diff --git a/src/everos/entrypoints/api/app.py b/src/everos/entrypoints/api/app.py
index 8e728fa80..0b638624d 100644
--- a/src/everos/entrypoints/api/app.py
+++ b/src/everos/entrypoints/api/app.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 from everos.core.observability.logging import get_logger
 
 from .lifespans import (
+    BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider,
     CascadeLifespanProvider,
     LanceDBLifespanProvider,
     LLMLifespanProvider,
@@ -67,7 +68,8 @@ def create_app(
         cors_allow_methods: Allowed CORS methods (default: ``["*"]``).
         cors_allow_headers: Allowed CORS headers (default: ``["*"]``).
         lifespan_providers: Optional list of LifespanProvider; defaults to
-            ``[MetricsLifespanProvider(), SqliteLifespanProvider(),
+            ``[MetricsLifespanProvider(), LLMLifespanProvider(),
+            BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider(), SqliteLifespanProvider(),
             LanceDBLifespanProvider(), CascadeLifespanProvider(),
             OmeLifespanProvider()]``.
 
@@ -80,6 +82,7 @@ def create_app(
         lifespan_providers = [
             MetricsLifespanProvider(),
             LLMLifespanProvider(),
+            BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider(),
             SqliteLifespanProvider(),
             LanceDBLifespanProvider(),
             CascadeLifespanProvider(),
diff --git a/src/everos/entrypoints/api/lifespans/__init__.py b/src/everos/entrypoints/api/lifespans/__init__.py
index 262106d35..4b872646a 100644
--- a/src/everos/entrypoints/api/lifespans/__init__.py
+++ b/src/everos/entrypoints/api/lifespans/__init__.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 External usage::
 
     from everos.entrypoints.api.lifespans import (
+        BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider,
         LLMLifespanProvider,
         SqliteLifespanProvider,
         LanceDBLifespanProvider,
@@ -20,6 +21,9 @@
     )
 """
 
+from .boundary_tokenizer import (
+    BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider as BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider,
+)
 from .cascade import CascadeLifespanProvider as CascadeLifespanProvider
 from .lancedb import LanceDBLifespanProvider as LanceDBLifespanProvider
 from .llm import LLMLifespanProvider as LLMLifespanProvider
@@ -27,6 +31,7 @@
 from .sqlite import SqliteLifespanProvider as SqliteLifespanProvider
 
 __all__ = [
+    "BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider",
     "CascadeLifespanProvider",
     "LLMLifespanProvider",
     "LanceDBLifespanProvider",
diff --git a/src/everos/entrypoints/api/lifespans/boundary_tokenizer.py b/src/everos/entrypoints/api/lifespans/boundary_tokenizer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d5fa363db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/everos/entrypoints/api/lifespans/boundary_tokenizer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+"""Boundary-tokenizer lifespan provider.
+
+Prewarms the tiktoken encoding used by everalgo boundary detection so
+the first ``/api/v1/memory/add`` request does not block on an on-demand
+download of ``o200k_base``.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from typing import Any
+
+import tiktoken
+from fastapi import FastAPI
+
+from everos.core.lifespan import LifespanProvider
+from everos.core.observability.logging import get_logger
+
+logger = get_logger(__name__)
+
+_BOUNDARY_ENCODING_NAME = "o200k_base"
+
+
+def _warm_boundary_tokenizer() -> tiktoken.Encoding:
+    """Resolve the boundary detector's shared tiktoken encoding."""
+
+    try:
+        return tiktoken.get_encoding(_BOUNDARY_ENCODING_NAME)
+    except Exception as exc:  # pragma: no cover - exercised via provider tests
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            "failed to prewarm the boundary tokenizer encoding "
+            f"{_BOUNDARY_ENCODING_NAME!r}; start the server once with network "
+            "access so tiktoken can cache it before serving /api/v1/memory/add"
+        ) from exc
+
+
+class BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider(LifespanProvider):
+    """Prewarm the boundary tokenizer at startup; fail before serving traffic."""
+
+    def __init__(self, order: int = 9) -> None:
+        super().__init__(name="boundary_tokenizer", order=order)
+
+    async def startup(self, app: FastAPI) -> Any:
+        encoding = _warm_boundary_tokenizer()
+        logger.info(
+            "boundary_tokenizer_lifespan_ready",
+            encoding=_BOUNDARY_ENCODING_NAME,
+        )
+        return encoding
+
+    async def shutdown(self, app: FastAPI) -> None:
+        # tiktoken keeps a process-local cache; nothing to tear down.
+        return None
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_entrypoints/test_api/test_lifespans/test_boundary_tokenizer.py b/tests/unit/test_entrypoints/test_api/test_lifespans/test_boundary_tokenizer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ebf82b4a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_entrypoints/test_api/test_lifespans/test_boundary_tokenizer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+"""Boundary-tokenizer lifespan — prewarms tiktoken before the first /add."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+import pytest
+from fastapi import FastAPI
+
+from everos.entrypoints.api.lifespans import BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider
+
+
+def test_provider_metadata() -> None:
+    provider = BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider(order=9)
+    assert provider.name == "boundary_tokenizer"
+    assert provider.order == 9
+
+
+async def test_startup_prewarms_o200k_base() -> None:
+    provider = BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider()
+    app = FastAPI()
+    sentinel = object()
+
+    with patch(
+        "everos.entrypoints.api.lifespans.boundary_tokenizer.tiktoken.get_encoding",
+        return_value=sentinel,
+    ) as mock_get_encoding:
+        result = await provider.startup(app)
+
+    assert result is sentinel
+    mock_get_encoding.assert_called_once_with("o200k_base")
+
+
+async def test_startup_wraps_download_failures() -> None:
+    provider = BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider()
+    app = FastAPI()
+
+    with (
+        patch(
+            "everos.entrypoints.api.lifespans.boundary_tokenizer.tiktoken.get_encoding",
+            side_effect=OSError("download failed"),
+        ),
+        pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="o200k_base"),
+    ):
+        await provider.startup(app)
+
+
+async def test_shutdown_is_noop() -> None:
+    provider = BoundaryTokenizerLifespanProvider()
+    await provider.shutdown(FastAPI())