diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Aggregation/Aggregation.php b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Aggregation/Aggregation.php
index 013e7e1bd..4169f237a 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Aggregation/Aggregation.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Aggregation/Aggregation.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 namespace Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Aggregation;
 
+use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Configuration;
 use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\DocumentManager;
 use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Iterator\CachingIterator;
 use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Iterator\HydratingIterator;
@@ -11,10 +12,14 @@
 use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Iterator\Iterator;
 use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Iterator\UnrewindableIterator;
 use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Mapping\ClassMetadata;
+use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\SchemaException;
 use MongoDB\Collection;
 use MongoDB\Driver\CursorInterface;
 
 use function array_merge;
+use function current;
+use function in_array;
+use function key;
 
 /** @phpstan-import-type PipelineExpression from Builder */
 final class Aggregation implements IterableResult
@@ -64,6 +69,45 @@ private function prepareIterator(CursorInterface $cursor): Iterator
             $cursor = new HydratingIterator($cursor, $this->dm->getUnitOfWork(), $this->classMetadata);
         }
 
-        return $this->rewindable ? new CachingIterator($cursor) : new UnrewindableIterator($cursor);
+        $iterator = $this->rewindable ? new CachingIterator($cursor) : new UnrewindableIterator($cursor);
+
+        $this->assertSearchIndexExistsForEmptyResult($iterator);
+
+        return $iterator;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * If the server implements a server-side error for missing search indexes,
+     * this assertion can be removed.
+     *
+     * @see https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/SERVER-110974
+     * @see Configuration::setAssertSearchIndexExistsForEmptyResult()
+     *
+     * @param CachingIterator<mixed>|UnrewindableIterator<mixed> $iterator
+     */
+    private function assertSearchIndexExistsForEmptyResult(CachingIterator|UnrewindableIterator $iterator): void
+    {
+        // The iterator is always rewinded
+        if ($iterator->key() !== null) {
+            return; // Results not empty
+        }
+
+        if (! $this->dm->getConfiguration()->assertSearchIndexExistsForEmptyResult()) {
+            return; // Feature disabled
+        }
+
+        // Search stages must be the first stage in the pipeline
+        $stage = $this->pipeline[0] ?? null;
+        if (! $stage || ! in_array(key($stage), ['$search', '$searchMeta', '$vectorSearch'], true)) {
+            return; // Not a search aggregation
+        }
+
+        // @phpcs:ignore SlevomatCodingStandard.PHP.UselessParentheses
+        $indexName = ((object) current($stage))->index ?? 'default';
+        if ($this->collection->listSearchIndexes(['filter' => ['name' => $indexName]])->key() !== null) {
+            return; // Index exists
+        }
+
+        throw SchemaException::searchIndexNotFound($this->collection->getNamespace(), $indexName);
     }
 }
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Configuration.php b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Configuration.php
index 8ea5c844c..6934bd60f 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Configuration.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Configuration.php
@@ -808,6 +808,24 @@ private function getAutoEncryptionOptions(): array
             ...$this->attributes['autoEncryption'] ?? [],
         ];
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Pipelines using a search index that does not exist or is not queryable
+     * will return zero documents. By enabling this feature, an additional query
+     * is performed when the pipeline doesn't return any results to check if the
+     * search index exists. If the index does not exist, an exception is thrown.
+     * This feature is enabled by default.
+     * This applies to $search, $searchMeta and $vectorSearch pipelines.
+     */
+    public function setAssertSearchIndexExistsForEmptyResult(bool $enabled): void
+    {
+        $this->attributes['assertSearchIndexExistsForEmptyResult'] = $enabled;
+    }
+
+    public function assertSearchIndexExistsForEmptyResult(): bool
+    {
+        return $this->attributes['assertSearchIndexExistsForEmptyResult'] ?? true;
+    }
 }
 
 interface_exists(MappingDriver::class);
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/SchemaException.php b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/SchemaException.php
index 048090030..50059989f 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/SchemaException.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/SchemaException.php
@@ -23,4 +23,10 @@ public static function missingSearchIndex(string $documentClass, array $missingI
     {
         return new self(sprintf('The document class "%s" is missing the following search index(es): "%s"', $documentClass, implode('", "', $missingIndexes)));
     }
+
+    /** @internal */
+    public static function searchIndexNotFound(string $namespace, string $indexName): self
+    {
+        return new self(sprintf('The search index "%s" of the collection "%s" is not found.', $indexName, $namespace));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Tests/Functional/AtlasSearchTest.php b/tests/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Tests/Functional/AtlasSearchTest.php
index bcb28e548..e1cafe14f 100644
--- a/tests/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Tests/Functional/AtlasSearchTest.php
+++ b/tests/Doctrine/ODM/MongoDB/Tests/Functional/AtlasSearchTest.php
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 namespace Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Tests\Functional;
 
+use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Aggregation\Stage;
+use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\SchemaException;
 use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Tests\BaseTestCase;
 use Documents\CmsArticle;
 use Documents\CmsUser;
@@ -116,4 +118,51 @@ public function testAtlasSearch(): void
 
         $this->assertNotEmpty($results, 'Count search should return results');
     }
+
+    public function testIndexNotCreated(): void
+    {
+        $aggregation = $this->dm->createAggregationBuilder(CmsArticle::class)
+            ->search()
+                ->index('search_articles')
+                ->text()
+                ->query('Atlas Search')
+                ->path('text')
+            ->getAggregation();
+
+        $this->expectException(SchemaException::class);
+        $this->expectExceptionMessageMatches('#^The search index "search_articles" of the collection "[^."]+\.CmsArticle" is not found\.$#');
+
+        $aggregation->execute();
+    }
+
+    public function testIndexNotCreatedWithoutException(): void
+    {
+        $this->dm->getConfiguration()->setAssertSearchIndexExistsForEmptyResult(false);
+
+        $results = $this->dm->createAggregationBuilder(CmsArticle::class)
+            ->search()
+                ->index('search_articles')
+                ->text()
+                ->query('Atlas Search')
+                ->path('text')
+            ->getAggregation()->execute();
+
+        $this->assertCount(0, $results->toArray());
+    }
+
+    public function testIndexNotCreatedWithCustomStage(): void
+    {
+        $aggregation = ($builder = $this->dm->createAggregationBuilder(CmsArticle::class))
+            ->addStage(new class ($builder) extends Stage {
+                public function getExpression(): array
+                {
+                    return ['$search' => ['text' => ['query' => 'Atlas Search', 'path' => 'text']]];
+                }
+            })->getAggregation();
+
+        $this->expectException(SchemaException::class);
+        $this->expectExceptionMessageMatches('#^The search index "default" of the collection "[^."]+\.CmsArticle" is not found\.$#');
+
+        $aggregation->execute();
+    }
 }