diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/index.test.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/index.test.ts
index 38302609278..c9ccc2e83a5 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/index.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/index.test.ts
@@ -485,48 +485,6 @@ describe("memory index", () => {
     }
   });
 
-  it("passes Gemini outputDimensionality from config into the provider", async () => {
-    const cfg = createCfg({
-      storePath: indexMainPath,
-      provider: "gemini",
-      model: "gemini-embedding-2-preview",
-      outputDimensionality: 1536,
-    });
-
-    const result = await getMemorySearchManager({ cfg, agentId: "main" });
-    const manager = requireManager(result);
-    await manager.probeEmbeddingAvailability();
-
-    expect(
-      providerCalls.some(
-        (call) =>
-          call.provider === "gemini" &&
-          call.model === "gemini-embedding-2-preview" &&
-          call.outputDimensionality === 1536,
-      ),
-    ).toBe(true);
-    await manager.close?.();
-  });
-
-  it("does not initialize the provider when searching an empty index", async () => {
-    const cfg = createCfg({
-      storePath: path.join(workspaceDir, `index-empty-${randomUUID()}.sqlite`),
-      provider: "gemini",
-      model: "gemini-embedding-2-preview",
-      outputDimensionality: 1536,
-      onSearch: false,
-    });
-
-    const result = await getMemorySearchManager({ cfg, agentId: "main" });
-    const manager = requireManager(result);
-
-    const results = await manager.search("hello");
-
-    expect(results).toEqual([]);
-    expect(providerCalls).toEqual([]);
-    await manager.close?.();
-  });
-
   it("reuses cached embeddings on forced reindex", async () => {
     const cfg = createCfg({ storePath: indexMainPath, cacheEnabled: true });
     const manager = await getPersistentManager(cfg);
diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-provider-state.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-provider-state.ts
index 2aa01a6ad28..730a240c828 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-provider-state.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-provider-state.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,26 @@ export type MemoryResolvedProviderState = {
   providerRuntime?: EmbeddingProviderRuntime;
 };
 
+export function resolveMemoryPrimaryProviderRequest(params: {
+  settings: ResolvedMemorySearchConfig;
+}): {
+  provider: string;
+  model: string;
+  remote: ResolvedMemorySearchConfig["remote"];
+  outputDimensionality: ResolvedMemorySearchConfig["outputDimensionality"];
+  fallback: ResolvedMemorySearchConfig["fallback"];
+  local: ResolvedMemorySearchConfig["local"];
+} {
+  return {
+    provider: params.settings.provider,
+    model: params.settings.model,
+    remote: params.settings.remote,
+    outputDimensionality: params.settings.outputDimensionality,
+    fallback: params.settings.fallback,
+    local: params.settings.local,
+  };
+}
+
 export function resolveMemoryProviderState(
   result: Pick<
     EmbeddingProviderResult,
diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-search-preflight.test.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-search-preflight.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..760575c3c0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-search-preflight.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { resolveMemorySearchPreflight } from "./manager-search-preflight.js";
+
+describe("memory manager search preflight", () => {
+  it("skips search and provider init for blank queries", () => {
+    expect(
+      resolveMemorySearchPreflight({
+        query: "   ",
+        hasIndexedContent: true,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      normalizedQuery: "",
+      shouldInitializeProvider: false,
+      shouldSearch: false,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("skips provider init when the index is empty", () => {
+    expect(
+      resolveMemorySearchPreflight({
+        query: "hello",
+        hasIndexedContent: false,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      normalizedQuery: "hello",
+      shouldInitializeProvider: false,
+      shouldSearch: false,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("allows provider init when query and indexed content are present", () => {
+    expect(
+      resolveMemorySearchPreflight({
+        query: " hello ",
+        hasIndexedContent: true,
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      normalizedQuery: "hello",
+      shouldInitializeProvider: true,
+      shouldSearch: true,
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-search-preflight.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-search-preflight.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..087016adca7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager-search-preflight.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+export function resolveMemorySearchPreflight(params: { query: string; hasIndexedContent: boolean }):
+  | {
+      normalizedQuery: string;
+      shouldInitializeProvider: boolean;
+      shouldSearch: true;
+    }
+  | {
+      normalizedQuery: string;
+      shouldInitializeProvider: false;
+      shouldSearch: false;
+    } {
+  const normalizedQuery = params.query.trim();
+  if (!normalizedQuery) {
+    return {
+      normalizedQuery,
+      shouldInitializeProvider: false,
+      shouldSearch: false,
+    };
+  }
+  if (!params.hasIndexedContent) {
+    return {
+      normalizedQuery,
+      shouldInitializeProvider: false,
+      shouldSearch: false,
+    };
+  }
+  return {
+    normalizedQuery,
+    shouldInitializeProvider: true,
+    shouldSearch: true,
+  };
+}
diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager.mistral-provider.test.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager.mistral-provider.test.ts
index 1554b7718e6..95c36b0acf4 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager.mistral-provider.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager.mistral-provider.test.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import {
   applyMemoryFallbackProviderState,
   resolveMemoryFallbackProviderRequest,
+  resolveMemoryPrimaryProviderRequest,
   resolveMemoryProviderState,
 } from "./manager-provider-state.js";
 
@@ -114,4 +115,19 @@ describe("memory manager mistral provider wiring", () => {
     expect(request?.model).toBe(DEFAULT_OLLAMA_EMBEDDING_MODEL);
     expect(request?.fallback).toBe("none");
   });
+
+  it("includes outputDimensionality in the primary provider request", () => {
+    const request = resolveMemoryPrimaryProviderRequest({
+      settings: {
+        ...createSettings({ provider: "mistral" }),
+        provider: "gemini",
+        model: "gemini-embedding-2-preview",
+        outputDimensionality: 1536,
+      } as ResolvedMemorySearchConfig,
+    });
+
+    expect(request.provider).toBe("gemini");
+    expect(request.model).toBe("gemini-embedding-2-preview");
+    expect(request.outputDimensionality).toBe(1536);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager.ts b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager.ts
index 997a424be56..15e770eb9d8 100644
--- a/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager.ts
+++ b/extensions/memory-core/src/memory/manager.ts
@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@ import {
   resolveSingletonManagedCache,
 } from "./manager-cache.js";
 import { MemoryManagerEmbeddingOps } from "./manager-embedding-ops.js";
-import { resolveMemoryProviderState } from "./manager-provider-state.js";
+import {
+  resolveMemoryPrimaryProviderRequest,
+  resolveMemoryProviderState,
+} from "./manager-provider-state.js";
+import { resolveMemorySearchPreflight } from "./manager-search-preflight.js";
 import { searchKeyword, searchVector } from "./manager-search.js";
 import {
   collectMemoryStatusAggregate,
@@ -142,12 +146,7 @@ export class MemoryIndexManager extends MemoryManagerEmbeddingOps implements Mem
     return await createEmbeddingProvider({
       config: params.cfg,
       agentDir: resolveAgentDir(params.cfg, params.agentId),
-      provider: params.settings.provider,
-      remote: params.settings.remote,
-      model: params.settings.model,
-      outputDimensionality: params.settings.outputDimensionality,
-      fallback: params.settings.fallback,
-      local: params.settings.local,
+      ...resolveMemoryPrimaryProviderRequest({ settings: params.settings }),
     });
   }
 
@@ -293,10 +292,14 @@ export class MemoryIndexManager extends MemoryManagerEmbeddingOps implements Mem
       sessionKey?: string;
     },
   ): Promise<MemorySearchResult[]> {
-    const cleaned = query.trim();
-    if (!cleaned) {
+    const preflight = resolveMemorySearchPreflight({
+      query,
+      hasIndexedContent: this.hasIndexedContent(),
+    });
+    if (!preflight.shouldSearch) {
       return [];
     }
+    const cleaned = preflight.normalizedQuery;
     void this.warmSession(opts?.sessionKey);
     startAsyncSearchSync({
       enabled: this.settings.sync.onSearch,
@@ -307,11 +310,9 @@ export class MemoryIndexManager extends MemoryManagerEmbeddingOps implements Mem
         log.warn(`memory sync failed (search): ${String(err)}`);
       },
     });
-    const hasIndexedContent = this.hasIndexedContent();
-    if (!hasIndexedContent) {
-      return [];
+    if (preflight.shouldInitializeProvider) {
+      await this.ensureProviderInitialized();
     }
-    await this.ensureProviderInitialized();
     const minScore = opts?.minScore ?? this.settings.query.minScore;
     const maxResults = opts?.maxResults ?? this.settings.query.maxResults;
     const hybrid = this.settings.query.hybrid;