diff --git a/awareness.el b/awareness.el
index 1d50f39..3569ef1 100644
--- a/awareness.el
+++ b/awareness.el
@@ -61,6 +61,17 @@ fn elapsed_human() -> String {
     return int_to_str(s) + "s"
 }
 
+// embed_ok — returns 1 if Ollama embedding service is reachable, 0 if not.
+// Probes http://localhost:11434 (Ollama root) with a GET; any non-empty
+// response means the service is up. Used in heartbeat for observability:
+// when embed_ok=0, semantic seed injection silently falls back to lexical-
+// only activation and that gap should be visible in the ISE stream.
+fn embed_ok() -> Int {
+    let resp: String = http_get("http://localhost:11434")
+    if str_eq(resp, "") { return 0 }
+    return 1
+}
+
 fn emit_heartbeat() -> Void {
     // Guard against empty state values producing invalid JSON (e.g. "pulse":,).
     // state_get returns "" for unset keys; default to "0" for numeric fields.
@@ -75,7 +86,8 @@ fn emit_heartbeat() -> Void {
     let wmc: Int = engram_wm_count()
     let up_ms: Int = elapsed_ms()
     let up_human: String = elapsed_human()
-    let payload: String = "{\"event\":\"heartbeat\",\"pulse\":" + pulse + ",\"boot\":" + boot + ",\"idle\":" + idle + ",\"node_count\":" + int_to_str(nc) + ",\"edge_count\":" + int_to_str(ec) + ",\"wm_active\":" + int_to_str(wmc) + ",\"ts\":" + int_to_str(ts) + ",\"uptime_ms\":" + int_to_str(up_ms) + ",\"uptime\":\"" + up_human + "\"}"
+    let emb_ok: Int = embed_ok()
+    let payload: String = "{\"event\":\"heartbeat\",\"pulse\":" + pulse + ",\"boot\":" + boot + ",\"idle\":" + idle + ",\"node_count\":" + int_to_str(nc) + ",\"edge_count\":" + int_to_str(ec) + ",\"wm_active\":" + int_to_str(wmc) + ",\"ts\":" + int_to_str(ts) + ",\"uptime_ms\":" + int_to_str(up_ms) + ",\"uptime\":\"" + up_human + "\",\"embed_ok\":" + int_to_str(emb_ok) + "}"
     ise_post(payload)
 }
 
diff --git a/dist/awareness.c b/dist/awareness.c
index 8018c84..365ba42 100644
--- a/dist/awareness.c
+++ b/dist/awareness.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ el_val_t idle_reset(void);
 el_val_t ise_post(el_val_t content);
 el_val_t elapsed_ms(void);
 el_val_t elapsed_human(void);
+el_val_t embed_ok(void);
 el_val_t emit_heartbeat(void);
 el_val_t pulse_count(void);
 el_val_t pulse_inc(void);
@@ -102,6 +103,15 @@ el_val_t elapsed_human(void) {
   return 0;
 }
 
+el_val_t embed_ok(void) {
+  el_val_t resp = http_get(EL_STR("http://localhost:11434"));
+  if (str_eq(resp, EL_STR(""))) {
+    return 0;
+  }
+  return 1;
+  return 0;
+}
+
 el_val_t emit_heartbeat(void) {
   el_val_t pulse_raw = state_get(EL_STR("soul.pulse"));
   el_val_t pulse = ({ el_val_t _if_result_2 = 0; if (str_eq(pulse_raw, EL_STR(""))) { _if_result_2 = (EL_STR("0")); } else { _if_result_2 = (pulse_raw); } _if_result_2; });
@@ -114,7 +124,8 @@ el_val_t emit_heartbeat(void) {
   el_val_t wmc = engram_wm_count();
   el_val_t up_ms = elapsed_ms();
   el_val_t up_human = elapsed_human();
-  el_val_t payload = el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(EL_STR("{\"event\":\"heartbeat\",\"pulse\":"), pulse), EL_STR(",\"boot\":")), boot), EL_STR(",\"idle\":")), idle), EL_STR(",\"node_count\":")), int_to_str(nc)), EL_STR(",\"edge_count\":")), int_to_str(ec)), EL_STR(",\"wm_active\":")), int_to_str(wmc)), EL_STR(",\"ts\":")), int_to_str(ts)), EL_STR(",\"uptime_ms\":")), int_to_str(up_ms)), EL_STR(",\"uptime\":\"")), up_human), EL_STR("\"}"));
+  el_val_t emb_ok = embed_ok();
+  el_val_t payload = el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(el_str_concat(EL_STR("{\"event\":\"heartbeat\",\"pulse\":"), pulse), EL_STR(",\"boot\":")), boot), EL_STR(",\"idle\":")), idle), EL_STR(",\"node_count\":")), int_to_str(nc)), EL_STR(",\"edge_count\":")), int_to_str(ec)), EL_STR(",\"wm_active\":")), int_to_str(wmc)), EL_STR(",\"ts\":")), int_to_str(ts)), EL_STR(",\"uptime_ms\":")), int_to_str(up_ms)), EL_STR(",\"uptime\":\"")), up_human), EL_STR("\",\"embed_ok\":")), int_to_str(emb_ok)), EL_STR("}"));
   ise_post(payload);
   return 0;
 }
diff --git a/dist/elp-c-decls.h b/dist/elp-c-decls.h
index 82fc03e..ff24523 100644
--- a/dist/elp-c-decls.h
+++ b/dist/elp-c-decls.h
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@ el_val_t elapsed_ms(void);
 el_val_t elp_detect_predicate(el_val_t msg);
 el_val_t elp_extract_topic(el_val_t msg);
 el_val_t elp_parse(el_val_t msg);
+el_val_t embed_ok(void);
 el_val_t emit_heartbeat(void);
 el_val_t emit_session_start_event(void);
 el_val_t en_irregular_plural(el_val_t word);
diff --git a/dist/neuron b/dist/neuron
index 46478db..d48e411 100755
Binary files a/dist/neuron and b/dist/neuron differ