diff --git a/ui/src/app/flags/streamingUtils.ts b/ui/src/app/flags/streamingUtils.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dd0246d781
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/src/app/flags/streamingUtils.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+/**
+ * Stream payloads without an explicit `type` can still represent data updates.
+ * We only skip invalidation for explicit error events.
+ */
+export const shouldInvalidateFromStreamEvent = (
+  eventData: { type?: string; etag?: string } | null
+) => eventData !== null && eventData.type !== 'error';
diff --git a/ui/src/store.test.ts b/ui/src/store.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2d0d142c21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/src/store.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import { shouldInvalidateFromStreamEvent } from '~/app/flags/streamingUtils';
+
+describe('shouldInvalidateFromStreamEvent', () => {
+  it('invalidates for refetchEvaluation events', () => {
+    expect(shouldInvalidateFromStreamEvent({ type: 'refetchEvaluation' })).toBe(
+      true
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('invalidates for stream payloads without a type', () => {
+    expect(shouldInvalidateFromStreamEvent({ etag: 'digest' })).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('does not invalidate for error events', () => {
+    expect(shouldInvalidateFromStreamEvent({ type: 'error' })).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('does not invalidate for null payloads', () => {
+    expect(shouldInvalidateFromStreamEvent(null)).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/ui/src/store.ts b/ui/src/store.ts
index aeb56bfd0d..ac4b164b92 100644
--- a/ui/src/store.ts
+++ b/ui/src/store.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import { eventKey, eventSlice } from '~/app/events/eventSlice';
 import { analyticsApi } from '~/app/flags/analyticsApi';
 import { flagsApi, flagsTableSlice } from '~/app/flags/flagsApi';
 import { eventReceived, streamingReducer } from '~/app/flags/streamingApi';
+import { shouldInvalidateFromStreamEvent } from '~/app/flags/streamingUtils';
 import { metaSlice } from '~/app/meta/metaSlice';
 import {
   namespaceApi,
@@ -114,8 +115,8 @@ listenerMiddleware.startListening({
       etag?: string;
     } | null;
 
-    if (eventData?.type !== 'refetchEvaluation') {
-      console.warn('unexpected sse event', eventData);
+    if (!shouldInvalidateFromStreamEvent(eventData)) {
+      console.warn('skipping cache invalidation for sse event', eventData);
       return;
     }