diff --git a/backend/app/youtube/client.py b/backend/app/youtube/client.py
index bf2293c..9695a55 100644
--- a/backend/app/youtube/client.py
+++ b/backend/app/youtube/client.py
@@ -55,6 +55,22 @@ class YouTubeClient:
     def __exit__(self, *exc) -> None:
         self._http.close()
 
+    # --- transport ---
+    def _send(self, method: str, url: str, **kwargs) -> httpx.Response:
+        """Issue an HTTP request, mapping any transport/network failure (egress proxy down,
+        DNS, timeout, connection reset) to YouTubeError. Every caller already handles
+        YouTubeError — degrade gracefully, log, and move on — so wrapping here keeps a
+        transient network fault (e.g. the fixed-IP egress proxy being unreachable) from
+        escaping as a raw httpx error and turning into an uncaught 500. HTTP status errors
+        are NOT touched here (we don't use raise_for_status): callers inspect resp.status_code
+        themselves and raise their own YouTubeError with the response body."""
+        try:
+            return self._http.request(method, url, **kwargs)
+        except httpx.HTTPError as exc:
+            raise YouTubeError(
+                f"YouTube API unreachable ({exc.__class__.__name__}: {exc})"
+            ) from exc
+
     # --- auth ---
     def _access_token(self) -> str:
         tok = self.user.token
@@ -66,7 +82,8 @@ class YouTubeClient:
         refresh = decrypt(tok.refresh_token_enc)
         if not refresh:
             raise YouTubeError("No refresh token; user must re-authenticate")
-        resp = self._http.post(
+        resp = self._send(
+            "POST",
             GOOGLE_TOKEN_URL,
             data={
                 "client_id": sysconfig.get_str(self.db, "google_client_id"),
@@ -94,7 +111,7 @@ class YouTubeClient:
             p["key"] = api_key
         else:
             headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {self._access_token()}"
-        resp = self._http.get(f"{API_BASE}/{path}", params=p, headers=headers)
+        resp = self._send("GET", f"{API_BASE}/{path}", params=p, headers=headers)
         quota.record_usage(self.db, cost)
         if resp.status_code != 200:
             log.warning("YouTube API %s -> %s: %s", path, resp.status_code, resp.text[:200])
@@ -210,7 +227,8 @@ class YouTubeClient:
     def delete_subscription(self, subscription_id: str) -> None:
         """Unsubscribe on YouTube. Requires the write scope and the user's OAuth token
         (never the public API key). subscriptions.delete costs 50 quota units."""
-        resp = self._http.delete(
+        resp = self._send(
+            "DELETE",
             f"{API_BASE}/subscriptions",
             params={"id": subscription_id},
             headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {self._access_token()}"},
@@ -268,7 +286,7 @@ class YouTubeClient:
     # --- write endpoints (OAuth only, never the API key; each costs 50 quota units) ---
     def _write(self, method: str, path: str, *, params: dict, json: dict | None = None) -> dict:
         headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {self._access_token()}"}
-        resp = self._http.request(
+        resp = self._send(
             method, f"{API_BASE}/{path}", params=params, json=json, headers=headers
         )
         quota.record_usage(self.db, 50)