diff --git a/src/anki-integration/pending-youtube-media-queue.test.ts b/src/anki-integration/pending-youtube-media-queue.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fb726f56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/anki-integration/pending-youtube-media-queue.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import test from 'node:test';
+
+import type { AnkiConnectConfig } from '../types/anki';
+import { PendingYoutubeMediaQueue, type PendingYoutubeMediaQueueDeps } from './pending-youtube-media-queue';
+
+function createDeps(
+  overrides: Partial<PendingYoutubeMediaQueueDeps> = {},
+): PendingYoutubeMediaQueueDeps {
+  const warnings: unknown[][] = [];
+  const deps: PendingYoutubeMediaQueueDeps & { warnings: unknown[][] } = {
+    client: {
+      notesInfo: async () => [],
+      updateNoteFields: async () => {},
+      storeMediaFile: async () => {},
+    },
+    mediaGenerator: {
+      generateAudio: async () => Buffer.from('audio'),
+      generateScreenshot: async () => Buffer.from('image'),
+      generateAnimatedImage: async () => Buffer.from('image'),
+    },
+    getConfig: () =>
+      ({
+        media: { generateAudio: true, generateImage: true },
+        fields: {},
+      }) as AnkiConnectConfig,
+    getCurrentVideoPath: () => 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abc123',
+    getCachedMediaPath: async () => null,
+    shouldRequireRemoteMediaCache: () => true,
+    getSubtitleMediaRange: () => ({ startTime: 1, endTime: 2 }),
+    getResolvedSentenceAudioFieldName: () => 'SentenceAudio',
+    resolveConfiguredFieldName: () => 'Picture',
+    mergeFieldValue: (_existing, newValue) => newValue,
+    getAnimatedImageLeadInSeconds: async () => 0,
+    generateAudioFilename: () => 'audio.mp3',
+    generateImageFilename: () => 'image.webp',
+    formatMiscInfoPatternForMediaPath: () => '',
+    showStatusNotification: () => {},
+    showNotification: async () => {},
+    logInfo: () => {},
+    logWarn: (...args) => {
+      warnings.push(args);
+    },
+    logError: () => {},
+    warnings,
+    ...overrides,
+  };
+  return deps;
+}
+
+test('PendingYoutubeMediaQueue treats cache lookup failures as an immediate generation fallback', async () => {
+  const deps = createDeps({
+    getCachedMediaPath: async () => {
+      throw new Error('cache unavailable');
+    },
+  });
+  const queue = new PendingYoutubeMediaQueue(deps);
+
+  const queued = await queue.queueFromNote({
+    noteId: 42,
+    noteInfo: { noteId: 42, fields: {} },
+    label: 'demo',
+  });
+
+  assert.equal(queued, false);
+  assert.deepEqual((deps as typeof deps & { warnings: unknown[][] }).warnings, [
+    [
+      'Failed to read YouTube cache state; falling back to immediate media generation:',
+      'cache unavailable',
+    ],
+  ]);
+});
diff --git a/src/anki-integration/pending-youtube-media-queue.ts b/src/anki-integration/pending-youtube-media-queue.ts
index 2f79fd35..5ec3cb7b 100644
--- a/src/anki-integration/pending-youtube-media-queue.ts
+++ b/src/anki-integration/pending-youtube-media-queue.ts
@@ -93,7 +93,16 @@ export class PendingYoutubeMediaQueue {
       return false;
     }
 
-    const cachedPath = await getCachedMediaPath(sourceUrl, 'video');
+    let cachedPath: string | null = null;
+    try {
+      cachedPath = await getCachedMediaPath(sourceUrl, 'video');
+    } catch (error) {
+      this.deps.logWarn(
+        'Failed to read YouTube cache state; falling back to immediate media generation:',
+        error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error),
+      );
+      return false;
+    }
     if (cachedPath) {
       return false;
     }