diff --git a/api/client.go b/api/client.go
index b290aae3d..09195181b 100644
--- a/api/client.go
+++ b/api/client.go
@@ -196,6 +196,11 @@ func (c Client) HasMinimumScopes(hostname string) error {
 	}
 
 	scopesHeader := res.Header.Get("X-Oauth-Scopes")
+	if scopesHeader == "" {
+		// if the token reports no scopes, assume that it's an integration token and give up on
+		// detecting its capabilities
+		return nil
+	}
 
 	search := map[string]bool{
 		"repo":      false,
diff --git a/api/client_test.go b/api/client_test.go
index fd24a5404..35a45af8c 100644
--- a/api/client_test.go
+++ b/api/client_test.go
@@ -111,6 +111,11 @@ func Test_HasMinimumScopes(t *testing.T) {
 		header  string
 		wantErr string
 	}{
+		{
+			name:    "no scopes",
+			header:  "",
+			wantErr: "",
+		},
 		{
 			name:    "default scopes",
 			header:  "repo, read:org",