diff --git a/lib/token.ts b/lib/token.ts
index 846f40231..75d7ea7b9 100644
--- a/lib/token.ts
+++ b/lib/token.ts
@@ -12,11 +12,58 @@ import {
 } from "@/db/schema";
 import { eq } from "drizzle-orm";
 import { User } from "@/types/user";
+import { auth } from "@/lib/auth";
 import { getGithubAccount } from "@/lib/github-account";
 import { createHttpError } from "@/lib/api-error";
 import { collaboratorMatchesUserForRepo } from "@/lib/collaborator-access";
 
 const installationTokenRefreshInFlight = new Map<number, Promise<string>>();
+const userTokenRefreshInFlight = new Map<string, Promise<string | null>>();
+
+// Return a usable GitHub user access token, refreshing it via Better Auth when
+// the stored token is at/near expiry. GitHub App user tokens expire after 8
+// hours; without this the stored token simply dies and the user (including repo
+// owners) gets a misleading "no permission" error. Better Auth's getAccessToken
+// performs the refresh-token exchange and persists the rotated tokens. We
+// deduplicate concurrent refreshes per user because GitHub invalidates the old
+// refresh token the moment a new one is issued, so racing refreshes would
+// clobber each other's tokens.
+const getUserAccessToken = async (userId: string): Promise<string | null> => {
+  const githubAccount = await getGithubAccount(userId);
+  if (!githubAccount?.accessToken) return null;
+
+  // No recorded expiry means non-expiring tokens (expiring user tokens disabled
+  // on the GitHub App); use the stored token as-is.
+  if (!githubAccount.accessTokenExpiresAt) return githubAccount.accessToken;
+
+  const inFlight = userTokenRefreshInFlight.get(userId);
+  if (inFlight) return inFlight;
+
+  const refreshJob = (async () => {
+    try {
+      const { accessToken } = await auth.api.getAccessToken({
+        body: { providerId: "github", userId },
+      });
+      return accessToken ?? githubAccount.accessToken;
+    } catch (error) {
+      // Refresh failed (e.g. the refresh token was revoked). Fall back to the
+      // stored token so the caller surfaces a real auth error rather than
+      // masking it as a transient failure.
+      console.warn("[token] github user token refresh failed", {
+        userId,
+        error: error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error),
+      });
+      return githubAccount.accessToken;
+    }
+  })();
+
+  userTokenRefreshInFlight.set(userId, refreshJob);
+  try {
+    return await refreshJob;
+  } finally {
+    userTokenRefreshInFlight.delete(userId);
+  }
+};
 
 // Get a token for a user (including collagborators who need to provide an owner/repo scope).
 const getToken = cache(async (
@@ -25,11 +72,11 @@ const getToken = cache(async (
   repo: string,
   verifyGithubAccess: boolean = false,
 ) => {
-  const githubAccount = await getGithubAccount(user.id);
-  if (githubAccount?.accessToken) {
-    const hasGithubAccess = await canAccessRepoWithToken(githubAccount.accessToken, owner, repo);
+  const userAccessToken = await getUserAccessToken(user.id);
+  if (userAccessToken) {
+    const hasGithubAccess = await canAccessRepoWithToken(userAccessToken, owner, repo);
     if (hasGithubAccess) return {
-      token: githubAccount.accessToken,
+      token: userAccessToken,
       source: "user" as const,
     };
 
@@ -136,10 +183,10 @@ const getInstallationToken = cache(async (owner: string, repo: string) => {
 
 // Get the GitHub user token.
 const getUserToken = cache(async (userId: string) => {
-  const githubAccount = await getGithubAccount(userId);
-  if (!githubAccount?.accessToken) throw new Error(`GitHub token not found for user ${userId}.`);
+  const accessToken = await getUserAccessToken(userId);
+  if (!accessToken) throw new Error(`GitHub token not found for user ${userId}.`);
 
-  return githubAccount.accessToken;
+  return accessToken;
 });
 
 const canAccessRepoWithToken = async (