diff --git a/hermes_state.py b/hermes_state.py
index 19c6a269b99..f54fbbd6af5 100644
--- a/hermes_state.py
+++ b/hermes_state.py
@@ -772,7 +772,18 @@ class SessionDB:
     @staticmethod
     def _is_fts5_unavailable_error(exc: sqlite3.OperationalError) -> bool:
         err = str(exc).lower()
-        return "no such module" in err and "fts5" in err
+        if "no such module" in err and "fts5" in err:
+            return True
+        # SQLite builds that have FTS5 but lack the optional trigram tokenizer
+        # raise "no such tokenizer: trigram" instead of "no such module".
+        if "no such tokenizer" in err:
+            return True
+        return False
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _is_tokenizer_unavailable_error(exc: sqlite3.OperationalError) -> bool:
+        """Check if the error is about a specific tokenizer (not the whole FTS5 module)."""
+        return "no such tokenizer" in str(exc).lower()
 
     def _warn_fts5_unavailable(self, exc: sqlite3.OperationalError) -> None:
         self._fts_enabled = False
@@ -844,7 +855,9 @@ class SessionDB:
             return True
         except sqlite3.OperationalError as exc:
             if self._is_fts5_unavailable_error(exc):
-                self._warn_fts5_unavailable(exc)
+                # Only disable FTS entirely when the whole module is missing.
+                if not self._is_tokenizer_unavailable_error(exc):
+                    self._warn_fts5_unavailable(exc)
                 return None
             if "no such table" in str(exc).lower():
                 return False
@@ -868,7 +881,11 @@ class SessionDB:
         except sqlite3.OperationalError as exc:
             if not self._is_fts5_unavailable_error(exc):
                 raise
-            self._warn_fts5_unavailable(exc)
+            # Only disable FTS entirely when the whole FTS5 module is missing.
+            # A missing specific tokenizer (e.g. trigram) means only that
+            # particular table cannot be created — the base FTS5 table is fine.
+            if not self._is_tokenizer_unavailable_error(exc):
+                self._warn_fts5_unavailable(exc)
             return False
 
     def _execute_write(self, fn: Callable[[sqlite3.Connection], T]) -> T:
@@ -1166,7 +1183,8 @@ class SessionDB:
                         except sqlite3.OperationalError as exc:
                             if not self._is_fts5_unavailable_error(exc):
                                 raise
-                            self._warn_fts5_unavailable(exc)
+                            if not self._is_tokenizer_unavailable_error(exc):
+                                self._warn_fts5_unavailable(exc)
                             fts5_available = False
                             fts_migrations_complete = False
                             break
diff --git a/tests/test_hermes_state.py b/tests/test_hermes_state.py
index 3644308401f..4bdc12d4642 100644
--- a/tests/test_hermes_state.py
+++ b/tests/test_hermes_state.py
@@ -50,6 +50,20 @@ class _NoFtsExistingTableConnection(sqlite3.Connection):
         return super().cursor(factory or _NoFtsExistingTableCursor)
 
 
+class _NoTrigramCursor(sqlite3.Cursor):
+    """Simulate a SQLite build with FTS5 but without the trigram tokenizer."""
+
+    def executescript(self, sql_script):
+        if "tokenize='trigram'" in sql_script:
+            raise sqlite3.OperationalError("no such tokenizer: trigram")
+        return super().executescript(sql_script)
+
+
+class _NoTrigramConnection(sqlite3.Connection):
+    def cursor(self, factory=None):
+        return super().cursor(factory or _NoTrigramCursor)
+
+
 @pytest.fixture()
 def db(tmp_path):
     """Create a SessionDB with a temp database file."""
@@ -330,6 +344,46 @@ class TestSessionLifecycle:
         finally:
             restored.close()
 
+    def test_is_fts5_unavailable_error_catches_trigram_tokenizer(self):
+        """Unit test: _is_fts5_unavailable_error matches 'no such tokenizer'."""
+        fts5_err = sqlite3.OperationalError("no such module: fts5")
+        trigram_err = sqlite3.OperationalError("no such tokenizer: trigram")
+        unrelated_err = sqlite3.OperationalError("no such table: foo")
+
+        assert SessionDB._is_fts5_unavailable_error(fts5_err) is True
+        assert SessionDB._is_fts5_unavailable_error(trigram_err) is True
+        assert SessionDB._is_fts5_unavailable_error(unrelated_err) is False
+
+    def test_db_initializes_without_trigram_tokenizer(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        """SessionDB must not crash when FTS5 exists but trigram tokenizer is missing."""
+        real_connect = sqlite3.connect
+
+        def connect_without_trigram(*args, **kwargs):
+            kwargs["factory"] = _NoTrigramConnection
+            return real_connect(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr("hermes_state.sqlite3.connect", connect_without_trigram)
+
+        db = SessionDB(db_path=tmp_path / "state.db")
+        try:
+            # Base FTS5 should still work (trigram is optional).
+            assert db._fts_enabled is True
+            assert db._fts_table_exists("messages_fts") is True
+            # Trigram table should NOT have been created.
+            assert db._fts_table_exists("messages_fts_trigram") is False
+
+            db.create_session(session_id="s1", source="cli")
+            db.append_message("s1", role="user", content="hello without trigram")
+
+            messages = db.get_messages("s1")
+            assert len(messages) == 1
+            assert messages[0]["content"] == "hello without trigram"
+
+            # FTS5 keyword search should still work.
+            assert len(db.search_messages("hello")) == 1
+        finally:
+            db.close()
+
 
 # =========================================================================
 # Message storage