diff --git a/src/lib/error-reporting.ts b/src/lib/error-reporting.ts
index a44c98596..7ee1c24aa 100644
--- a/src/lib/error-reporting.ts
+++ b/src/lib/error-reporting.ts
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ type SilenceReason =
   | "output_error"
   | "auth_expected"
   | "api_user_error"
-  | "network_error";
+  | "network_error"
+  | "validation_error";
 
 /**
  * Classify whether an error should be silenced.
@@ -88,6 +89,13 @@ export function classifySilenced(error: unknown): SilenceReason | null {
   // is now only thrown for a genuine 401/403 (see auth/login.ts) — transient
   // network/server failures no longer masquerade as it — so it is safe to
   // silence alongside the others (CLI-19).
+  // A ValidationError means the user supplied invalid input (e.g. combining
+  // --follow with an absolute date range). These are user-input mistakes, not
+  // CLI bugs, so silencing them keeps Sentry noise-free while still showing
+  // the user an actionable error message (CLI-296).
+  if (error instanceof ValidationError) {
+    return "validation_error";
+  }
   if (error instanceof AuthError) {
     return "auth_expected";
   }
diff --git a/test/lib/error-reporting.test.ts b/test/lib/error-reporting.test.ts
index 1b0bed9e1..72f80e523 100644
--- a/test/lib/error-reporting.test.ts
+++ b/test/lib/error-reporting.test.ts
@@ -298,12 +298,17 @@ describe("classifySilenced", () => {
     expect(classifySilenced(err)).toBeNull();
   });
 
+  test("silences ValidationError (user input mistake)", () => {
+    expect(classifySilenced(new ValidationError("bad"))).toBe(
+      "validation_error"
+    );
+  });
+
   test.each([
     [
       "ResolutionError",
       new ResolutionError("Project 'x'", "not found", "sentry issue list"),
     ],
-    ["ValidationError", new ValidationError("bad")],
     ["SeerError", new SeerError("not_enabled")],
     ["ConfigError", new ConfigError("bad")],
     ["generic Error", new Error("boom")],