diff --git a/crates/uv-publish/src/trusted_publishing.rs b/crates/uv-publish/src/trusted_publishing.rs
index 8230e60079e6..18f59b0cb795 100644
--- a/crates/uv-publish/src/trusted_publishing.rs
+++ b/crates/uv-publish/src/trusted_publishing.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ use reqwest_middleware::ClientWithMiddleware;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::env;
 use std::env::VarError;
+use std::ffi::OsString;
 use std::fmt::Display;
 use thiserror::Error;
 use tracing::{debug, trace};
@@ -13,8 +14,10 @@ use uv_static::EnvVars;
 
 #[derive(Debug, Error)]
 pub enum TrustedPublishingError {
-    #[error(transparent)]
-    Var(#[from] VarError),
+    #[error("Environment variable {0} not set, is the `id-token: write` permission missing?")]
+    MissingEnvVar(&'static str),
+    #[error("Environment variable {0} is not valid UTF-8: `{1:?}`")]
+    InvalidEnvVar(&'static str, OsString),
     #[error(transparent)]
     Url(#[from] url::ParseError),
     #[error("Failed to fetch: `{0}`")]
@@ -29,6 +32,15 @@ pub enum TrustedPublishingError {
     Pypi(StatusCode, String),
 }
 
+impl TrustedPublishingError {
+    fn from_var_err(env_var: &'static str, err: VarError) -> Self {
+        match err {
+            VarError::NotPresent => Self::MissingEnvVar(env_var),
+            VarError::NotUnicode(os_string) => Self::InvalidEnvVar(env_var, os_string),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[derive(Deserialize)]
 #[serde(transparent)]
 pub struct TrustedPublishingToken(String);
@@ -75,7 +87,10 @@ pub(crate) async fn get_token(
     client: &ClientWithMiddleware,
 ) -> Result<TrustedPublishingToken, TrustedPublishingError> {
     // If this fails, we can skip the audience request.
-    let oidc_token_request_token = env::var(EnvVars::ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_TOKEN)?;
+    let oidc_token_request_token =
+        env::var(EnvVars::ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_TOKEN).map_err(|err| {
+            TrustedPublishingError::from_var_err(EnvVars::ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_TOKEN, err)
+        })?;
 
     // Request 1: Get the audience
     let audience = get_audience(registry, client).await?;
@@ -125,7 +140,10 @@ async fn get_oidc_token(
     oidc_token_request_token: &str,
     client: &ClientWithMiddleware,
 ) -> Result<String, TrustedPublishingError> {
-    let mut oidc_token_url = Url::parse(&env::var(EnvVars::ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_URL)?)?;
+    let oidc_token_url = env::var(EnvVars::ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_URL).map_err(|err| {
+        TrustedPublishingError::from_var_err(EnvVars::ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_URL, err)
+    })?;
+    let mut oidc_token_url = Url::parse(&oidc_token_url)?;
     oidc_token_url
         .query_pairs_mut()
         .append_pair("audience", audience);
diff --git a/crates/uv/tests/it/publish.rs b/crates/uv/tests/it/publish.rs
index 94039ba75188..5cf993871d48 100644
--- a/crates/uv/tests/it/publish.rs
+++ b/crates/uv/tests/it/publish.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use crate::common::{uv_snapshot, TestContext};
+use uv_static::EnvVars;
 
 #[test]
 fn username_password_no_longer_supported() {
@@ -51,3 +52,34 @@ fn invalid_token() {
     "###
     );
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn missing_trusted_publishing_permission() {
+    let context = TestContext::new("3.12");
+
+    uv_snapshot!(context.filters(), context.publish()
+        .arg("-u")
+        .arg("__token__")
+        .arg("-p")
+        .arg("dummy")
+        .arg("--publish-url")
+        .arg("https://test.pypi.org/legacy/")
+        .arg("--trusted-publishing")
+        .arg("always")
+        .arg("../../scripts/links/ok-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl")
+        // Emulate CI
+        .env(EnvVars::GITHUB_ACTIONS, "true")
+        // Just to make sure
+        .env_remove(EnvVars::ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_TOKEN), @r###"
+    success: false
+    exit_code: 2
+    ----- stdout -----
+
+    ----- stderr -----
+    warning: `uv publish` is experimental and may change without warning
+    Publishing 1 file to https://test.pypi.org/legacy/
+    error: Failed to obtain token for trusted publishing
+      Caused by: Environment variable ACTIONS_ID_TOKEN_REQUEST_TOKEN not set, is the `id-token: write` permission missing?
+    "###
+    );
+}