diff --git a/src/commands/embed.ts b/src/commands/embed.ts
index e43c5582f..d0214111e 100644
--- a/src/commands/embed.ts
+++ b/src/commands/embed.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import type { ChunkInput } from '../core/types.ts';
 import { chunkText } from '../core/chunkers/recursive.ts';
 import { createProgress, type ProgressReporter } from '../core/progress.ts';
 import { getCliOptions, cliOptsToProgressOptions } from '../core/cli-options.ts';
+import { assertEmbeddingEnabled } from '../core/embedding-dim-check.ts';
+import { loadConfig } from '../core/config.ts';
 
 export interface EmbedOpts {
   /** Embed ALL pages (every chunk). */
@@ -67,6 +69,12 @@ export interface EmbedResult {
  * auto-embed step) can report embeddings in their own structured output.
  */
 export async function runEmbedCore(engine: BrainEngine, opts: EmbedOpts): Promise<EmbedResult> {
+  // T7 (D9): refuse cleanly when init persisted the deferred-setup sentinel.
+  // Skipped in dryRun mode so plan-mode introspection still works.
+  if (!opts.dryRun) {
+    assertEmbeddingEnabled(loadConfig());
+  }
+
   const result: EmbedResult = {
     embedded: 0,
     skipped: 0,
diff --git a/src/commands/import.ts b/src/commands/import.ts
index 517c9a50c..e0ed8525d 100644
--- a/src/commands/import.ts
+++ b/src/commands/import.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,22 @@ export async function runImport(
   const noEmbed = args.includes('--no-embed');
   const fresh = args.includes('--fresh');
   const jsonOutput = args.includes('--json');
+
+  // T7 (D9): refuse cleanly when init persisted the deferred-setup sentinel,
+  // unless the user is explicitly skipping embedding via `--no-embed` (in
+  // which case the chunks land without vectors and the user can backfill
+  // later with `gbrain embed --stale` after configuring a provider).
+  if (!noEmbed) {
+    const { assertEmbeddingEnabled } = await import('../core/embedding-dim-check.ts');
+    const { loadConfig } = await import('../core/config.ts');
+    try {
+      assertEmbeddingEnabled(loadConfig());
+    } catch (e) {
+      console.error(`\n${e instanceof Error ? e.message : e}`);
+      console.error('Tip: run `gbrain import <dir> --no-embed` to import without embedding now.');
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+  }
   // v0.30.x follow-up to PR #707: programmatic sourceId support so internal
   // callers (performFullSync, future Step 6 paths) can route to a named
   // source. The CLI `gbrain import` deliberately has no --source flag per