diff --git a/src/ai/mod.rs b/src/ai/mod.rs
index 93a2edc..c54b113 100644
--- a/src/ai/mod.rs
+++ b/src/ai/mod.rs
@@ -78,8 +78,9 @@ pub async fn embed_one(
                 .pop()
                 .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("llama-swap returned no embeddings"));
         }
-        log::warn!(
-            "LLM_BACKEND=llamacpp but LlamaCppClient is unconfigured; falling back to Ollama embeddings"
+        anyhow::bail!(
+            "LLM_BACKEND=llamacpp but LlamaCppClient is unconfigured — \
+             set LLAMA_SWAP_URL or switch to LLM_BACKEND=ollama"
         );
     }
     ollama.generate_embedding(text).await