diff --git a/cmd/pimonitor/main.go b/cmd/pimonitor/main.go
index 35bcfb7..799f6bf 100644
--- a/cmd/pimonitor/main.go
+++ b/cmd/pimonitor/main.go
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ func run(args []string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("configure alert webhooks: %w", err)
 	}
+	warnIfNotifierInert(log, cfg.Alerts, notifier)
 
 	collCfg := collector.Config{
 		FastInterval:          cfg.FastInterval(),
@@ -132,6 +133,16 @@ func run(args []string) error {
 	}
 }
 
+// warnIfNotifierInert logs a startup warning when webhooks are configured
+// (notifier is non-nil) but alerts.enabled is false: a disabled alert engine
+// never produces the transition events those webhooks would need, so the
+// combination silently never fires without this hint.
+func warnIfNotifierInert(log *slog.Logger, alerts config.Alerts, notifier *alert.Notifier) {
+	if notifier != nil && !alerts.Enabled {
+		log.Warn("alert webhooks configured but alerts.enabled is false — no notifications will be sent")
+	}
+}
+
 func newLogger(level string) *slog.Logger {
 	var lvl slog.Level
 	switch level {
diff --git a/cmd/pimonitor/main_test.go b/cmd/pimonitor/main_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..016fb67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/pimonitor/main_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"log/slog"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/larslaskowski/pimonitor/internal/alert"
+	"github.com/larslaskowski/pimonitor/internal/config"
+)
+
+func newTestNotifier(t *testing.T) *alert.Notifier {
+	t.Helper()
+	n, err := alert.NewNotifier(config.Alerts{
+		Webhooks: []config.Webhook{{URL: "http://example.invalid/webhook"}},
+	}, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("NewNotifier: %v", err)
+	}
+	if n == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected a non-nil notifier for a configured webhook")
+	}
+	return n
+}
+
+func TestWarnIfNotifierInert(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name        string
+		enabled     bool
+		withNotif   bool
+		wantWarning bool
+	}{
+		{"no webhooks configured, alerts disabled", false, false, false},
+		{"webhooks configured, alerts enabled", true, true, false},
+		{"webhooks configured, alerts disabled", false, true, true},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var notifier *alert.Notifier
+			if tt.withNotif {
+				notifier = newTestNotifier(t)
+			}
+
+			var buf bytes.Buffer
+			log := slog.New(slog.NewTextHandler(&buf, nil))
+
+			warnIfNotifierInert(log, config.Alerts{Enabled: tt.enabled}, notifier)
+
+			gotWarning := bytes.Contains(buf.Bytes(), []byte("no notifications will be sent"))
+			if gotWarning != tt.wantWarning {
+				t.Fatalf("warnIfNotifierInert: got warning=%v, want %v (log: %q)", gotWarning, tt.wantWarning, buf.String())
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/collector/collector.go b/internal/collector/collector.go
index bfc52ee..30a9a8a 100644
--- a/internal/collector/collector.go
+++ b/internal/collector/collector.go
@@ -92,7 +92,9 @@ type Collector struct {
 
 	// alerts is nil when alerting is disabled.
 	alerts *alert.Engine
-	// notifier is nil when no webhooks are configured.
+	// notifier is nil when no webhooks are configured, or when alerting is
+	// disabled (a disabled engine never produces events, so starting the
+	// worker would only leave it idling forever).
 	notifier *alert.Notifier
 
 	log *slog.Logger
@@ -124,13 +126,15 @@ func New(cfg Config, log *slog.Logger) *Collector {
 		log = slog.Default()
 	}
 	var alerts *alert.Engine
+	var notifier *alert.Notifier
 	if cfg.AlertsEnabled {
 		alerts = alert.New(cfg.Thresholds, cfg.AlertFor)
+		notifier = cfg.Notifier
 	}
 	c := &Collector{
 		cfg:       cfg,
 		alerts:    alerts,
-		notifier:  cfg.Notifier,
+		notifier:  notifier,
 		cpu:       NewCPUCollector(),
 		cpuFreq:   NewCPUFreqCollector(),
 		loadAvg:   NewLoadAvgCollector(),
diff --git a/internal/collector/collector_test.go b/internal/collector/collector_test.go
index 7185464..419ace5 100644
--- a/internal/collector/collector_test.go
+++ b/internal/collector/collector_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/larslaskowski/pimonitor/internal/alert"
 	"github.com/larslaskowski/pimonitor/internal/config"
 )
 
@@ -175,6 +176,33 @@ func TestCollector_Alerts_EvaluatedOnFastTick(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// TestCollector_Notifier_NotWiredWhenAlertsDisabled ensures a notifier built
+// from configured webhooks is never wired in while the alert engine is
+// disabled, since a disabled engine never produces events to deliver.
+func TestCollector_Notifier_NotWiredWhenAlertsDisabled(t *testing.T) {
+	notifier, err := alert.NewNotifier(config.Alerts{
+		Webhooks: []config.Webhook{{URL: "http://example.invalid/webhook"}},
+	}, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("NewNotifier: %v", err)
+	}
+	if notifier == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected a non-nil notifier for a configured webhook")
+	}
+
+	c := New(Config{
+		FastInterval:    time.Second,
+		SlowInterval:    time.Minute,
+		HistoryCapacity: 10,
+		AlertsEnabled:   false,
+		Notifier:        notifier,
+	}, nil)
+
+	if c.notifier != nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected notifier to stay unwired when AlertsEnabled is false")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestEvictStaleSeries(t *testing.T) {
 	const window = 3 * time.Second
 	now := time.Unix(1_700_000_000, 0)