diff --git a/src/ai/llamacpp.rs b/src/ai/llamacpp.rs
index e6f135d..0e7de7a 100644
--- a/src/ai/llamacpp.rs
+++ b/src/ai/llamacpp.rs
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::time::Duration;
 use tracing_opentelemetry::OpenTelemetrySpanExt as _;
 
-use crate::ai::config::PickerConfig;
+use crate::ai::config::{LlmConfig, LocalBackend, PickerConfig};
 use crate::ai::llm_client::{
     ChatMessage, LlmClient, LlmStreamEvent, ModelCapabilities, Tool, ToolCall, ToolCallFunction,
 };
@@ -1026,6 +1026,8 @@ pub struct DiscoveredModel {
     /// A `setParamsByID` alias like `qwen3.8-27b-code:sub` — a parameter
     /// profile on another model, not a model of its own.
     pub is_alias: bool,
+    /// `metadata.dim` on embed models: the vector width they produce.
+    pub dim: Option<usize>,
 }
 
 impl DiscoveredModel {
@@ -1055,6 +1057,7 @@ impl DiscoveredModel {
             },
             kind: field("kind").and_then(Value::as_str).map(str::to_string),
             is_alias: field("type").and_then(Value::as_str) == Some("alias"),
+            dim: field("dim").and_then(Value::as_u64).map(|n| n as usize),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -1080,7 +1083,90 @@ pub fn picker_models(
         .collect()
 }
 
+/// Ways `cfg` disagrees with what llama-swap serves: role models that don't
+/// exist or lack the capability the role needs, picker ids that don't exist,
+/// models without metadata, and an embed `dim` that differs from
+/// `embedding.dim` (stored vectors would stop matching).
+pub fn catalog_warnings(cfg: &LlmConfig, models: &[DiscoveredModel]) -> Vec<String> {
+    let find = |id: &str| models.iter().find(|m| m.caps.name == id);
+    let mut out = Vec::new();
+    let mut require =
+        |role: &str, id: &str, check: &dyn Fn(&DiscoveredModel) -> Option<String>| match find(id) {
+            None => out.push(format!("{role} model '{id}' is not served by llama-swap")),
+            Some(m) => {
+                if let Some(problem) = check(m) {
+                    out.push(format!("{role} model '{id}' {problem}"));
+                }
+            }
+        };
+
+    let chat_check = |m: &DiscoveredModel| {
+        (!m.is_chat()).then(|| format!("has kind '{}', not chat", m.kind.as_deref().unwrap_or("")))
+    };
+    let lc = &cfg.llamacpp;
+    if cfg.backend == LocalBackend::Llamacpp {
+        require("chat", &lc.chat, &chat_check);
+        require("vision", lc.vision_model(), &|m| {
+            (!m.caps.has_vision).then(|| "has no vision (metadata vision: true missing)".into())
+        });
+        let want_dim = cfg.embedding.dim;
+        require("embedding", &cfg.embedding.model, &|m| {
+            if m.kind.as_deref() != Some("embed") {
+                Some("isn't kind: embed".into())
+            } else {
+                match m.dim {
+                    Some(d) if d != want_dim => Some(format!(
+                        "produces {d}-dim vectors but embedding.dim is {want_dim}; \
+                         stored vectors won't match"
+                    )),
+                    _ => None,
+                }
+            }
+        });
+        if let Some(id) = &cfg.unified_search_model {
+            require("unified_search", id, &chat_check);
+        }
+    }
+    require("tts", &cfg.tts.model, &|m| {
+        (m.kind.as_deref() != Some("tts")).then(|| "isn't kind: tts".into())
+    });
+
+    let picker_ids = lc.picker.include.iter().flatten().chain(&lc.picker.exclude);
+    for id in picker_ids {
+        if find(id).is_none() {
+            out.push(format!(
+                "picker lists '{id}', which llama-swap doesn't serve"
+            ));
+        }
+    }
+    let unlabeled: Vec<&str> = models
+        .iter()
+        .filter(|m| !m.is_alias && m.kind.is_none())
+        .map(|m| m.caps.name.as_str())
+        .collect();
+    if !unlabeled.is_empty() {
+        out.push(format!(
+            "no metadata in llama-swap config.yaml for: {} (treated as text-only chat)",
+            unlabeled.join(", ")
+        ));
+    }
+    out
+}
+
 impl LlamaCppClient {
+    /// Log [`catalog_warnings`] once at startup. Never fails: llama-swap may
+    /// simply not be up yet.
+    pub async fn log_catalog_warnings(&self, cfg: &LlmConfig) {
+        match self.discover_models().await {
+            Ok(models) => {
+                for w in catalog_warnings(cfg, &models) {
+                    log::warn!("LLM config: {w}");
+                }
+            }
+            Err(e) => log::warn!("LLM config not checked, llama-swap unreachable: {e:#}"),
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Every model llama-swap serves, aliases included, with metadata.
     pub async fn discover_models(&self) -> Result<Vec<DiscoveredModel>> {
         let url = format!("{}/models", self.base_url);
@@ -1552,6 +1638,79 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    fn served() -> Vec<DiscoveredModel> {
+        let m = |v: Value| DiscoveredModel::from_json(&v);
+        vec![
+            m(
+                json!({"id": "chat", "meta": {"llamaswap": {"type": "model", "kind": "chat", "vision": false}}}),
+            ),
+            m(
+                json!({"id": "eyes", "meta": {"llamaswap": {"type": "model", "kind": "chat", "vision": true}}}),
+            ),
+            m(
+                json!({"id": "embed", "meta": {"llamaswap": {"type": "model", "kind": "embed", "dim": 768}}}),
+            ),
+            m(json!({"id": "chatterbox", "meta": {"llamaswap": {"type": "model", "kind": "tts"}}})),
+            m(json!({"id": "chat:sub", "meta": {"llamaswap": {"type": "alias", "kind": "chat"}}})),
+        ]
+    }
+
+    fn llamacpp_cfg() -> LlmConfig {
+        let mut cfg = LlmConfig {
+            backend: LocalBackend::Llamacpp,
+            ..Default::default()
+        };
+        cfg.llamacpp.url = Some("http://x/v1".into());
+        cfg.llamacpp.vision = Some("eyes".into());
+        cfg
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn matching_catalog_has_no_warnings() {
+        assert!(catalog_warnings(&llamacpp_cfg(), &served()).is_empty());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn catalog_mismatches_are_reported() {
+        let mut cfg = llamacpp_cfg();
+        cfg.llamacpp.chat = "gone".into();
+        cfg.llamacpp.vision = None; // falls back to "gone" too
+        cfg.embedding.dim = 1024;
+        cfg.tts.model = "embed".into();
+        cfg.llamacpp.picker.exclude = vec!["stale".into()];
+        let w = catalog_warnings(&cfg, &served()).join("\n");
+        assert!(w.contains("chat model 'gone' is not served"), "{w}");
+        assert!(w.contains("vision model 'gone' is not served"), "{w}");
+        assert!(
+            w.contains("768-dim vectors but embedding.dim is 1024"),
+            "{w}"
+        );
+        assert!(w.contains("tts model 'embed' isn't kind: tts"), "{w}");
+        assert!(w.contains("picker lists 'stale'"), "{w}");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn text_only_vision_model_and_unlabeled_models_are_reported() {
+        let mut cfg = llamacpp_cfg();
+        cfg.llamacpp.vision = Some("chat".into());
+        let mut models = served();
+        models.push(DiscoveredModel::from_json(&json!({"id": "bare"})));
+        let w = catalog_warnings(&cfg, &models).join("\n");
+        assert!(w.contains("vision model 'chat' has no vision"), "{w}");
+        assert!(
+            w.contains("no metadata in llama-swap config.yaml for: bare"),
+            "{w}"
+        );
+        assert!(!w.contains("chat:sub"), "aliases never need metadata: {w}");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn ollama_backend_only_checks_tts() {
+        let mut cfg = LlmConfig::default();
+        cfg.llamacpp.chat = "gone".into();
+        assert!(catalog_warnings(&cfg, &served()).is_empty());
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn picker_applies_exclude_and_include() {
         let models = || {
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index b7bed1f..fae1696 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -75,6 +75,11 @@ fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
         // table; we use that list to drive the initial thumbnail sweep.
         let app_data = Data::new(AppState::default());
 
+        // Cross-check llm.toml against what llama-swap serves (warn-only).
+        if let Some(lc) = app_data.llamacpp.clone() {
+            tokio::spawn(async move { lc.log_catalog_warnings(ai::config::llm_config()).await });
+        }
+
         // Kick thumbnail generation onto a background thread so the HTTP
         // server can accept traffic while large libraries are backfilling.
         // Existing thumbs are re-used (exists() check inside the walk),