diff --git a/src/api/rest.rs b/src/api/rest.rs
index d85e3b0ad9..ffa9c530c1 100644
--- a/src/api/rest.rs
+++ b/src/api/rest.rs
@@ -545,6 +545,27 @@ impl BackendOAuthClient {
                     method.as_str(),
                     url.path(),
                 );
+            } else if status_code == 401 {
+                // True OpenHuman backend session-expiry signal. Tag the
+                // bail string with the `SESSION_EXPIRED:` sentinel so the
+                // dispatch-site classifier
+                // (`crate::core::jsonrpc::is_session_expired_error`) only
+                // clears the local token on this boundary, not on
+                // downstream provider / integration 401s. Skip Sentry —
+                // the SessionExpired event subscriber handles the
+                // teardown, and a signed-out user is an expected state.
+                // See #2286.
+                tracing::info!(
+                    domain = "backend_api",
+                    operation = "authed_json",
+                    method = method.as_str(),
+                    path = url.path(),
+                    status = 401,
+                    failure = "session_expired",
+                    "[backend_api] 401 on {} {} — surfacing SESSION_EXPIRED to dispatch classifier",
+                    method.as_str(),
+                    url.path(),
+                );
             } else if is_transient_infra {
                 tracing::warn!(
                     domain = "backend_api",
@@ -576,6 +597,13 @@ impl BackendOAuthClient {
                     ],
                 );
             }
+            if status_code == 401 {
+                anyhow::bail!(
+                    "SESSION_EXPIRED: {} {} failed ({status}): {text}",
+                    method.as_str(),
+                    url.path()
+                );
+            }
             anyhow::bail!(
                 "{} {} failed ({status}): {text}",
                 method.as_str(),
diff --git a/src/api/rest_tests.rs b/src/api/rest_tests.rs
index 35b558d8dd..8bbec0566e 100644
--- a/src/api/rest_tests.rs
+++ b/src/api/rest_tests.rs
@@ -327,6 +327,74 @@ async fn authed_json_surfaces_message_not_found_on_404() {
     assert_eq!(message_id, "abc");
 }
 
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn authed_json_tags_401_with_session_expired_sentinel() {
+    // #2286: real OpenHuman backend 401s must carry the SESSION_EXPIRED:
+    // sentinel so the dispatch-site classifier in
+    // `crate::core::jsonrpc::is_session_expired_error` can sign the user
+    // out — and downstream / integration 401s (which do NOT route through
+    // this client) stay recoverable.
+    let app = Router::new().route(
+        "/auth/profile",
+        get(|| async {
+            (
+                axum::http::StatusCode::UNAUTHORIZED,
+                "{\"error\":\"unauthorized\"}",
+            )
+        }),
+    );
+    let listener = TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+    let addr = listener.local_addr().unwrap();
+    tokio::spawn(async move {
+        axum::serve(listener, app).await.unwrap();
+    });
+
+    let base_url = format!("http://{addr}");
+    let client = BackendOAuthClient::new(&base_url).unwrap();
+
+    let err = client
+        .authed_json("mock-jwt", Method::GET, "/auth/profile", None)
+        .await
+        .unwrap_err();
+    let msg = err.to_string();
+    assert!(
+        msg.starts_with("SESSION_EXPIRED:"),
+        "401 from backend must be tagged with SESSION_EXPIRED: sentinel, got: {msg}"
+    );
+    assert!(msg.contains("/auth/profile"));
+    assert!(msg.contains("401"));
+}
+
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn authed_json_non_401_failure_is_not_tagged_session_expired() {
+    // #2286 negative: a 500 from the backend must NOT carry the
+    // SESSION_EXPIRED sentinel — that's reserved for the auth boundary
+    // so the classifier can stay narrow.
+    let app = Router::new().route(
+        "/auth/profile",
+        get(|| async { (axum::http::StatusCode::INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR, "boom") }),
+    );
+    let listener = TcpListener::bind("127.0.0.1:0").await.unwrap();
+    let addr = listener.local_addr().unwrap();
+    tokio::spawn(async move {
+        axum::serve(listener, app).await.unwrap();
+    });
+
+    let base_url = format!("http://{addr}");
+    let client = BackendOAuthClient::new(&base_url).unwrap();
+
+    let err = client
+        .authed_json("mock-jwt", Method::GET, "/auth/profile", None)
+        .await
+        .unwrap_err();
+    let msg = err.to_string();
+    assert!(
+        !msg.contains("SESSION_EXPIRED"),
+        "non-401 failure must not be tagged session-expired, got: {msg}"
+    );
+    assert!(msg.contains("500"));
+}
+
 #[tokio::test]
 async fn authed_json_404_outside_messages_path_still_reports() {
     // 404 on a non-`/channels/<provider>/messages/<id>` path should NOT be
diff --git a/src/core/jsonrpc.rs b/src/core/jsonrpc.rs
index 3621579d46..d938b28cf8 100644
--- a/src/core/jsonrpc.rs
+++ b/src/core/jsonrpc.rs
@@ -179,9 +179,23 @@ pub async fn invoke_method(state: AppState, method: &str, params: Value) -> Resu
     // (this one, `llm_provider.api_error`, …) gets the same teardown.
     if let Err(ref msg) = result {
         if is_session_expired_error(msg) {
+            // Method context + a short marker substring on the matched
+            // error lets us tell at a glance whether the SessionExpired
+            // came from the backend boundary (`SESSION_EXPIRED:` tag),
+            // the local missing-profile guard, or the no-JWT guard. #2286.
+            let matched = if msg.contains("SESSION_EXPIRED") {
+                "backend-sentinel"
+            } else if msg.to_lowercase().contains("no backend session token") {
+                "no-backend-session-token"
+            } else if msg.to_lowercase().contains("session jwt required") {
+                "session-jwt-required"
+            } else {
+                "unknown"
+            };
             log::warn!(
-                "[jsonrpc] backend returned 401 for method '{}' — publishing SessionExpired",
-                method
+                "[jsonrpc] session-expired signal for method '{}' (match={}) — publishing SessionExpired",
+                method,
+                matched
             );
             // Scrub before publishing — subscribers log `reason`, and the
             // upstream error string could include API keys / tokens from
@@ -199,39 +213,38 @@ pub async fn invoke_method(state: AppState, method: &str, params: Value) -> Resu
     result
 }
 
-/// Helper to determine if an error message indicates an expired or invalid session.
+/// Helper to determine if an error message indicates an expired or invalid
+/// OpenHuman user session.
+///
+/// **Narrow on purpose** (see #2286). Earlier versions matched any
+/// `"401 + unauthorized"` / `"invalid token"` substring, which signed users
+/// out for downstream / integration / BYO-key failures that had nothing to do
+/// with the OpenHuman session (Discord card-open, BYO-key mis-config,
+/// integration 401s, Lark channel 401, MCP server 401, …). Each of those
+/// would publish `DomainEvent::SessionExpired`, the credentials subscriber
+/// would clear the local token, and the user would bounce back to Welcome /
+/// sign-in for a 401 that the OpenHuman backend never emitted.
 ///
-/// Deliberately **looser** than
-/// [`crate::core::observability::is_session_expired_message`]: this
-/// dispatch-site predicate also matches the generic `"401 + unauthorized"` /
-/// `"invalid token"` pair so token cleanup +
-/// `DomainEvent::SessionExpired` publish fire on *any* 401, including
-/// BYO-key provider failures (which clear the stale local token even if
-/// the user mis-configured an OpenAI / Anthropic key). The strict
-/// classifier in `observability` is for the agent / web-channel
-/// `report_error_or_expected` call sites, where matching too loosely would
-/// silence actionable BYO-key configuration errors (OPENHUMAN-TAURI-26
-/// rationale: the agent-layer demote must NOT also swallow generic
-/// provider 401s).
+/// To fix it we tagged real backend-session 401s at the API boundary in
+/// [`crate::api::rest`] with the `SESSION_EXPIRED:` sentinel and dropped the
+/// generic `"401 + unauthorized"` match here. The classifier now matches
+/// only:
 ///
-/// "No backend session token" is also treated as a session-expired signal: the
-/// auth profile is missing entirely (the user was never signed in, or their
-/// stored profile was wiped between login and the next RPC). The frontend may
-/// still believe it holds a session token from an optimistic post-login patch,
-/// so we want the same auto-cleanup + UI-level re-auth path to fire instead of
-/// repeatedly reporting this as a hard error to Sentry. See #1465-ish: users
-/// stuck on the onboarding `SkillsStep` would spam `composio_list_connections`
-/// failures every 5 s without ever being bounced back to the login screen.
+/// - `SESSION_EXPIRED` — the authoritative backend-boundary marker
+///   (`api/rest.rs` 401 path and `openhuman_backend.rs` no-session path).
+/// - `"no backend session token"` — local guard that fires when the auth
+///   profile is missing entirely (e.g. users stuck on onboarding's
+///   `SkillsStep` would otherwise spam `composio_list_connections` failures
+///   every 5 s without ever being bounced back to sign-in — see #1465-ish).
+/// - `"session jwt required"` — local guard for the case where a prior 401
+///   already cleared the token and the very next RPC call finds no JWT in
+///   the store. Same auth-boundary condition, just surfaced locally.
 ///
-/// "session JWT required" covers the case where a prior 401 already cleared the
-/// token and the very next RPC call (e.g. `channels_telegram_login_start`) finds
-/// no JWT in the store. This is the same auth-boundary condition, just surfaced
-/// as a local guard rather than a backend response.
+/// Downstream / integration / BYO-key 401s are *not* matched: they surface
+/// as typed recoverable errors via their own provider paths.
 fn is_session_expired_error(msg: &str) -> bool {
     let lower = msg.to_lowercase();
-    (lower.contains("401") && lower.contains("unauthorized"))
-        || lower.contains("invalid token")
-        || lower.contains("no backend session token")
+    lower.contains("no backend session token")
         || lower.contains("session jwt required")
         || msg.contains("SESSION_EXPIRED")
 }
diff --git a/src/core/jsonrpc_tests.rs b/src/core/jsonrpc_tests.rs
index 3eed02cf0f..53a84b1a16 100644
--- a/src/core/jsonrpc_tests.rs
+++ b/src/core/jsonrpc_tests.rs
@@ -564,32 +564,61 @@ fn parse_json_params_reports_error_message() {
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn is_session_expired_error_matches_401_unauthorized() {
-    assert!(is_session_expired_error(
+fn is_session_expired_error_does_not_match_generic_401_unauthorized() {
+    // #2286: bare `"401 + unauthorized"` shapes from downstream / integration
+    // / BYO-key paths used to match and clear the OpenHuman user session.
+    // The classifier is narrow now — only the boundary-tagged sentinel and
+    // the two literal local guards trigger a SessionExpired publish.
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error(
         "backend returned 401 Unauthorized"
     ));
-    assert!(is_session_expired_error("401 UNAUTHORIZED"));
-    assert!(is_session_expired_error("got 401 and unauthorized body"));
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error("401 UNAUTHORIZED"));
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error("got 401 and unauthorized body"));
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn is_session_expired_error_requires_both_401_and_unauthorized() {
-    // 401 alone is not sufficient — could be HTTP/3.01 nonsense or
-    // unrelated text. We require the string "unauthorized" too.
-    assert!(!is_session_expired_error("server returned 401"));
-    assert!(!is_session_expired_error("unauthorized without code"));
+fn is_session_expired_error_does_not_match_byo_key_provider_401() {
+    // #2286 acceptance: BYO-key provider mis-configuration (the user pasted
+    // a stale OpenAI / Anthropic key) must NOT sign the user out of
+    // OpenHuman. The inference provider path emits shapes like these.
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error(
+        "openai: 401 Unauthorized: Incorrect API key provided"
+    ));
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error(
+        "anthropic api_error: 401 invalid x-api-key"
+    ));
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error(
+        "POST https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions failed (401): Invalid token"
+    ));
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn is_session_expired_error_matches_invalid_token_case_insensitive() {
-    assert!(is_session_expired_error("Invalid Token"));
-    assert!(is_session_expired_error("got an invalid token here"));
+fn is_session_expired_error_does_not_match_integration_or_channel_401() {
+    // #2286 acceptance: integration / channel-status fetches returning 401
+    // (Discord card-open, Lark channel auth refresh, MCP server token
+    // refresh, …) must not clear the OpenHuman session.
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error(
+        "lark channel status fetch returned 401 Unauthorized"
+    ));
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error(
+        "mcp_client: 401 Unauthorized fetching tools/list"
+    ));
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error(
+        "composio integration GET /connections failed (401): invalid integration token"
+    ));
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn is_session_expired_error_matches_session_expired_sentinel() {
-    // The SESSION_EXPIRED sentinel is case-sensitive by design.
+fn is_session_expired_error_matches_backend_sentinel() {
+    // `SESSION_EXPIRED:` is the authoritative marker emitted by both the
+    // OpenHuman backend boundary in `api/rest.rs` (#2286) and the inference
+    // backend's no-session path in
+    // `openhuman/inference/provider/openhuman_backend.rs`.
     assert!(is_session_expired_error("SESSION_EXPIRED: please re-auth"));
+    assert!(is_session_expired_error(
+        "SESSION_EXPIRED: POST /api/me failed (401): {\"error\":\"unauthorized\"}"
+    ));
+    // Case-sensitive by design.
     assert!(!is_session_expired_error("session_expired lowercase"));
 }
 
@@ -598,6 +627,9 @@ fn is_session_expired_error_does_not_match_unrelated_errors() {
     assert!(!is_session_expired_error("network timeout"));
     assert!(!is_session_expired_error("500 internal server error"));
     assert!(!is_session_expired_error(""));
+    // Plain "invalid token" from a provider must no longer match — that
+    // was the BYO-key signal pre-#2286.
+    assert!(!is_session_expired_error("Invalid Token"));
 }
 
 #[test]