diff --git a/apps/backend/src/auth/request.ts b/apps/backend/src/auth/request.ts
index 86f8f7b81..fab118836 100644
--- a/apps/backend/src/auth/request.ts
+++ b/apps/backend/src/auth/request.ts
@@ -1,21 +1,25 @@
+import { invariant } from "@argos/util/invariant";
 import * as authorization from "auth-header";
 import type { Request } from "express";
 
 import { Account, User } from "@/database/models/index.js";
+import { boom } from "@/web/util.js";
 
 import { verifyJWT } from "./jwt.js";
 
-export class AuthError extends Error {}
-
 const getTokenFromAuthHeader = (authHeader: string) => {
-  const auth = authorization.parse(authHeader);
-  if (auth.scheme !== "Bearer") {
-    throw new AuthError(`Invalid auth scheme: ${auth.scheme || "no scheme"}`);
-  }
-  if (typeof auth.token !== "string" || !auth.token) {
-    throw new AuthError("Invalid auth token");
+  try {
+    const auth = authorization.parse(authHeader);
+    if (auth.scheme !== "Bearer") {
+      return null;
+    }
+    if (typeof auth.token !== "string" || !auth.token) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    return auth.token;
+  } catch {
+    return null;
   }
-  return auth.token;
 };
 
 export type AuthPayload = {
@@ -26,17 +30,15 @@ export type AuthPayload = {
 const getAuthPayloadFromToken = async (token: string): Promise<AuthPayload> => {
   const jwt = verifyJWT(token);
   if (!jwt) {
-    throw new AuthError("Invalid JWT");
+    throw boom(401, "Invalid JWT");
   }
   const account = await Account.query()
     .withGraphFetched("user")
     .findById(jwt.account.id);
   if (!account) {
-    throw new AuthError("Account not found");
-  }
-  if (!account.user) {
-    throw new AuthError("Account has no user");
+    throw boom(401, "Account not found");
   }
+  invariant(account.user, "Account has no user");
   return { account, user: account.user };
 };
 
@@ -48,5 +50,8 @@ export async function getAuthPayloadFromRequest(
     return null;
   }
   const token = getTokenFromAuthHeader(authHeader);
+  if (!token) {
+    return null;
+  }
   return getAuthPayloadFromToken(token);
 }
diff --git a/apps/backend/src/graphql/context.ts b/apps/backend/src/graphql/context.ts
index 846d6e973..515321806 100644
--- a/apps/backend/src/graphql/context.ts
+++ b/apps/backend/src/graphql/context.ts
@@ -2,11 +2,8 @@ import type { BaseContext } from "@apollo/server";
 import type { Request } from "express";
 import { GraphQLError } from "graphql";
 
-import {
-  AuthError,
-  AuthPayload,
-  getAuthPayloadFromRequest,
-} from "@/auth/request.js";
+import { AuthPayload, getAuthPayloadFromRequest } from "@/auth/request.js";
+import { HTTPError } from "@/web/util.js";
 
 import { createLoaders } from "./loaders.js";
 
@@ -28,7 +25,7 @@ export async function getContext(request: Request): Promise<Context> {
     const auth = await getContextAuth(request);
     return { auth, loaders: createLoaders() };
   } catch (error) {
-    if (error instanceof AuthError) {
+    if (error instanceof HTTPError && error.statusCode === 401) {
       throw new GraphQLError("User is not authenticated", {
         originalError: error,
         extensions: {
diff --git a/apps/backend/src/web/middlewares/auth.ts b/apps/backend/src/web/middlewares/auth.ts
index bb9eec02c..40ac8bc37 100644
--- a/apps/backend/src/web/middlewares/auth.ts
+++ b/apps/backend/src/web/middlewares/auth.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import type { RequestHandler } from "express";
 
 import { AuthPayload, getAuthPayloadFromRequest } from "@/auth/request.js";
 
-import { asyncHandler } from "../util.js";
+import { asyncHandler, HTTPError } from "../util.js";
 
 declare global {
   namespace Express {
@@ -15,7 +15,13 @@ declare global {
 }
 
 export const auth: RequestHandler = asyncHandler(async (req, _res, next) => {
-  const account = await getAuthPayloadFromRequest(req);
+  const account = await getAuthPayloadFromRequest(req).catch((error) => {
+    if (error instanceof HTTPError && error.statusCode === 401) {
+      return null;
+    }
+
+    throw error;
+  });
   req.auth = account;
   next();
 });
diff --git a/apps/backend/src/web/util.ts b/apps/backend/src/web/util.ts
index 7e8ffcef9..9106cc927 100644
--- a/apps/backend/src/web/util.ts
+++ b/apps/backend/src/web/util.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@ import config from "@/config/index.js";
 export const asyncHandler =
   (requestHandler: RequestHandler): RequestHandler =>
   (req, res, next) => {
-    Promise.resolve(requestHandler(req, res, next)).catch(next);
+    try {
+      Promise.resolve(requestHandler(req, res, next)).catch(next);
+    } catch (error) {
+      next(error);
+    }
   };
 
 export const subdomain =
@@ -49,7 +53,7 @@ type HttpErrorOptions = ErrorOptions & {
 /**
  * HTTPError is a subclass of Error that includes an HTTP status code.
  */
-class HTTPError extends Error {
+export class HTTPError extends Error {
   public statusCode: number;
   public details:
     | {