diff --git a/src/local/listener/createDocumentObserver.ts b/src/local/listener/createDocumentObserver.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a8ef84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/local/listener/createDocumentObserver.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+import {type SanityClient} from '@sanity/client'
+import {catchError, concatMap, map, of, throwError} from 'rxjs'
+
+import {type SanityDocumentBase} from '../../mutations/types'
+import {type ListenerSyncEvent} from '../types'
+import {type GlobalMutationEventStream} from './createGlobalMutationEventsListener'
+import {FetchError, isClientError} from './errors'
+import {sequentializeListenerEvents} from './sequentializeListenerEvents'
+
+/**
+ * Creates a resilient document observer that will always do it's best to maintain a local copy of the latest document from a sanity dataset
+ * Features
+ *  - builtin retrying and connection recovery (track disconnected state by listening for `reconnect` events)
+ *  - builtin mutation event ordering (they might arrive out of order), lost events detection (listen endpoint doesn't guarantee delivery) and recovery
+ *  - discards already-applied mutation events received while fetching the initial document snapshot
+ * @param options
+ */
+export function createDocumentObserver(options: {
+  client: SanityClient
+  globalEvents: GlobalMutationEventStream
+}) {
+  const {client, globalEvents} = options
+  return function observe<Doc extends SanityDocumentBase>(documentId: string) {
+    return globalEvents.pipe(
+      concatMap(event =>
+        event.type === 'welcome'
+          ? client.observable.getDocument<Doc>(documentId).pipe(
+              map(
+                (doc: undefined | Doc): ListenerSyncEvent<Doc> => ({
+                  type: 'sync',
+                  transactionId: doc?._id,
+                  document: doc,
+                }),
+              ),
+              catchError((err: unknown) => {
+                const error = toError(err)
+                if (isClientError(error)) {
+                  return throwError(() => error)
+                }
+                return throwError(
+                  () =>
+                    new FetchError(
+                      `An unexpected error occurred while fetching document: ${error?.message}`,
+                      {cause: error},
+                    ),
+                )
+              }),
+            )
+          : of(event),
+      ),
+      sequentializeListenerEvents<Doc>({
+        maxBufferSize: 10,
+        resolveChainDeadline: 10_000,
+      }),
+    )
+  }
+}
+
+function toError(maybeErr: unknown) {
+  if (maybeErr instanceof Error) {
+    return maybeErr
+  }
+  if (typeof maybeErr === 'object' && maybeErr) {
+    return Object.assign(new Error(), maybeErr)
+  }
+  return new Error(String(maybeErr))
+}
diff --git a/src/local/listener/documentObserver.ts b/src/local/listener/documentObserver.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 6160b37..0000000
--- a/src/local/listener/documentObserver.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-import {type SanityClient} from '@sanity/client'
-import {concatMap, map, of} from 'rxjs'
-
-import {type SanityDocumentLike} from '../../mutations/types'
-import {type ListenerSyncEvent} from '../types'
-import {type GlobalMutationEventStream} from './createGlobalMutationEventsListener'
-import {sequentializeListenerEvents} from './sequentializeListenerEvents'
-
-export function createDocumentObserver(options: {
-  client: SanityClient
-  globalEvents: GlobalMutationEventStream
-}) {
-  const {client, globalEvents} = options
-  return function observe<Doc extends SanityDocumentLike>(documentId: string) {
-    return globalEvents.pipe(
-      concatMap(event =>
-        event.type === 'welcome'
-          ? client.observable.getDocument<Doc>(documentId).pipe(
-              map(
-                (doc: undefined | Doc): ListenerSyncEvent<Doc> => ({
-                  type: 'sync',
-                  transactionId: doc?._id,
-                  document: doc,
-                }),
-              ),
-            )
-          : of(event),
-      ),
-      sequentializeListenerEvents<Doc>({
-        maxBufferSize: 10,
-        resolveChainDeadline: 10_000,
-      }),
-    )
-  }
-}
diff --git a/src/local/listener/errors.ts b/src/local/listener/errors.ts
index b229cac..a42f55a 100644
--- a/src/local/listener/errors.ts
+++ b/src/local/listener/errors.ts
@@ -1,17 +1,36 @@
+import {ClientError as SanityClientError} from '@sanity/client'
+
 import {type ListenerSequenceState} from './sequentializeListenerEvents'
 
+/*
+ * This file should include all errors that can be thrown by the document observer
+ */
+
+export const ClientError = SanityClientError
+
+export class FetchError extends Error {
+  cause?: Error
+  constructor(message: string, extra?: {cause?: Error}) {
+    super(message)
+    this.cause = extra?.cause
+    this.name = 'FetchError'
+  }
+}
+
 export class ChannelError extends Error {
   constructor(message: string) {
     super(message)
     this.name = 'ChannelError'
   }
 }
+
 export class DisconnectError extends Error {
   constructor(message: string) {
     super(message)
     this.name = 'DisconnectError'
   }
 }
+
 export class OutOfSyncError extends Error {
   /**
    * Attach state to the error for debugging/reporting
@@ -36,3 +55,9 @@ export class MaxBufferExceededError extends OutOfSyncError {
     this.name = 'MaxBufferExceededError'
   }
 }
+
+export function isClientError(e: unknown): e is SanityClientError {
+  if (typeof e !== 'object') return false
+  if (!e) return false
+  return 'statusCode' in e && 'response' in e
+}