diff --git a/R/profile.R b/R/profile.R
index 4e441312..154ae87f 100644
--- a/R/profile.R
+++ b/R/profile.R
@@ -25,10 +25,12 @@ local({
 })
 
 if (requireNamespace("sess", quietly = TRUE)) {
-    plot_backend <- Sys.getenv("SESS_PLOT_BACKEND", "auto")
-    sess::connect(
-        use_rstudioapi = as.logical(Sys.getenv("SESS_RSTUDIOAPI", "TRUE")),
-        use_httpgd = (plot_backend %in% c("auto", "httpgd")),
-        use_jgd = (plot_backend %in% c("auto", "jgd"))
-    )
+    local({
+        plot_backend <- Sys.getenv("SESS_PLOT_BACKEND", "auto")
+        sess::connect(
+            use_rstudioapi = as.logical(Sys.getenv("SESS_RSTUDIOAPI", "TRUE")),
+            use_httpgd = (plot_backend %in% c("auto", "httpgd")),
+            use_jgd = (plot_backend %in% c("auto", "jgd"))
+        )
+    })
 }
diff --git a/sess/R/hooks.R b/sess/R/hooks.R
index ff114e32..75a7c9c9 100644
--- a/sess/R/hooks.R
+++ b/sess/R/hooks.R
@@ -162,6 +162,26 @@ register_hooks <- function(use_rstudioapi = TRUE, use_httpgd = TRUE, use_jgd = F
       notify_client("httpgd", list(url = httpgd::hgd_url()))
     })
   } else {
+    # If a specific interactive backend was explicitly requested but is
+    # unavailable, warn before silently degrading to the standard viewer.
+    # (use_jgd && use_httpgd means "auto", which is meant to degrade quietly.)
+    if (xor(use_jgd, use_httpgd)) {
+      if (use_jgd && !requireNamespace("jgd", quietly = TRUE)) {
+        warning("[sess] Plot backend \"jgd\" was requested but the jgd package ",
+                "is not installed. Falling back to the standard plot viewer. ",
+                "Install jgd, or change the r.plot.backend setting.", call. = FALSE)
+      } else if (use_jgd) {
+        warning("[sess] Plot backend \"jgd\" was requested but no renderer ",
+                "connection is available. Falling back to the standard plot ",
+                "viewer.", call. = FALSE)
+      } else if (use_httpgd) {
+        warning("[sess] Plot backend \"httpgd\" was requested but the httpgd ",
+                "package is not installed. Falling back to the standard plot ",
+                "viewer. Install httpgd, or change the r.plot.backend setting.",
+                call. = FALSE)
+      }
+    }
+
     # Default to static plot capturing (Re-implementation based on legacy plot handler)
     plot_file <- .sess_env$latest_plot_path
     file.create(plot_file, showWarnings = FALSE)