diff --git a/.server-changes/mollifier-burst-protection.md b/.server-changes/mollifier-burst-protection.md
index be3c3f3b8..182811d68 100644
--- a/.server-changes/mollifier-burst-protection.md
+++ b/.server-changes/mollifier-burst-protection.md
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@ area: webapp
 type: feature
 ---
 
-Lay the groundwork for an opt-in burst-protection layer on the trigger hot path. This release ships **monitoring only** — operators can observe per-env trigger storms via two opt-in modes, but no trigger calls are diverted or rate-limited yet (active burst smoothing follows in a later release). All new env vars default off, so existing deployments see no behaviour change. With `MOLLIFIER_SHADOW_MODE=1`, each trigger evaluates a per-env rate counter and logs `mollifier.would_mollify` when the threshold is crossed. With `MOLLIFIER_ENABLED=1` plus a per-org `mollifierEnabled` flag, over-threshold triggers are also recorded in a Redis audit buffer alongside the normal `engine.trigger` call, drained by a background no-op consumer. Emits the `mollifier.decisions` OTel counter for per-env rate visibility.
+Lay the groundwork for an opt-in burst-protection layer on the trigger hot path. This release ships **monitoring only** — operators can observe per-env trigger storms via two opt-in modes, but no trigger calls are diverted or rate-limited yet (active burst smoothing follows in a later release). All new env vars are prefixed `TRIGGER_MOLLIFIER_*` and default off, so existing deployments see no behaviour change. With `TRIGGER_MOLLIFIER_SHADOW_MODE=1`, each trigger evaluates a per-env rate counter and logs `mollifier.would_mollify` when the threshold is crossed. With `TRIGGER_MOLLIFIER_ENABLED=1` plus a per-org `mollifierEnabled` flag, over-threshold triggers are also recorded in a Redis audit buffer alongside the normal `engine.trigger` call, drained by a background no-op consumer. The drainer has its own switch (`TRIGGER_MOLLIFIER_DRAINER_ENABLED`) so multi-replica deployments can pin the polling loop to a single worker service while every replica still produces into the buffer; unset, it inherits `TRIGGER_MOLLIFIER_ENABLED` so single-container self-hosters need only one flag. Drainer misconfiguration (shutdown-timeout reconciliation against `GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT`, or `TRIGGER_MOLLIFIER_ENABLED=1` with no buffer Redis) now throws `MollifierConfigurationError` at boot and crashes the process, so the misconfig surfaces to the orchestrator instead of disappearing into a log line; transient init failures (Redis blip) are still logged-and-swallowed. Emits the `mollifier.decisions` OTel counter for per-env rate visibility.
diff --git a/apps/webapp/app/v3/mollifierDrainerWorker.server.ts b/apps/webapp/app/v3/mollifierDrainerWorker.server.ts
index 8c7032d1f..313e9af67 100644
--- a/apps/webapp/app/v3/mollifierDrainerWorker.server.ts
+++ b/apps/webapp/app/v3/mollifierDrainerWorker.server.ts
@@ -43,13 +43,25 @@ declare global {
  *     master kill switch; the new flag only controls WHICH replicas
  *     run the drainer when the system is on.
  */
-export function initMollifierDrainerWorker(): void {
-  if (env.TRIGGER_MOLLIFIER_DRAINER_ENABLED !== "1") {
+export function initMollifierDrainerWorker(
+  opts: {
+    // Test seams. Production callers pass nothing; the defaults read the
+    // live env and resolve the live singleton. Tests inject overrides so
+    // the misconfig-rethrow / transient-swallow branches can be driven
+    // without manipulating module-level env state.
+    isEnabled?: () => boolean;
+    getDrainer?: typeof getMollifierDrainer;
+  } = {},
+): void {
+  const isEnabled = opts.isEnabled ?? (() => env.TRIGGER_MOLLIFIER_DRAINER_ENABLED === "1");
+  const getDrainer = opts.getDrainer ?? getMollifierDrainer;
+
+  if (!isEnabled()) {
     return;
   }
 
   try {
-    const drainer = getMollifierDrainer();
+    const drainer = getDrainer();
     if (drainer && !global.__mollifierShutdownRegistered__) {
       // `__mollifierShutdownRegistered__` guards against double-register
       // on dev hot-reloads (this bootstrap is called from
diff --git a/apps/webapp/test/mollifierDrainerWorker.test.ts b/apps/webapp/test/mollifierDrainerWorker.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e5f38229d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/webapp/test/mollifierDrainerWorker.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { MollifierConfigurationError } from "~/v3/mollifier/mollifierDrainer.server";
+import { initMollifierDrainerWorker } from "~/v3/mollifierDrainerWorker.server";
+
+// Pins the error-classification policy inside the bootstrap's catch:
+// deterministic misconfig errors propagate (so a deploy fails loud
+// rather than silently disabling the drainer), and anything else is
+// logged-and-swallowed (so a transient Redis blip during boot doesn't
+// take the whole webapp down). The corresponding production-path
+// integration is the call at `entry.server.tsx`: a sync throw out of
+// `initMollifierDrainerWorker` propagates to the module top level
+// BEFORE `process.on("uncaughtException", ...)` is registered, so Node
+// crashes with a stack trace and exit code 1 — which is exactly what we
+// want from the orchestrator's health-check perspective.
+describe("initMollifierDrainerWorker error classification", () => {
+  it("rethrows MollifierConfigurationError so the process can crash on misconfig", () => {
+    const misconfig = new MollifierConfigurationError(
+      "TRIGGER_MOLLIFIER_DRAIN_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT_MS must be at least 1000ms below GRACEFUL_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT",
+    );
+
+    expect(() =>
+      initMollifierDrainerWorker({
+        isEnabled: () => true,
+        getDrainer: () => {
+          throw misconfig;
+        },
+      }),
+    ).toThrow(MollifierConfigurationError);
+  });
+
+  it("rethrows when the error carries the marker name even if instanceof fails (dev-realm hot-reload fallback)", () => {
+    // Simulate the cross-realm case where the consumer's instanceof
+    // check sees a different class instance from the one the throw
+    // site used. The bootstrap's `.name === "MollifierConfigurationError"`
+    // fallback must catch this so dev hot-reload doesn't silently
+    // suppress misconfig errors.
+    const cousin = new Error("buffer not initialised");
+    cousin.name = "MollifierConfigurationError";
+
+    expect(() =>
+      initMollifierDrainerWorker({
+        isEnabled: () => true,
+        getDrainer: () => {
+          throw cousin;
+        },
+      }),
+    ).toThrow(cousin);
+  });
+
+  it("swallows non-configuration errors so transient init failures don't take the webapp down", () => {
+    expect(() =>
+      initMollifierDrainerWorker({
+        isEnabled: () => true,
+        getDrainer: () => {
+          throw new Error("transient redis blip during buffer init");
+        },
+      }),
+    ).not.toThrow();
+  });
+
+  it("is a no-op when the drainer is disabled for this replica", () => {
+    let factoryCalled = false;
+    initMollifierDrainerWorker({
+      isEnabled: () => false,
+      getDrainer: () => {
+        factoryCalled = true;
+        return null;
+      },
+    });
+    expect(factoryCalled).toBe(false);
+  });
+});