diff --git a/scripts/setup/agent-bootstrap.sh b/scripts/setup/agent-bootstrap.sh
index 708f402d7..43c18c7ce 100755
--- a/scripts/setup/agent-bootstrap.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup/agent-bootstrap.sh
@@ -28,7 +28,14 @@ if ! command -v clickhouse-server >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     clickhouse-server clickhouse-client
 fi
 
-# --- 3. ElasticMQ jar (local SQS-compatible queue, no Docker) ---
+# --- 3. Java runtime (required for ElasticMQ) ---
+if ! command -v java >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  log "Installing Java (required for ElasticMQ)"
+  sudo apt-get update -qq
+  sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get install -y -qq default-jre-headless
+fi
+
+# --- 4. ElasticMQ jar (local SQS-compatible queue, no Docker) ---
 ELASTICMQ_VERSION="1.6.11"
 ELASTICMQ_JAR="/opt/elasticmq/elasticmq.jar"
 if [ ! -f "$ELASTICMQ_JAR" ]; then
@@ -66,7 +73,7 @@ queues {
 EOF
 fi
 
-# --- 4. Bun workspace install ---
+# --- 5. Bun workspace install ---
 if [ ! -d node_modules ]; then
   log "Installing workspace dependencies"
   bun install --frozen-lockfile
diff --git a/scripts/setup/agent-services.sh b/scripts/setup/agent-services.sh
index 8f954470f..555502672 100755
--- a/scripts/setup/agent-services.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup/agent-services.sh
@@ -19,10 +19,18 @@ if ! pgrep -f 'elasticmq.*\.jar' >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     >/var/log/autumn/elasticmq.log 2>&1 &
   disown || true
   log "Waiting for ElasticMQ to be ready"
+  ELASTICMQ_READY=0
   for i in $(seq 1 30); do
-    curl -sf -o /dev/null 'http://localhost:9324/?Action=ListQueues&Version=2012-11-05' && break
+    if curl -sf -o /dev/null 'http://localhost:9324/?Action=ListQueues&Version=2012-11-05'; then
+      ELASTICMQ_READY=1
+      break
+    fi
     sleep 0.5
   done
+  if [ "$ELASTICMQ_READY" -eq 0 ]; then
+    echo "[agent-services] ERROR: ElasticMQ did not become ready after 15s. Check /var/log/autumn/elasticmq.log" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
 fi
 
 # --- 3. Ensure Postgres DB exists ---