diff --git a/x/mlxrunner/mlx/dynamic.go b/x/mlxrunner/mlx/dynamic.go
index eb6427fb5..0c2306e46 100644
--- a/x/mlxrunner/mlx/dynamic.go
+++ b/x/mlxrunner/mlx/dynamic.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ package mlx
 import "C"
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"io/fs"
 	"log/slog"
 	"os"
@@ -16,6 +17,13 @@ import (
 	"unsafe"
 )
 
+var initError error
+
+// CheckInit returns any error that occurred during MLX dynamic library initialization.
+func CheckInit() error {
+	return initError
+}
+
 func init() {
 	switch runtime.GOOS {
 	case "darwin":
@@ -34,7 +42,9 @@ func init() {
 	for _, path := range filepath.SplitList(paths) {
 		matches, err := fs.Glob(os.DirFS(path), "libmlxc.*")
 		if err != nil {
-			panic(err)
+			initError = fmt.Errorf("failed to glob for MLX libraries in %s: %w", path, err)
+			slog.Warn("MLX dynamic library not available", "error", initError)
+			return
 		}
 
 		for _, match := range matches {
@@ -61,5 +71,6 @@ func init() {
 		}
 	}
 
-	panic("Failed to load any MLX dynamic library")
+	initError = fmt.Errorf("failed to load any MLX dynamic library from OLLAMA_LIBRARY_PATH=%s", paths)
+	slog.Warn("MLX dynamic library not available", "error", initError)
 }
diff --git a/x/mlxrunner/server.go b/x/mlxrunner/server.go
index d8460b8d7..ef1e0dd1c 100644
--- a/x/mlxrunner/server.go
+++ b/x/mlxrunner/server.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"cmp"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"flag"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"log/slog"
 	"net/http"
@@ -16,12 +17,17 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/ollama/ollama/envconfig"
 	"github.com/ollama/ollama/logutil"
+	"github.com/ollama/ollama/x/mlxrunner/mlx"
 	"github.com/ollama/ollama/x/mlxrunner/sample"
 )
 
 func Execute(args []string) error {
 	slog.SetDefault(logutil.NewLogger(os.Stderr, envconfig.LogLevel()))
 
+	if err := mlx.CheckInit(); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("MLX not available: %w", err)
+	}
+
 	var (
 		modelName string
 		port      int