diff --git a/.env b/.env
index 789860c064f..d015689eabe 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ _APP_CONSOLE_GOOGLE_APP_ID=
 _APP_CONSOLE_GOOGLE_SECRET=
 # MariaDB and MongoDB only start when their profile is listed here; PostgreSQL always
 # runs because VectorsDB requires it. MongoDB is on by default for DocumentsDB.
+# The embedding container is resource-heavy and off by default; add 'embedding' here to
+# start it. The embeddings API is on by default and is switched off below until then.
 COMPOSE_PROFILES=mongodb
 _APP_DB_ADAPTER=postgresql
 _APP_DB_HOST=postgresql
@@ -68,6 +70,7 @@ _APP_REDIS_HOST=redis
 _APP_REDIS_PORT=6379
 _APP_REDIS_USER=
 _APP_REDIS_PASS=
+_APP_EMBEDDING=disabled
 _APP_EMBEDDING_ENDPOINT='http://appwrite-embedding:3000/embed'
 _APP_EMBEDDING_MODELS=nomic-embed-text
 _APP_EMBEDDING_TIMEOUT=30000
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index d550cbde3fd..5ba277f7d8a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ jobs:
               { name: 'Account',           runner: runner4, functional: true,  processes: null },
               { name: 'Avatars',           runner: runner4, functional: true,  processes: null },
               { name: 'Console',           runner: runner4, functional: true,  processes: null },
-              { name: 'Databases',         runner: runner8, functional: false, processes: 3, documentsdb: true },
+              { name: 'Databases',         runner: runner8, functional: false, processes: 3, documentsdb: true, embedding: true },
               { name: 'TablesDB',          runner: runner8, functional: false, processes: 3 },
               { name: 'Functions',         runner: runner4, functional: false, processes: null },
               { name: 'FunctionsSchedule', runner: runner4, functional: true,  processes: null },
@@ -469,6 +469,13 @@ jobs:
             COMPOSE_PROFILES="${COMPOSE_PROFILES},gitea"
           fi
 
+          # The embedding container is resource-heavy and off by default, so start it and
+          # enable the API only for the suites that exercise the embeddings routes.
+          if [ "${{ matrix.service.embedding }}" = "true" ]; then
+            COMPOSE_PROFILES="${COMPOSE_PROFILES},embedding"
+            echo "_APP_EMBEDDING=enabled" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          fi
+
           echo "COMPOSE_PROFILES=${COMPOSE_PROFILES}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: Login to Docker Hub
diff --git a/app/config/variables.php b/app/config/variables.php
index 96f21380f22..9b758e39f48 100644
--- a/app/config/variables.php
+++ b/app/config/variables.php
@@ -715,6 +715,15 @@
                 'question' => '',
                 'filter' => ''
             ],
+            [
+                'name' => '_APP_EMBEDDING',
+                'description' => 'Enables the embeddings API, backed by the resource-heavy appwrite-embedding container. That container sits behind the "embedding" Compose profile, so add "embedding" to COMPOSE_PROFILES to start it. Set this to "disabled" to have the /v1/embeddings routes return a service disabled error instead of reaching for the container. Default value is: enabled.',
+                'introduction' => '2.0.0',
+                'default' => 'enabled',
+                'required' => false,
+                'question' => '',
+                'filter' => ''
+            ],
         ],
     ],
     [
diff --git a/app/controllers/shared/api.php b/app/controllers/shared/api.php
index 53bb02dd497..96d1ccd7d5f 100644
--- a/app/controllers/shared/api.php
+++ b/app/controllers/shared/api.php
@@ -465,14 +465,18 @@
             // installation deploys just the engine backing the platform, so neither is on
             // until an operator provisions that engine and says so. Closed to everyone --
             // keys and privileged roles included -- rather than answering and then failing
-            // on the first write with the reason only in the logs.
+            // against an absent service with the reason only in the logs. Embeddings ran
+            // on every installation before it had a switch, so it stays on unless an
+            // operator turns it off; the resource-heavy container is what sits behind a
+            // Compose profile.
             $products = [
-                'documentsdb' => '_APP_DOCUMENTSDB',
-                'vectorsdb' => '_APP_VECTORSDB',
+                'documentsdb' => ['_APP_DOCUMENTSDB', 'disabled'],
+                'vectorsdb' => ['_APP_VECTORSDB', 'disabled'],
+                'embeddings' => ['_APP_EMBEDDING', 'enabled'],
             ];
             if (
                 isset($products[$namespace])
-                && System::getEnv($products[$namespace], 'disabled') !== 'enabled'
+                && System::getEnv(...$products[$namespace]) !== 'enabled'
             ) {
                 throw new Exception(Exception::GENERAL_SERVICE_DISABLED);
             }
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index a047ceb583f..b7dc3e4fb98 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - redis
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
-      - appwrite-embedding
       - appwrite-geo
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
@@ -260,6 +259,7 @@ services:
       - _APP_LIMIT_DATABASE_BATCH
       - _APP_DOCUMENTSDB
       - _APP_VECTORSDB
+      - _APP_EMBEDDING
   appwrite-console:
     logging:
       driver: json-file
@@ -314,7 +314,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
       - redis
-      - appwrite-embedding
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
       - _APP_USAGE_STATS
@@ -356,6 +355,7 @@ services:
       - _APP_LIMIT_DATABASE_BATCH
       - _APP_DOCUMENTSDB
       - _APP_VECTORSDB
+      - _APP_EMBEDDING
       - _APP_POOL_ADAPTER=swoole
 
   appwrite-worker:
@@ -373,7 +373,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - redis
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
-      - appwrite-embedding
     volumes:
       - appwrite-uploads:/storage/uploads:rw
       - appwrite-cache:/storage/cache:rw
@@ -525,6 +524,7 @@ services:
       - _APP_LIMIT_DATABASE_BATCH
       - _APP_DOCUMENTSDB
       - _APP_VECTORSDB
+      - _APP_EMBEDDING
 
   appwrite-task-scheduler:
     entrypoint: schedule
@@ -541,7 +541,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
       - redis
-      - appwrite-embedding
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
       - _APP_USAGE_STATS
@@ -622,7 +621,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - redis
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
-      - appwrite-embedding
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
       - _APP_WORKERS_NUM=1
@@ -662,7 +660,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - redis
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
-      - appwrite-embedding
     volumes:
       - appwrite-uploads:/storage/uploads:rw
       - appwrite-cache:/storage/cache:rw
@@ -753,7 +750,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - redis
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
-      - appwrite-embedding
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
       - _APP_WORKERS_NUM=1
@@ -792,6 +788,7 @@ services:
       - _APP_LIMIT_DATABASE_BATCH
       - _APP_DOCUMENTSDB
       - _APP_VECTORSDB
+      - _APP_EMBEDDING
   appwrite-worker-builds:
     profiles:
       - separate
@@ -812,7 +809,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - redis
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
-      - appwrite-embedding
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
       - _APP_WORKERS_NUM=1
@@ -1043,7 +1039,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - redis
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
-      - appwrite-embedding
     volumes:
       - appwrite-config:/storage/config:rw
       - appwrite-certificates:/storage/certificates:rw
@@ -1093,7 +1088,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - redis
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
-      - appwrite-embedding
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
       - _APP_USAGE_PASS
@@ -1498,7 +1492,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
       - redis
-      - appwrite-embedding
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
       - _APP_LOGGING_FORMAT
@@ -1541,7 +1534,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
       - redis
-      - appwrite-embedding
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
       - _APP_LOGGING_FORMAT
@@ -1583,7 +1575,6 @@ services:
     depends_on:
       - ${_APP_DB_HOST:-postgresql}
       - redis
-      - appwrite-embedding
     environment:
       - _APP_ENV
       - _APP_LOGGING_FORMAT
@@ -1838,6 +1829,8 @@ services:
       - postgres
   appwrite-embedding:
     image: appwrite/embedding:0.1.0
+    profiles:
+      - embedding
     environment:
       EMBEDDING_MODELS: ${_APP_EMBEDDING_MODELS:-nomic-embed-text}
     container_name: appwrite-embedding