diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index b5cbb60..de6eb0d 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -13,15 +13,22 @@
 require_once __DIR__ . '/config.php';
 require_once __DIR__ . '/functions.php';
 
-if (dbNew()) {
-    foreach (USER_KEYS as $key => $value) {
-        backfillUserLogs($key);
-    }
-    header('Location: /');
-} else {
-    foreach (USER_KEYS as $key => $value) {
-        syncUserLogs($key);
+$bootstrapWarning = null;
+
+try {
+    if (dbNew()) {
+        foreach (USER_KEYS as $key => $value) {
+            backfillUserLogs($key);
+        }
+        header('Location: /');
+        exit;
+    } else {
+        foreach (USER_KEYS as $key => $value) {
+            syncUserLogs($key);
+        }
     }
+} catch (Exception $e) {
+    $bootstrapWarning = $e->getMessage();
 }
 ?>
 
@@ -45,6 +52,10 @@ if (dbNew()) {
 <body>
   <h1>Torn Vault Tracker</h1>
 
+  <?php if ($bootstrapWarning !== null): ?>
+    <div class="warning" style="background:#f77e82;color:#000;padding:.5em 1em;margin:1em 0;border:1px solid #333;">Warning: failed to fetch latest logs from Torn — showing cached data. (<?php echo htmlspecialchars($bootstrapWarning, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8'); ?>)</div>
+  <?php endif; ?>
+
   <div class="grid">
     <div class="gridLeft">
       <h1>Transactions</h1>
