diff --git a/src/app_controller.py b/src/app_controller.py
index 9d7b48d..8394119 100644
--- a/src/app_controller.py
+++ b/src/app_controller.py
@@ -986,6 +986,8 @@ class AppController:
    self.rag_config = models.RAGConfig()
 
   self.rag_engine = rag_engine.RAGEngine(self.rag_config, self.active_project_root)
+  if self.rag_config.enabled and self.rag_engine.is_empty():
+   self._rebuild_rag_index()
 
   from src.personas import PersonaManager
   self.persona_manager = PersonaManager(Path(self.active_project_path).parent if self.active_project_path else None)
diff --git a/src/gui_2.py b/src/gui_2.py
index 34ca5e0..30313b2 100644
--- a/src/gui_2.py
+++ b/src/gui_2.py
@@ -483,7 +483,23 @@ class App:
     except Exception as e:
      self.ai_status = f"error: {e}"
    imgui.end_menu()
-   
+
+  # RAG status indicator
+  if self.controller.rag_config and self.controller.rag_config.enabled:
+   imgui.same_line()
+   status = self.controller.rag_status
+   if status == "indexing...":
+    color = vec4(100, 255, 100)
+   elif status == "error":
+    color = vec4(255, 100, 100)
+   else:
+    color = vec4(180, 180, 180)
+   imgui.text_colored(color, f"[RAG: {status}]")
+   if imgui.is_item_hovered():
+    imgui.set_tooltip(f"RAG is enabled. Status: {status}. Click to rebuild index.")
+   if imgui.is_item_clicked():
+    self.controller._rebuild_rag_index()
+
   # Draw right-aligned window controls directly in the menu bar (Win32 only)
   if sys.platform == "win32":
    try:
diff --git a/src/rag_engine.py b/src/rag_engine.py
index ab09a4b..924ef88 100644
--- a/src/rag_engine.py
+++ b/src/rag_engine.py
@@ -80,6 +80,15 @@ class RAGEngine:
   else:
    raise ValueError(f"Unknown vector store provider: {vs_config.provider}")
 
+ def is_empty(self) -> bool:
+  if not self.config.enabled:
+   return True
+  if self.config.vector_store.provider == 'mock' or self.collection == "mock":
+   return True
+  if self.collection is None:
+   return True
+  return self.collection.count() == 0
+
  def add_documents(self, ids: List[str], texts: List[str], metadatas: Optional[List[Dict[str, Any]]] = None):
   if not self.config.enabled or self.collection == "mock":
    return