diff --git a/src/grpcutil/__init__.py b/src/grpcutil/__init__.py
index 143900a..71f7457 100644
--- a/src/grpcutil/__init__.py
+++ b/src/grpcutil/__init__.py
@@ -2,6 +2,17 @@
 
 import grpc
 
+# Unified exception type for catching errors from both the sync and async
+# clients. grpc.aio.AioRpcError (raised by the async client) already subclasses
+# grpc.RpcError (raised by the sync client), so a single ``except AuthzedError``
+# catches errors from either:
+#
+#     try:
+#         client.CheckPermission(...)
+#     except AuthzedError as err:
+#         ...
+AuthzedError = grpc.RpcError
+
 
 def bearer_token_credentials(token: str, certChain: Optional[bytes] = None):
     """
diff --git a/tests/misc_test.py b/tests/misc_test.py
index dcd96d6..e7249c7 100644
--- a/tests/misc_test.py
+++ b/tests/misc_test.py
@@ -1,7 +1,20 @@
+import grpc
+import grpc.aio
 import pytest
 from protovalidate import ValidationError, validate
 
 from authzed.api.v1 import ObjectReference, Relationship
+from grpcutil import AuthzedError
+
+
+def test_authzed_error_catches_sync_and_async_grpc_errors():
+    # The sync client raises grpc.RpcError; the async client raises
+    # grpc.aio.AioRpcError. AuthzedError must catch both.
+    with pytest.raises(AuthzedError):
+        raise grpc.RpcError("sync error")
+
+    assert issubclass(grpc.RpcError, AuthzedError)
+    assert issubclass(grpc.aio.AioRpcError, AuthzedError)
 
 
 def test_type_error_does_not_segfault():