diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 260a8f0c..996d04d1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 - `doctor`'s docling-serve probe sends `X-Api-Key`, so an instance requiring a key is reported reachable rather than unreachable.
 - The picture-description request to the public OpenAI endpoint sends `OPENAI_API_KEY`; it carried no authorization header.
+- `haiku-rag` prints the message and exits when the configured embedder does not match the database, instead of raising a traceback.
 
 ## [0.77.0] - 2026-08-21
 
diff --git a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/cli.py b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/cli.py
index 69c1bc5a..b6d3539c 100644
--- a/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/cli.py
+++ b/haiku_rag_slim/haiku/rag/cli.py
@@ -42,10 +42,15 @@ _cli = typer.Typer(
 
 
 def cli():
+    # Imported here rather than at module scope: the settings module pulls in
+    # lancedb, and the CLI's startup must not pay for it.
+    from haiku.rag.store.repositories.settings import ConfigMismatchError
+
     try:
         _cli()
     except (
         AmbiguousDatabaseError,
+        ConfigMismatchError,
         MigrationRequiredError,
         ReadOnlyError,
         SourceUnavailableError,
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 13382813..17c1df41 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -328,6 +328,22 @@ class TestResolvingTheDatabasePath:
             resolve_db_path(Path("/data/other.lancedb"))
 
 
+class TestCliConfigMismatchError:
+    def test_a_config_mismatch_exits_with_its_remedy(self):
+        """The message says which database and what to run, so it is worth more
+        than a traceback."""
+        from haiku.rag.store.repositories.settings import ConfigMismatchError
+
+        with patch("haiku.rag.cli._cli") as mock_cli:
+            mock_cli.side_effect = ConfigMismatchError(
+                "database 'nemotron': vector dimension 2048 -> 2560"
+            )
+
+            with pytest.raises(SystemExit) as exc_info:
+                cli_wrapper()
+            assert exc_info.value.code == 1
+
+
 class TestCliMigrationError:
     def test_catches_migration_required_error(self):
         with patch("haiku.rag.cli._cli") as mock_cli: