diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/api/routes/providers.py b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/api/routes/providers.py
index b2b9dc73..e984ff75 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/api/routes/providers.py
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/ingester/api/routes/providers.py
@@ -29,9 +29,16 @@ async def _probe(client: httpx.AsyncClient, base_url: str) -> ProviderEndpoint:
 
 @router.get("/providers", response_model=ProvidersResponse)
 async def providers(state: APIState = Depends(get_state)) -> ProvidersResponse:
-    """Probe configured external providers (currently docling-serve) and
-    return their reachability. Dashboard polls this to surface a downstream
-    outage that the ingester itself can only see via worker job failures."""
+    """Probe external providers actually in use by the current converter /
+    chunker and return their reachability. Dashboard polls this to surface a
+    downstream outage that the ingester itself can only see via worker job
+    failures."""
+    processing = state.config.processing
+    uses_docling_serve = (
+        processing.converter == "docling-serve" or processing.chunker == "docling-serve"
+    )
+    if not uses_docling_serve:
+        return ProvidersResponse(docling_serve=[])
     base_urls = state.config.providers.docling_serve.base_urls
     async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=_PROBE_TIMEOUT_S) as client:
         results = await asyncio.gather(*(_probe(client, u) for u in base_urls))
diff --git a/tests/ingester/test_api.py b/tests/ingester/test_api.py
index 4e5143d9..9146f73b 100644
--- a/tests/ingester/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/ingester/test_api.py
@@ -538,6 +538,8 @@ async def test_providers_probes_each_docling_serve_url(state, monkeypatch):
         return ProviderEndpoint(base_url=base_url, reachable=True, status_code=200)
 
     monkeypatch.setattr(providers_mod, "_probe", _fake_probe)
+    state.config.processing.converter = "docling-serve"
+    state.config.processing.chunker = "docling-serve"
     state.config.providers.docling_serve.base_url = [
         "http://docling-serve-up:5001",
         "http://docling-serve-down:5001",
@@ -556,6 +558,49 @@ async def test_providers_probes_each_docling_serve_url(state, monkeypatch):
     assert "Name or service not known" in body["docling_serve"][1]["error"]
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_providers_skips_docling_serve_when_not_in_use(state, monkeypatch):
+    """With docling-local for both converter and chunker, /providers
+    returns an empty docling_serve list — and crucially does not probe."""
+    from haiku.rag.ingester.api.routes import providers as providers_mod
+
+    probed: list[str] = []
+
+    async def _spy_probe(client, base_url):  # pragma: no cover - asserted not called
+        probed.append(base_url)
+        raise AssertionError("probe should not run when docling-serve is not in use")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(providers_mod, "_probe", _spy_probe)
+    state.config.processing.converter = "docling-local"
+    state.config.processing.chunker = "docling-local"
+    async with _client(state) as client:
+        resp = await client.get("/providers")
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    assert resp.json() == {"docling_serve": []}
+    assert probed == []
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_providers_probes_when_only_chunker_uses_docling_serve(
+    state, monkeypatch
+):
+    """A mixed config (local converter + docling-serve chunker, or vice versa)
+    still counts as 'in use' and triggers the probe."""
+    from haiku.rag.ingester.api.routes import providers as providers_mod
+    from haiku.rag.ingester.api.schemas import ProviderEndpoint
+
+    async def _fake_probe(client, base_url):
+        return ProviderEndpoint(base_url=base_url, reachable=True, status_code=200)
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(providers_mod, "_probe", _fake_probe)
+    state.config.processing.converter = "docling-local"
+    state.config.processing.chunker = "docling-serve"
+    async with _client(state) as client:
+        resp = await client.get("/providers")
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    assert len(resp.json()["docling_serve"]) == 1
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_providers_probe_with_real_httpx_transport():
     """End-to-end through the actual _probe — MockTransport drives the