diff --git a/snot/snot.html b/snot/snot.html
index a59bfe2..d0857db 100644
--- a/snot/snot.html
+++ b/snot/snot.html
@@ -351,6 +351,7 @@
         },
 
         async search() {
+            this.errorMessage = "";
             const response = await fetch("/search", {
                 method: "POST",
                 headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
diff --git a/snot/snot.py b/snot/snot.py
index ca935f6..009e280 100755
--- a/snot/snot.py
+++ b/snot/snot.py
@@ -551,11 +551,14 @@ def fetch_videos(params: dict[str, str]) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
     rows: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
     total: int | None = None
     while total is None or len(rows) < total:
-        response = client.get(
-            "/videos",
-            params={**params, "limit": "1000", "offset": str(len(rows))},
-            headers={"Prefer": "count=exact"} if total is None else None,
-        )
+        try:
+            response = client.get(
+                "/videos",
+                params={**params, "limit": "1000", "offset": str(len(rows))},
+                headers={"Prefer": "count=exact"} if total is None else None,
+            )
+        except httpx.ConnectError as e:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"Cannot reach database at {client.base_url} ({e}). Is the server running and reachable?") from e
         response.raise_for_status()
         page = response.json()
         if total is None: