diff --git a/src/lib/api.ts b/src/lib/api.ts
index 142b72079..0b5bc25e5 100644
--- a/src/lib/api.ts
+++ b/src/lib/api.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ import {
 } from '@apollo/client/core';
 import { setContext } from '@apollo/client/link/context';
 import { ApolloLink } from '@apollo/client/link/core';
-import { onError } from '@apollo/client/link/error';
+import { ErrorResponse, onError } from '@apollo/client/link/error';
+import { ServerError } from '@apollo/client/link/utils';
 import chalk from 'chalk';
 
 import http from './api/http';
@@ -30,6 +31,15 @@ export function enableGlobalGraphQLErrorHandling(): void {
 	globalGraphQLErrorHandlingEnabled = true;
 }
 
+function isServerError(
+	networkError: ErrorResponse[ 'networkError' ]
+): networkError is ServerError {
+	if ( ! networkError ) {
+		return false;
+	}
+	return 'result' in networkError;
+}
+
 export default function API( {
 	exitOnError = true,
 }: {
@@ -37,10 +47,16 @@ export default function API( {
 } = {} ): ApolloClient< NormalizedCacheObject > {
 	const errorLink = onError( ( { networkError, graphQLErrors } ) => {
 		if ( networkError && 'statusCode' in networkError && networkError.statusCode === 401 ) {
-			console.error(
-				chalk.red( 'Unauthorized:' ),
-				'You are unauthorized to perform this request, please logout with `vip logout` then try again.'
-			);
+			let message =
+				'You are not authorized to perform this request; please logout with `vip logout`, then try again.';
+			if (
+				isServerError( networkError ) &&
+				networkError.result?.code === 'token-disabled-inactivity'
+			) {
+				message =
+					'Your token has been disabled due to inactivity; please log out with `vip logout`, then try again.';
+			}
+			console.error( chalk.red( 'Unauthorized:' ), message );
 			process.exit( 1 );
 		}