diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index 2af90aad..7bfc4d0c 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ export default class CopilotPlugin extends Plugin {
     // Initialize ProjectManager
     this.projectManager = ProjectManager.getInstance(this.app, this);
 
-    // Initialize VectorStoreManager
+    // Always construct VectorStoreManager; it internally no-ops when semantic search is disabled
     this.vectorStoreManager = VectorStoreManager.getInstance();
 
     // Initialize FileParserManager early with other core services
diff --git a/src/search/vectorStoreManager.ts b/src/search/vectorStoreManager.ts
index 076658bf..1fe1fa35 100644
--- a/src/search/vectorStoreManager.ts
+++ b/src/search/vectorStoreManager.ts
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ export default class VectorStoreManager {
   }
 
   private async initialize(): Promise<void> {
+    // Do not initialize or show notices if semantic search is disabled
+    const settings = getSettings();
+    if (!settings.enableSemanticSearchV3) {
+      return;
+    }
     try {
       let retries = 3;
       while (retries > 0) {