diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/cli.runtime.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/cli.runtime.ts
index 38947b11c70..9cafa5f794a 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/cli.runtime.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/cli.runtime.ts
@@ -856,13 +856,14 @@ export async function runMemoryIndex(opts: MemoryCommandOptions) {
           if (qmdIndexSummary) {
             defaultRuntime.log(qmdIndexSummary);
           }
-          // HELM-0251: surface warning if vec0/chunks_vec was not updated
           const postIndexStatus = manager.status();
           const vectorEnabled = postIndexStatus.vector?.enabled ?? false;
           const vectorAvailable = postIndexStatus.vector?.available;
           const vectorLoadErr = postIndexStatus.vector?.loadError;
           if (vectorEnabled && vectorAvailable === false) {
             const errDetail = vectorLoadErr ? `: ${vectorLoadErr}` : "";
+            // Indexing still persisted chunks/FTS state; keep the command successful but
+            // emit a stderr warning so operators and scripts can detect degraded recall.
             defaultRuntime.error(
               `Memory index WARNING (${agentId}): chunks_vec not updated — sqlite-vec unavailable${errDetail}. Vector recall degraded.`,
             );
diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/cli.test.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/cli.test.ts
index 17a409237fe..74b6942300e 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/cli.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/cli.test.ts
@@ -529,6 +529,33 @@ describe("memory cli", () => {
     expect(log).toHaveBeenCalledWith("Memory index updated (main).");
   });
 
+  it("warns on stderr when index completes without sqlite-vec embeddings", async () => {
+    const close = vi.fn(async () => {});
+    const sync = vi.fn(async () => {});
+    mockManager({
+      sync,
+      status: () =>
+        makeMemoryStatus({
+          vector: {
+            enabled: true,
+            available: false,
+            loadError: "load failed",
+          },
+        }),
+      close,
+    });
+
+    const error = spyRuntimeErrors(defaultRuntime);
+    await runMemoryCli(["index"]);
+
+    expectCliSync(sync);
+    expect(error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      "Memory index WARNING (main): chunks_vec not updated — sqlite-vec unavailable: load failed. Vector recall degraded.",
+    );
+    expect(close).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(process.exitCode).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
   it("logs qmd index file path and size after index", async () => {
     const close = vi.fn(async () => {});
     const sync = vi.fn(async () => {});
diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-embedding-ops.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-embedding-ops.ts
index 4c89c1e2ee2..2020c0cbfec 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-embedding-ops.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-embedding-ops.ts
@@ -655,11 +655,10 @@ export abstract class MemoryManagerEmbeddingOps extends MemoryManagerSyncOps {
           .run(chunk.text, id, entry.path, source, model, chunk.startLine, chunk.endLine);
       }
     }
-    // HELM-0251: warn if chunks were written but chunks_vec was not updated
     if (this.vector.enabled && !vectorReady && chunks.length > 0) {
       const errDetail = this.vector.loadError ? `: ${this.vector.loadError}` : "";
       log.warn(
-        `HELM-0251: chunks written for ${entry.path} without vector embeddings — chunks_vec not updated (sqlite-vec unavailable${errDetail}). Vector recall degraded for this file.`,
+        `chunks written for ${entry.path} without vector embeddings — chunks_vec not updated (sqlite-vec unavailable${errDetail}). Vector recall degraded for this file.`,
       );
     }
     this.upsertFileRecord(entry, source);