diff --git a/src/renderer/src/store/slices/github.test.ts b/src/renderer/src/store/slices/github.test.ts
index d5c1a4bc507..dd4453c09ec 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/store/slices/github.test.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/store/slices/github.test.ts
@@ -6322,6 +6322,71 @@ describe('createGitHubSlice.fetchWorkItems source/error envelope', () => {
     }
   })
 
+  it('flags a GitHub outage returned by a remote runtime method', async () => {
+    const store = createTestStore()
+    const consoleWarn = vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {})
+    runtimeEnvironmentCall.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      id: 'rpc-work-items-outage',
+      ok: false,
+      error: { code: 'runtime_error', message: 'HTTP 503: Service Unavailable' },
+      _meta: { runtimeId: 'remote-runtime' }
+    })
+    store.setState({
+      settings: { activeRuntimeEnvironmentId: 'env-1' },
+      repos: [{ id: 'runtime-repo-id', path: '/server/repo', name: 'repo', kind: 'git' }]
+    } as unknown as Partial<AppState>)
+
+    try {
+      const result = await store
+        .getState()
+        .fetchWorkItemsAcrossRepos(
+          [{ repoId: 'caller-repo-id', path: '/server/repo' }],
+          24,
+          100,
+          ''
+        )
+
+      expect(result.githubUnavailable).toBe(true)
+      expect(result.failedCount).toBe(1)
+    } finally {
+      consoleWarn.mockRestore()
+    }
+  })
+
+  it('does not attribute a remote runtime transport timeout to GitHub', async () => {
+    const store = createTestStore()
+    const consoleWarn = vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {})
+    runtimeEnvironmentCall.mockResolvedValueOnce({
+      id: 'rpc-work-items-runtime-timeout',
+      ok: false,
+      error: {
+        code: 'runtime_unavailable',
+        message: 'Runtime request timed out before github.listWorkItems completed'
+      },
+      _meta: { runtimeId: null }
+    })
+    store.setState({
+      settings: { activeRuntimeEnvironmentId: 'env-1' },
+      repos: [{ id: 'runtime-repo-id', path: '/server/repo', name: 'repo', kind: 'git' }]
+    } as unknown as Partial<AppState>)
+
+    try {
+      const result = await store
+        .getState()
+        .fetchWorkItemsAcrossRepos(
+          [{ repoId: 'caller-repo-id', path: '/server/repo' }],
+          24,
+          100,
+          ''
+        )
+
+      expect(result.githubUnavailable).toBe(false)
+      expect(result.failedCount).toBe(1)
+    } finally {
+      consoleWarn.mockRestore()
+    }
+  })
+
   it('flags githubUnavailable while serving stale cached rows after a failed refresh', async () => {
     const store = createTestStore()
     const consoleWarn = vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {})
diff --git a/src/renderer/src/store/slices/github.ts b/src/renderer/src/store/slices/github.ts
index fd9351dd5ee..322fc8568c0 100644
--- a/src/renderer/src/store/slices/github.ts
+++ b/src/renderer/src/store/slices/github.ts
@@ -39,7 +39,11 @@ import {
   PER_REPO_FETCH_LIMIT
 } from '../../../../shared/work-items'
 import { deriveCheckStatusFromChecks, syncPRChecksStatus } from './github-checks'
-import { callRuntimeRpc, getActiveRuntimeTarget } from '../../runtime/runtime-rpc-client'
+import {
+  callRuntimeRpc,
+  getActiveRuntimeTarget,
+  RuntimeRpcCallError
+} from '../../runtime/runtime-rpc-client'
 import { getSettingsForRepoRuntimeOwner } from '@/lib/repo-runtime-owner'
 import { settingsForProjectRowOwner } from './github-project-row-owner'
 import { rightSidebarShowsPullRequestData } from '@/lib/right-sidebar-visibility'
@@ -418,6 +422,17 @@ function countGitHubWorkItemsForRepo(
   })
 }
 
+function isGitHubUnavailableWorkItemsError(error: unknown): boolean {
+  // Why: remote-runtime transport failures can also say "timed out" or
+  // "unavailable". Only runtime_error came from the GitHub method itself;
+  // other RPC codes must not be attributed to GitHub.
+  if (error instanceof RuntimeRpcCallError && error.code !== 'runtime_error') {
+    return false
+  }
+  const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)
+  return classifyGitHubUnavailable(message) !== null
+}
+
 export function projectViewCacheKey(
   ownerType: GetProjectViewTableArgs['ownerType'],
   owner: string,
@@ -2887,7 +2902,7 @@ export const createGitHubSlice: StateCreator<AppState, [], [], GitHubSlice> = (s
             return [] as GitHubWorkItem[]
           }
           requestFailureCount += 1
-          if (classifyGitHubUnavailable(err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err))) {
+          if (isGitHubUnavailableWorkItemsError(err)) {
             unavailableFailureCount += 1
           }
           const key =