add back improved error message

Author: brendan-kellam

packages/backend/src/ee/accountPermissionSyncer.ts

@@ -191,7 +191,21 @@ export class AccountPermissionSyncer {
                 // @note: we only care about the private repos since we don't need to build a mapping
                 // for public repos.
                 // @see: packages/web/src/prisma.ts
-                const githubRepos = await getReposForAuthenticatedUser(/* visibility = */ 'private', octokit);
+                let githubRepos;
+                try {
+                    githubRepos = await getReposForAuthenticatedUser(/* visibility = */ 'private', octokit);
+                } catch (error) {
+                    if (error && typeof error === 'object' && 'status' in error) {
+                        const status = (error as { status: number }).status;
+                        if (status === 401 || status === 403) {
+                            throw new Error(
+                                `GitHub API returned ${status} error. Your token may have expired or lacks the required permissions. ` +
+                                `Please re-authorize with GitHub to grant the necessary access.`
+                            );
+                        }
+                    }
+                    throw error;
+                }
                 const gitHubRepoIds = githubRepos.map(repo => repo.id.toString());
 
                 const repos = await this.db.repo.findMany({