diff --git a/src/servers/sidecar/claude/user-instance.ts b/src/servers/sidecar/claude/user-instance.ts
index cf7abb46..c820a3b5 100644
--- a/src/servers/sidecar/claude/user-instance.ts
+++ b/src/servers/sidecar/claude/user-instance.ts
@@ -86,7 +86,19 @@ const homeDir = homedir();
 const globalToolsDir = join(DATA_PATH, 'tools');
 
 // The email_db MCP tool reads one account's SQLite store; match the API's choice (first enabled).
-const emailAccounts = await getEmailAccounts(dbUser.id);
+//
+// Guarded for the same reason `resolveOwner` above is, and it is the same bug in a second place: this
+// is a top-level await, so a query that THROWS rejects it and exits the process — straight into the PM2
+// restart loop, taking every live agent session with it. `resolveOwner` was hardened after that cost a
+// session on 2026-08-10; this line has the identical shape and was not.
+//
+// It throws for real now: email is a plugin, so `email_accounts` is commented out of the schema
+// (officerdb/src/schema.ts) and does not exist on a core install. An agent must start without it — the
+// email tool is one tool, not a prerequisite for chat.
+const emailAccounts = await getEmailAccounts(dbUser.id).catch(() => {
+  console.warn('[agent] no email accounts (the email plugin is not installed) — the email_db tool will be idle');
+  return [] as Awaited<ReturnType<typeof getEmailAccounts>>;
+});
 const emailAccount = emailAccounts.find((a) => a.enabled) ?? emailAccounts[0];
 const emailDbRel = join('email_accounts', emailAccount?.email ?? 'none', 'emails.db');
 const userToolsDir = join(DATA_PATH, email, 'tools');