diff --git a/server/src/interfaces/search.interface.ts b/server/src/interfaces/search.interface.ts
index c17f833615..d77cd62cd1 100644
--- a/server/src/interfaces/search.interface.ts
+++ b/server/src/interfaces/search.interface.ts
@@ -170,7 +170,6 @@ export interface AssetDuplicateResult {
 }
 
 export interface ISearchRepository {
-  init(modelName: string): Promise<void>;
   searchMetadata(pagination: SearchPaginationOptions, options: AssetSearchOptions): Paginated<AssetEntity>;
   searchSmart(pagination: SearchPaginationOptions, options: SmartSearchOptions): Paginated<AssetEntity>;
   searchDuplicates(options: AssetDuplicateSearch): Promise<AssetDuplicateResult[]>;
@@ -179,4 +178,6 @@ export interface ISearchRepository {
   searchPlaces(placeName: string): Promise<GeodataPlacesEntity[]>;
   getAssetsByCity(userIds: string[]): Promise<AssetEntity[]>;
   deleteAllSearchEmbeddings(): Promise<void>;
+  getDimensionSize(): Promise<number>;
+  setDimensionSize(dimSize: number): Promise<void>;
 }
diff --git a/server/src/repositories/search.repository.ts b/server/src/repositories/search.repository.ts
index a4c7edab91..9abe62a12d 100644
--- a/server/src/repositories/search.repository.ts
+++ b/server/src/repositories/search.repository.ts
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import {
 } from 'src/interfaces/search.interface';
 import { asVector, searchAssetBuilder } from 'src/utils/database';
 import { Instrumentation } from 'src/utils/instrumentation';
-import { getCLIPModelInfo } from 'src/utils/misc';
 import { Paginated, PaginationMode, PaginationResult, paginatedBuilder } from 'src/utils/pagination';
 import { isValidInteger } from 'src/validation';
 import { Repository, SelectQueryBuilder } from 'typeorm';
@@ -55,17 +54,6 @@ export class SearchRepository implements ISearchRepository {
       ' INNER JOIN cte ON asset.id = cte."assetId" ORDER BY exif.city';
   }
 
-  async init(modelName: string): Promise<void> {
-    const { dimSize } = getCLIPModelInfo(modelName);
-    const curDimSize = await this.getDimSize();
-    this.logger.verbose(`Current database CLIP dimension size is ${curDimSize}`);
-
-    if (dimSize != curDimSize) {
-      this.logger.log(`Dimension size of model ${modelName} is ${dimSize}, but database expects ${curDimSize}.`);
-      await this.updateDimSize(dimSize);
-    }
-  }
-
   @GenerateSql({
     params: [
       { page: 1, size: 100 },
@@ -300,32 +288,7 @@ export class SearchRepository implements ISearchRepository {
     );
   }
 
-  private async updateDimSize(dimSize: number): Promise<void> {
-    if (!isValidInteger(dimSize, { min: 1, max: 2 ** 16 })) {
-      throw new Error(`Invalid CLIP dimension size: ${dimSize}`);
-    }
-
-    const curDimSize = await this.getDimSize();
-    if (curDimSize === dimSize) {
-      return;
-    }
-
-    this.logger.log(`Updating database CLIP dimension size to ${dimSize}.`);
-
-    await this.smartSearchRepository.manager.transaction(async (manager) => {
-      await manager.clear(SmartSearchEntity);
-      await manager.query(`ALTER TABLE smart_search ALTER COLUMN embedding SET DATA TYPE vector(${dimSize})`);
-      await manager.query(`REINDEX INDEX clip_index`);
-    });
-
-    this.logger.log(`Successfully updated database CLIP dimension size from ${curDimSize} to ${dimSize}.`);
-  }
-
-  deleteAllSearchEmbeddings(): Promise<void> {
-    return this.smartSearchRepository.clear();
-  }
-
-  private async getDimSize(): Promise<number> {
+  async getDimensionSize(): Promise<number> {
     const res = await this.smartSearchRepository.manager.query(`
       SELECT atttypmod as dimsize
       FROM pg_attribute f
@@ -342,6 +305,22 @@ export class SearchRepository implements ISearchRepository {
     return dimSize;
   }
 
+  setDimensionSize(dimSize: number): Promise<void> {
+    if (!isValidInteger(dimSize, { min: 1, max: 2 ** 16 })) {
+      throw new Error(`Invalid CLIP dimension size: ${dimSize}`);
+    }
+
+    return this.smartSearchRepository.manager.transaction(async (manager) => {
+      await manager.clear(SmartSearchEntity);
+      await manager.query(`ALTER TABLE smart_search ALTER COLUMN embedding SET DATA TYPE vector(${dimSize})`);
+      await manager.query(`REINDEX INDEX clip_index`);
+    });
+  }
+
+  async deleteAllSearchEmbeddings(): Promise<void> {
+    return this.smartSearchRepository.clear();
+  }
+
   private getRuntimeConfig(numResults?: number): string {
     if (getVectorExtension() === DatabaseExtension.VECTOR) {
       return 'SET LOCAL hnsw.ef_search = 1000;'; // mitigate post-filter recall
diff --git a/server/src/services/smart-info.service.spec.ts b/server/src/services/smart-info.service.spec.ts
index 95f76edc49..f18dc91ff1 100644
--- a/server/src/services/smart-info.service.spec.ts
+++ b/server/src/services/smart-info.service.spec.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { SystemConfig } from 'src/config';
 import { IAssetRepository, WithoutProperty } from 'src/interfaces/asset.interface';
 import { IDatabaseRepository } from 'src/interfaces/database.interface';
 import { IJobRepository, JobName, JobStatus } from 'src/interfaces/job.interface';
@@ -45,6 +46,215 @@ describe(SmartInfoService.name, () => {
     expect(sut).toBeDefined();
   });
 
+  describe('onConfigValidateEvent', () => {
+    it('should allow a valid model', () => {
+      expect(() =>
+        sut.onConfigValidateEvent({
+          newConfig: { machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'ViT-B-16__openai' } } } as SystemConfig,
+          oldConfig: {} as SystemConfig,
+        }),
+      ).not.toThrow();
+    });
+
+    it('should allow including organization', () => {
+      expect(() =>
+        sut.onConfigValidateEvent({
+          newConfig: { machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'immich-app/ViT-B-16__openai' } } } as SystemConfig,
+          oldConfig: {} as SystemConfig,
+        }),
+      ).not.toThrow();
+    });
+
+    it('should fail for an unsupported model', () => {
+      expect(() =>
+        sut.onConfigValidateEvent({
+          newConfig: { machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'test-model' } } } as SystemConfig,
+          oldConfig: {} as SystemConfig,
+        }),
+      ).toThrow('Unknown CLIP model: test-model');
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('onBootstrapEvent', () => {
+    it('should return if not microservices', async () => {
+      await sut.onBootstrapEvent('api');
+
+      expect(systemMock.get).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.deleteAllSearchEmbeddings).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.pause).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.resume).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it('should return if machine learning is disabled', async () => {
+      systemMock.get.mockResolvedValue(systemConfigStub.machineLearningDisabled);
+
+      await sut.onBootstrapEvent('microservices');
+
+      expect(systemMock.get).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.deleteAllSearchEmbeddings).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.pause).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.resume).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it('should return if model and DB dimension size are equal', async () => {
+      searchMock.getDimensionSize.mockResolvedValue(512);
+
+      await sut.onBootstrapEvent('microservices');
+
+      expect(systemMock.get).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.deleteAllSearchEmbeddings).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.pause).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.resume).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it('should update DB dimension size if model and DB have different values', async () => {
+      searchMock.getDimensionSize.mockResolvedValue(768);
+      jobMock.getQueueStatus.mockResolvedValue({ isActive: false, isPaused: false });
+
+      await sut.onBootstrapEvent('microservices');
+
+      expect(systemMock.get).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledWith(512);
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.pause).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.resume).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    });
+
+    it('should skip pausing and resuming queue if already paused', async () => {
+      searchMock.getDimensionSize.mockResolvedValue(768);
+      jobMock.getQueueStatus.mockResolvedValue({ isActive: false, isPaused: true });
+
+      await sut.onBootstrapEvent('microservices');
+
+      expect(systemMock.get).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledWith(512);
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.pause).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.resume).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('onConfigUpdateEvent', () => {
+    it('should return if machine learning is disabled', async () => {
+      systemMock.get.mockResolvedValue(systemConfigStub.machineLearningDisabled);
+
+      await sut.onConfigUpdateEvent({
+        newConfig: systemConfigStub.machineLearningDisabled as SystemConfig,
+        oldConfig: systemConfigStub.machineLearningDisabled as SystemConfig,
+      });
+
+      expect(systemMock.get).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.deleteAllSearchEmbeddings).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.pause).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.resume).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it('should return if model and DB dimension size are equal', async () => {
+      searchMock.getDimensionSize.mockResolvedValue(512);
+
+      await sut.onConfigUpdateEvent({
+        newConfig: {
+          machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'ViT-B-16__openai', enabled: true }, enabled: true },
+        } as SystemConfig,
+        oldConfig: {
+          machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'ViT-B-16__openai', enabled: true }, enabled: true },
+        } as SystemConfig,
+      });
+
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.deleteAllSearchEmbeddings).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.pause).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.resume).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+
+    it('should update DB dimension size if model and DB have different values', async () => {
+      searchMock.getDimensionSize.mockResolvedValue(512);
+      jobMock.getQueueStatus.mockResolvedValue({ isActive: false, isPaused: false });
+
+      await sut.onConfigUpdateEvent({
+        newConfig: {
+          machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'ViT-L-14-quickgelu__dfn2b', enabled: true }, enabled: true },
+        } as SystemConfig,
+        oldConfig: {
+          machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'ViT-B-16__openai', enabled: true }, enabled: true },
+        } as SystemConfig,
+      });
+
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledWith(768);
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.pause).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.resume).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    });
+
+    it('should clear embeddings if old and new models are different', async () => {
+      searchMock.getDimensionSize.mockResolvedValue(512);
+      jobMock.getQueueStatus.mockResolvedValue({ isActive: false, isPaused: false });
+
+      await sut.onConfigUpdateEvent({
+        newConfig: {
+          machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'ViT-B-32__openai', enabled: true }, enabled: true },
+        } as SystemConfig,
+        oldConfig: {
+          machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'ViT-B-16__openai', enabled: true }, enabled: true },
+        } as SystemConfig,
+      });
+
+      expect(searchMock.deleteAllSearchEmbeddings).toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.pause).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.resume).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    });
+
+    it('should skip pausing and resuming queue if already paused', async () => {
+      searchMock.getDimensionSize.mockResolvedValue(512);
+      jobMock.getQueueStatus.mockResolvedValue({ isActive: false, isPaused: true });
+
+      await sut.onConfigUpdateEvent({
+        newConfig: {
+          machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'ViT-B-32__openai', enabled: true }, enabled: true },
+        } as SystemConfig,
+        oldConfig: {
+          machineLearning: { clip: { modelName: 'ViT-B-16__openai', enabled: true }, enabled: true },
+        } as SystemConfig,
+      });
+
+      expect(searchMock.getDimensionSize).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(searchMock.setDimensionSize).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.getQueueStatus).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.pause).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(jobMock.waitForQueueCompletion).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      expect(jobMock.resume).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('handleQueueEncodeClip', () => {
     it('should do nothing if machine learning is disabled', async () => {
       systemMock.get.mockResolvedValue(systemConfigStub.machineLearningDisabled);
diff --git a/server/src/services/smart-info.service.ts b/server/src/services/smart-info.service.ts
index 72372470de..1957f3885c 100644
--- a/server/src/services/smart-info.service.ts
+++ b/server/src/services/smart-info.service.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { Inject, Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
+import { SystemConfig } from 'src/config';
 import { SystemConfigCore } from 'src/cores/system-config.core';
 import { IAssetRepository, WithoutProperty } from 'src/interfaces/asset.interface';
 import { DatabaseLock, IDatabaseRepository } from 'src/interfaces/database.interface';
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ import { ILoggerRepository } from 'src/interfaces/logger.interface';
 import { IMachineLearningRepository } from 'src/interfaces/machine-learning.interface';
 import { ISearchRepository } from 'src/interfaces/search.interface';
 import { ISystemMetadataRepository } from 'src/interfaces/system-metadata.interface';
-import { isSmartSearchEnabled } from 'src/utils/misc';
+import { getCLIPModelInfo, isSmartSearchEnabled } from 'src/utils/misc';
 import { usePagination } from 'src/utils/pagination';
 
 @Injectable()
@@ -36,24 +37,67 @@ export class SmartInfoService implements OnEvents {
     this.configCore = SystemConfigCore.create(systemMetadataRepository, this.logger);
   }
 
-  async init() {
-    await this.jobRepository.pause(QueueName.SMART_SEARCH);
+  async onBootstrapEvent(app: 'api' | 'microservices') {
+    if (app !== 'microservices') {
+      return;
+    }
 
-    await this.jobRepository.waitForQueueCompletion(QueueName.SMART_SEARCH);
+    const config = await this.configCore.getConfig({ withCache: false });
+    await this.init(config);
+  }
 
-    const { machineLearning } = await this.configCore.getConfig({ withCache: false });
-
-    await this.databaseRepository.withLock(DatabaseLock.CLIPDimSize, () =>
-      this.repository.init(machineLearning.clip.modelName),
-    );
-
-    await this.jobRepository.resume(QueueName.SMART_SEARCH);
+  onConfigValidateEvent({ newConfig }: SystemConfigUpdateEvent) {
+    try {
+      getCLIPModelInfo(newConfig.machineLearning.clip.modelName);
+    } catch {
+      throw new Error(
+        `Unknown CLIP model: ${newConfig.machineLearning.clip.modelName}. Please check the model name for typos and confirm this is a supported model.`,
+      );
+    }
   }
 
   async onConfigUpdateEvent({ oldConfig, newConfig }: SystemConfigUpdateEvent) {
-    if (oldConfig.machineLearning.clip.modelName !== newConfig.machineLearning.clip.modelName) {
-      await this.repository.init(newConfig.machineLearning.clip.modelName);
+    await this.init(newConfig, oldConfig);
+  }
+
+  private async init(newConfig: SystemConfig, oldConfig?: SystemConfig) {
+    if (!isSmartSearchEnabled(newConfig.machineLearning)) {
+      return;
     }
+
+    await this.databaseRepository.withLock(DatabaseLock.CLIPDimSize, async () => {
+      const { dimSize } = getCLIPModelInfo(newConfig.machineLearning.clip.modelName);
+      const dbDimSize = await this.repository.getDimensionSize();
+      this.logger.verbose(`Current database CLIP dimension size is ${dbDimSize}`);
+
+      const modelChange =
+        oldConfig && oldConfig.machineLearning.clip.modelName !== newConfig.machineLearning.clip.modelName;
+      const dimSizeChange = dbDimSize !== dimSize;
+      if (!modelChange && !dimSizeChange) {
+        return;
+      }
+
+      const { isPaused } = await this.jobRepository.getQueueStatus(QueueName.SMART_SEARCH);
+      if (!isPaused) {
+        await this.jobRepository.pause(QueueName.SMART_SEARCH);
+      }
+      await this.jobRepository.waitForQueueCompletion(QueueName.SMART_SEARCH);
+
+      if (dimSizeChange) {
+        this.logger.log(
+          `Dimension size of model ${newConfig.machineLearning.clip.modelName} is ${dimSize}, but database expects ${dbDimSize}.`,
+        );
+        this.logger.log(`Updating database CLIP dimension size to ${dimSize}.`);
+        await this.repository.setDimensionSize(dimSize);
+        this.logger.log(`Successfully updated database CLIP dimension size from ${dbDimSize} to ${dimSize}.`);
+      } else {
+        await this.repository.deleteAllSearchEmbeddings();
+      }
+
+      if (!isPaused) {
+        await this.jobRepository.resume(QueueName.SMART_SEARCH);
+      }
+    });
   }
 
   async handleQueueEncodeClip({ force }: IBaseJob): Promise<JobStatus> {
diff --git a/server/test/repositories/search.repository.mock.ts b/server/test/repositories/search.repository.mock.ts
index 7da93e02af..fd244c6f5c 100644
--- a/server/test/repositories/search.repository.mock.ts
+++ b/server/test/repositories/search.repository.mock.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ import { Mocked, vitest } from 'vitest';
 
 export const newSearchRepositoryMock = (): Mocked<ISearchRepository> => {
   return {
-    init: vitest.fn(),
     searchMetadata: vitest.fn(),
     searchSmart: vitest.fn(),
     searchDuplicates: vitest.fn(),
@@ -12,5 +11,7 @@ export const newSearchRepositoryMock = (): Mocked<ISearchRepository> => {
     searchPlaces: vitest.fn(),
     getAssetsByCity: vitest.fn(),
     deleteAllSearchEmbeddings: vitest.fn(),
+    getDimensionSize: vitest.fn(),
+    setDimensionSize: vitest.fn(),
   };
 };