diff --git a/agentops/sdk/decorators/factory.py b/agentops/sdk/decorators/factory.py
index 2ddca1437..50d25d322 100644
--- a/agentops/sdk/decorators/factory.py
+++ b/agentops/sdk/decorators/factory.py
@@ -82,7 +82,21 @@ def wrapper(
             wrapped_func: Callable[..., Any], instance: Optional[Any], args: tuple, kwargs: Dict[str, Any]
         ) -> Any:
             if not tracer.initialized:
-                return wrapped_func(*args, **kwargs)
+                logger.warning(
+                    "AgentOps SDK not initialized. Attempting to initialize with defaults before applying decorator."
+                )
+                try:
+                    from agentops import init
+
+                    init()
+                    if not tracer.initialized:
+                        logger.error("SDK initialization failed. Decorator will not instrument function.")
+                        return wrapped_func(*args, **kwargs)
+                except Exception as e:
+                    logger.error(
+                        f"SDK auto-initialization failed during decorator application: {e}. Decorator will not instrument function."
+                    )
+                    return wrapped_func(*args, **kwargs)
 
             operation_name = name or wrapped_func.__name__
             is_async = asyncio.iscoroutinefunction(wrapped_func)
diff --git a/tests/unit/sdk/test_decorators.py b/tests/unit/sdk/test_decorators.py
index 96824d0fe..f8b19dfc4 100644
--- a/tests/unit/sdk/test_decorators.py
+++ b/tests/unit/sdk/test_decorators.py
@@ -761,3 +761,68 @@ def no_cost_tool(self):
             span for span in spans if span.attributes.get(SpanAttributes.AGENTOPS_SPAN_KIND) == SpanKind.TOOL
         )
         assert SpanAttributes.LLM_USAGE_TOOL_COST not in tool_span.attributes
+
+
+class TestDecoratorAutoInitialization:
+    """Tests for decorator auto-initialization functionality."""
+
+    def test_decorator_auto_initialization_success(self, instrumentation: InstrumentationTester):
+        """Test that decorators auto-initialize when tracer is not initialized."""
+        from unittest.mock import patch
+        from agentops.sdk.decorators.factory import create_entity_decorator
+        from agentops.sdk.core import tracer
+
+        with patch.object(tracer, "_initialized", False):
+            with patch("agentops.init") as mock_init:
+
+                def mock_init_side_effect():
+                    tracer._initialized = True
+
+                mock_init.side_effect = mock_init_side_effect
+
+                @create_entity_decorator("TASK")
+                def test_function():
+                    return "test_result"
+
+                result = test_function()
+
+                mock_init.assert_called_once()
+                assert result == "test_result"
+
+    def test_decorator_auto_initialization_failure(self, instrumentation: InstrumentationTester):
+        """Test that decorators handle auto-initialization failure gracefully."""
+        from unittest.mock import patch
+        from agentops.sdk.decorators.factory import create_entity_decorator
+        from agentops.sdk.core import tracer
+
+        with patch.object(tracer, "_initialized", False):
+            with patch("agentops.init") as mock_init:
+                mock_init.side_effect = Exception("Init failed")
+
+                @create_entity_decorator("TASK")
+                def test_function():
+                    return "test_result"
+
+                result = test_function()
+
+                mock_init.assert_called_once()
+                assert result == "test_result"
+
+    def test_decorator_auto_initialization_partial_failure(self, instrumentation: InstrumentationTester):
+        """Test that decorators handle partial initialization failure gracefully."""
+        from unittest.mock import patch
+        from agentops.sdk.decorators.factory import create_entity_decorator
+        from agentops.sdk.core import tracer
+
+        with patch.object(tracer, "_initialized", False):
+            with patch("agentops.init") as mock_init:
+                mock_init.return_value = None
+
+                @create_entity_decorator("TASK")
+                def test_function():
+                    return "test_result"
+
+                result = test_function()
+
+                mock_init.assert_called_once()
+                assert result == "test_result"