diff --git a/code/common/config/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/WmsaHome.java b/code/common/config/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/WmsaHome.java
index b63761b0..ae09940e 100644
--- a/code/common/config/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/WmsaHome.java
+++ b/code/common/config/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/WmsaHome.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package nu.marginalia;
 
 
+import nu.marginalia.service.ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException;
 import nu.marginalia.service.descriptor.HostsFile;
 
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
@@ -30,12 +31,12 @@ public class WmsaHome {
         var ret = Path.of(retStr);
 
         if (!Files.isDirectory(ret)) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("Could not find $WMSA_HOME, either set environment variable or ensure " + retStr + " exists");
+            throw new ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException("Could not find $WMSA_HOME, either set environment variable or ensure " + retStr + " exists");
         }
 
 
         if (!Files.isDirectory(ret.resolve("model"))) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("You need to run 'run/setup.sh' to download models to run/ before this will work!");
+            throw new ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException("You need to run 'run/setup.sh' to download models to run/ before this will work!");
         }
 
         return ret;
diff --git a/code/common/service-discovery/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/service/ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException.java b/code/common/service-discovery/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/service/ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..181428e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/code/common/service-discovery/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/service/ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+package nu.marginalia.service;
+
+public class ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException extends RuntimeException {
+
+    public ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException() {
+        super("WMSA_HOME environment variable not set");
+    }
+    public ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException(String message) {
+        super(message);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/code/common/service/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/service/module/DatabaseModule.java b/code/common/service/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/service/module/DatabaseModule.java
index 8a51d141..e3d660ad 100644
--- a/code/common/service/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/service/module/DatabaseModule.java
+++ b/code/common/service/src/main/java/nu/marginalia/service/module/DatabaseModule.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import com.google.inject.Singleton;
 import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariConfig;
 import com.zaxxer.hikari.HikariDataSource;
 import lombok.SneakyThrows;
+import nu.marginalia.service.ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException;
 import org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ public class DatabaseModule extends AbstractModule {
 
         var ret = Path.of(retStr);
         if (!Files.isDirectory(ret)) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("Could not find WMSA_HOME, either set environment variable or ensure /var/lib/wmsa exists");
+            throw new ServiceHomeNotConfiguredException("Could not find WMSA_HOME, either set environment variable or ensure /var/lib/wmsa exists");
         }
         return ret;
     }