diff --git a/frigate/genai/plugins/azure-openai.py b/frigate/genai/plugins/azure-openai.py
index 4cd4084ae3..3599eb0dbd 100644
--- a/frigate/genai/plugins/azure-openai.py
+++ b/frigate/genai/plugins/azure-openai.py
@@ -7,14 +7,15 @@ overrides what is genuinely Azure-specific:
 
 - Client construction: parses ``api-version`` out of the configured
   ``base_url`` query string and instantiates :class:`openai.AzureOpenAI`
-  with ``azure_endpoint`` instead of ``base_url``.
+  with ``azure_endpoint`` instead of ``base_url``. Raises if the URL is
+  malformed; :class:`GenAIClientManager` catches the exception and
+  disables the provider.
 - Context size: Azure does not expose a per-model ``max_model_len`` field
   reliably, so we keep the historical 128K default rather than the
   model-name heuristic used by OpenAI.
 """
 
 import logging
-from typing import Optional
 from urllib.parse import parse_qs, urlparse
 
 from openai import AzureOpenAI
@@ -30,22 +31,16 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 class AzureOpenAIClient(OpenAIClient):
     """Generative AI client for Frigate using Azure OpenAI."""
 
-    provider: AzureOpenAI  # type: ignore[assignment]
-
-    def _init_provider(self) -> Optional[AzureOpenAI]:
+    def _init_provider(self) -> AzureOpenAI:
         """Initialize the AzureOpenAI client from the configured base_url."""
-        try:
-            parsed_url = urlparse(self.genai_config.base_url or "")
-            query_params = parse_qs(parsed_url.query)
-            api_version = query_params.get("api-version", [None])[0]
-            azure_endpoint = f"{parsed_url.scheme}://{parsed_url.netloc}/"
+        parsed_url = urlparse(self.genai_config.base_url or "")
+        query_params = parse_qs(parsed_url.query)
+        api_version = query_params.get("api-version", [None])[0]
 
-            if not api_version:
-                logger.warning("Azure OpenAI url is missing API version.")
-                return None
-        except Exception as e:
-            logger.warning("Error parsing Azure OpenAI url: %s", str(e))
-            return None
+        if not api_version:
+            raise ValueError("Azure OpenAI base_url is missing api-version.")
+
+        azure_endpoint = f"{parsed_url.scheme}://{parsed_url.netloc}/"
 
         return AzureOpenAI(
             api_key=self.genai_config.api_key,
diff --git a/frigate/genai/plugins/openai.py b/frigate/genai/plugins/openai.py
index 3e5adabb35..f07e83b5dc 100644
--- a/frigate/genai/plugins/openai.py
+++ b/frigate/genai/plugins/openai.py
@@ -38,7 +38,11 @@ class OpenAIClient(GenAIClient):
     context_size: Optional[int] = None
 
     def _init_provider(self) -> OpenAI:
-        """Initialize the client."""
+        """Initialize the client.
+
+        Subclasses (e.g. Azure) should raise on configuration errors; the
+        manager catches construction failures and disables the provider.
+        """
         # Extract context_size from provider_options as it's not a valid OpenAI client parameter
         # It will be used in get_context_size() instead
         provider_opts = {