diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/auth/api/fetchUser.ts b/src/frontend/src/features/auth/api/fetchUser.ts
index 512b3d02..aa7031cc 100644
--- a/src/frontend/src/features/auth/api/fetchUser.ts
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/auth/api/fetchUser.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { ApiError } from '@/api/ApiError'
 import { fetchApi } from '@/api/fetchApi'
 import { type ApiUser } from './ApiUser'
+import { attemptSilentLogin } from "@/features/auth";
 
 /**
  * fetch the logged-in user from the api.
@@ -16,6 +17,7 @@ export const fetchUser = (): Promise<ApiUser | false> => {
       .catch((error) => {
         // we assume that a 401 means the user is not logged in
         if (error instanceof ApiError && error.statusCode === 401) {
+          attemptSilentLogin(3600)
           resolve(false)
         } else {
           reject(error)
diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/auth/index.ts b/src/frontend/src/features/auth/index.ts
index 0b533fea..0a597d74 100644
--- a/src/frontend/src/features/auth/index.ts
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/auth/index.ts
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@ export { useUser } from './api/useUser'
 export { authUrl } from './utils/authUrl'
 export { logoutUrl } from './utils/logoutUrl'
 export { RenderIfUserFetched } from './components/RenderIfUserFetched'
+export { attemptSilentLogin } from './utils/silentLogin'
diff --git a/src/frontend/src/features/auth/utils/silentLogin.ts b/src/frontend/src/features/auth/utils/silentLogin.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c301480b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/frontend/src/features/auth/utils/silentLogin.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import { authUrl } from "@/features/auth";
+
+const SILENT_LOGIN_RETRY_KEY = 'silent-login-retry'
+
+const isRetryAllowed = () => {
+  const lastRetryDate = localStorage.getItem(SILENT_LOGIN_RETRY_KEY);
+  if (!lastRetryDate) {
+    return true;
+  }
+  const now = new Date();
+  return now.getTime() > Number(lastRetryDate)
+}
+
+const setNextRetryTime = (retryIntervalInSeconds: number) => {
+  const now = new Date()
+  const nextRetryTime = now.getTime() + (retryIntervalInSeconds * 1000);
+  localStorage.setItem(SILENT_LOGIN_RETRY_KEY, String(nextRetryTime));
+}
+
+const initiateSilentLogin = () => {
+  window.location.href = authUrl(true)
+}
+
+export const attemptSilentLogin = (retryIntervalInSeconds: number) => {
+  if (!isRetryAllowed()) {
+    return
+  }
+  setNextRetryTime(retryIntervalInSeconds)
+  initiateSilentLogin()
+}