diff --git a/apps/marketing/package.json b/apps/marketing/package.json
index e37dd8fb7a89..acf5915dfdb2 100644
--- a/apps/marketing/package.json
+++ b/apps/marketing/package.json
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
     "stage:install-scripts": "node scripts/stage-install-scripts.mjs",
     "dev": "node scripts/stage-install-scripts.mjs && astro dev",
     "build": "node scripts/stage-install-scripts.mjs && astro build",
-    "preview": "astro preview"
+    "preview": "astro preview",
+    "test": "vp test run"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@fontsource-variable/inter": "^5.3.0",
diff --git a/apps/marketing/src/lib/releases.test.ts b/apps/marketing/src/lib/releases.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..6527342d674e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/marketing/src/lib/releases.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vite-plus/test";
+
+import { fetchLatestRelease } from "./releases";
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  vi.unstubAllGlobals();
+});
+
+describe("fetchLatestRelease", () => {
+  it("rejects a GitHub API error response instead of returning it as a release", async () => {
+    vi.stubGlobal("sessionStorage", { getItem: () => null });
+    vi.stubGlobal("fetch", async () =>
+      Response.json({ message: "API rate limit exceeded" }, { status: 403 }),
+    );
+
+    await expect(fetchLatestRelease("stable")).rejects.toThrow("403");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/apps/marketing/src/lib/releases.ts b/apps/marketing/src/lib/releases.ts
index 7dc63bdaed85..f50103972cdd 100644
--- a/apps/marketing/src/lib/releases.ts
+++ b/apps/marketing/src/lib/releases.ts
@@ -25,12 +25,18 @@ function cacheKey(channel: ReleaseChannel) {
   return `t3code-${channel}-release`;
 }
 
+async function fetchJson<T>(url: string): Promise<T> {
+  const response = await fetch(url);
+  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`GitHub API responded ${response.status}`);
+  return response.json();
+}
+
 async function fetchStable(): Promise<Release> {
-  return fetch(LATEST_API_URL).then((r) => r.json());
+  return fetchJson(LATEST_API_URL);
 }
 
 async function fetchNightly(): Promise<Release> {
-  const list: Release[] = await fetch(LIST_API_URL).then((r) => r.json());
+  const list = await fetchJson<Release[]>(LIST_API_URL);
   const nightly = Array.isArray(list)
     ? list.find((release) => release.tag_name?.includes("-nightly."))
     : undefined;