(e, Abort):
             # Abort is a characterized user-side failure (e.g., permission denied,
             # missing deploy key). Don't report to TagBotErrorReports — the user
             # gets a manual intervention issue on their repo instead.
             internal = False
-            allowed = True
+            report_error = False
+            fatal = False
         elif isinstance(e, RequestException):
             logger.warning("TagBot encountered a likely transient HTTP exception")
             logger.info(trace)
-            allowed = True
+            report_error = False
+            fatal = False
         elif isinstance(e, GithubException):
             logger.info(e.headers)
             if 500 <= e.status < 600:
                 logger.warning("GitHub returned a 5xx error code")
                 logger.info(trace)
-                allowed = True
+                report_error = False
+                fatal = False
             elif e.status == 401:
                 logger.error(
                     "GitHub returned 401 Bad credentials. Verify that your token "
                     "is valid and has access to the repository and registry."
                 )
                 internal = False
-                allowed = False
             elif e.status == 403:
                 self._check_rate_limit()
-                logger.error(
-                    "GitHub returned a 403 error. This may indicate: "
-                    "1. Rate limiting - check the rate limit status above, "
-                    "2. Insufficient permissions - verify your token & repo access, "
-                    "3. Resource not accessible - see setup documentation"
-                )
-                internal = False
-                allowed = False
-        if not allowed:
+                if self._is_resource_not_accessible_error(e):
+                    logger.warning(
+                        "GitHub returned 403 Resource not accessible by integration; "
+                        "skipping internal error reporting for this known permissions "
+                        "scenario."
+                    )
+                    internal = False
+                    report_error = False
+                else:
+                    logger.error(
+                        "GitHub returned a 403 error. This may indicate: "
+                        "1. Rate limiting - check the rate limit status above, "
+                        "2. Insufficient permissions - verify your token & repo "
+                        "access, "
+                        "3. Resource not accessible - see setup documentation"
+                    )
+                    internal = False
+        if report_error:
             if internal:
                 logger.error("TagBot experienced an unexpected internal failure")
             logger.info(trace)
@@ -1700,8 +1723,8 @@ def handle_error(self, e: Exception, *, raise_abort: bool = True) -> None:
             except Exception:
                 logger.error("Issue reporting failed")
                 logger.info(traceback.format_exc())
-            if raise_abort:
-                raise Abort("Cannot continue due to internal failure")
+        if fatal and raise_abort:
+            raise Abort("Cannot continue due to internal failure")
 
     def commit_sha_of_version(self, version: str) -> Optional[str]:
         """Get the commit SHA from a registered version."""
diff --git a/test/action/test_backfilling.py b/test/action/test_backfilling.py
index 11a9715b..1d79dd41 100644
--- a/test/action/test_backfilling.py
+++ b/test/action/test_backfilling.py
@@ -9,7 +9,9 @@
 from tagbot.action.repo import Repo, _metrics
 
 
+@patch("tagbot.action.repo.Github")
 def _repo(
+    mock_github,
     *,
     repo="",
     registry="",
@@ -30,6 +32,9 @@ def _repo(
     subdir=None,
     tag_prefix=None,
 ):
+    mock_gh_instance = Mock()
+    mock_github.return_value = mock_gh_instance
+    mock_gh_instance.get_repo.return_value = Mock()
     return Repo(
         repo=repo,
         registry=registry,
diff --git a/test/action/test_repo.py b/test/action/test_repo.py
index e94c595f..2323fc41 100644
--- a/test/action/test_repo.py
+++ b/test/action/test_repo.py
@@ -153,7 +153,9 @@ def test_project_subdir():
     )
     assert r._project("name") == "FooBar"
     assert r._project("uuid") == "abc-def"
-    r._repo.get_contents.assert_called_once_with("path/to/FooBar.jl/Project.toml")
+    r._repo.get_contents.assert_called_once_with(
+        os.path.join("path/to/FooBar.jl", "Project.toml")
+    )
     r._repo.get_contents.side_effect = UnknownObjectException(404, "???", {})
     r._Repo__project = None
     with pytest.raises(InvalidProject):
@@ -974,7 +976,7 @@ def test_create_dispatch_event():
 @patch("tagbot.action.repo.mkstemp", side_effect=[(0, "abc"), (0, "xyz")] * 3)
 @patch("os.chmod")
 @patch("subprocess.run")
-@patch("pexpect.spawn")
+@patch("pexpect.spawn", create=True)
 def test_configure_ssh(spawn, run, chmod, mkstemp):
     r = _repo(github="gh.com", repo="foo")
     r._repo = Mock(ssh_url="sshurl")
@@ -1374,6 +1376,8 @@ def test_handle_error(mock_logger, format_exc):
 @patch("tagbot.action.repo.logger")
 def test_handle_error_403_checks_rate_limit(mock_logger, format_exc):
     r = _repo()
+    r._token = ""
+    r._registry_token = ""
     r._report_error = Mock()
     r._check_rate_limit = Mock()
     try:
@@ -1384,6 +1388,33 @@ def test_handle_error_403_checks_rate_limit(mock_logger, format_exc):
     assert any("403" in str(call) for call in mock_logger.error.call_args_list)
 
 
+@patch("traceback.format_exc", return_value="ahh")
+@patch("tagbot.action.repo.logger")
+def test_handle_error_403_resource_not_accessible_not_reported(mock_logger, format_exc):
+    r = _repo()
+    r._token = ""
+    r._registry_token = ""
+    r._report_error = Mock()
+    r._check_rate_limit = Mock()
+
+    # Known permissions issue should not be treated as an internal failure.
+    with pytest.raises(Abort):
+        r.handle_error(
+            GithubException(
+                403,
+                {"message": "Resource not accessible by integration"},
+                {},
+            )
+        )
+
+    r._check_rate_limit.assert_called_once()
+    r._report_error.assert_not_called()
+    assert any(
+        "Resource not accessible by integration" in str(call)
+        for call in mock_logger.warning.call_args_list
+    )
+
+
 def test_commit_sha_of_version():
     r = _repo()
     r._Repo__registry_path = ""