diff --git a/PluralKit.Bot/Commands/Misc.cs b/PluralKit.Bot/Commands/Misc.cs
index 5845cd51..452cd748 100644
--- a/PluralKit.Bot/Commands/Misc.cs
+++ b/PluralKit.Bot/Commands/Misc.cs
@@ -91,14 +91,14 @@ public class Misc
         var counts = await _repo.GetStats();
         var shards = await _shards.GetShards();
 
-        var shardInfo = shards.Where(s => s.ShardId == ctx.ShardId).First();
+        var shardInfo = shards.Where(s => s.ShardId == ctx.ShardId).FirstOrDefault();
 
         // todo: if we're running multiple processes, it is not useful to get the CPU/RAM usage of just the current one
         var process = Process.GetCurrentProcess();
         var memoryUsage = process.WorkingSet64;
 
         var now = SystemClock.Instance.GetCurrentInstant().ToUnixTimeSeconds();
-        var shardUptime = Duration.FromSeconds(now - shardInfo.LastConnection);
+        var shardUptime = Duration.FromSeconds(now - shardInfo?.LastConnection ?? 0);
 
         var shardTotal = shards.Count();
         int shardClusterTotal = ctx.Cluster.Shards.Count;
@@ -110,11 +110,11 @@ public class Misc
                     + (isCluster ? $" {shardClusterTotal} in this cluster," : "") + $" {shardUpTotal} are up)"
                 , true))
             .Field(new Embed.Field("Shard uptime",
-                $"{shardUptime.FormatDuration()} ({shardInfo.DisconnectionCount} disconnections)", true))
+                $"{shardUptime.FormatDuration()} ({shardInfo?.DisconnectionCount} disconnections)", true))
             .Field(new Embed.Field("CPU usage", $"{_cpu.LastCpuMeasure:P1}", true))
             .Field(new Embed.Field("Memory usage", $"{memoryUsage / 1024 / 1024} MiB", true))
             .Field(new Embed.Field("Latency",
-                $"API: {apiLatency.TotalMilliseconds:F0} ms, shard: {shardInfo.Latency} ms",
+                $"API: {apiLatency.TotalMilliseconds:F0} ms, shard: {shardInfo?.Latency} ms",
                 true));
 
         embed.Field(new("Total numbers", $" {counts.SystemCount:N0} systems,"
diff --git a/PluralKit.Bot/Init.cs b/PluralKit.Bot/Init.cs
index 58699111..7e96f6d5 100644
--- a/PluralKit.Bot/Init.cs
+++ b/PluralKit.Bot/Init.cs
@@ -42,12 +42,14 @@ public class Init
                 opts.DisableTaskUnobservedTaskExceptionCapture();
             });
 
-            // initialize Redis
-            var coreConfig = services.Resolve<CoreConfig>();
-            var redis = services.Resolve<RedisService>();
-            await redis.InitAsync(coreConfig);
-
             var config = services.Resolve<BotConfig>();
+            var coreConfig = services.Resolve<CoreConfig>();
+
+            // initialize Redis
+            var redis = services.Resolve<RedisService>();
+            if (config.UseRedisRatelimiter)
+                await redis.InitAsync(coreConfig);
+
             if (config.Cluster == null)
             {
                 // "Connect to the database" (ie. set off database migrations and ensure state)
@@ -55,7 +57,8 @@ public class Init
                 await services.Resolve<IDatabase>().ApplyMigrations();
 
                 // Clear shard status from Redis
-                await redis.Connection.GetDatabase().KeyDeleteAsync("pluralkit:shardstatus");
+                if (redis.Connection != null)
+                    await redis.Connection.GetDatabase().KeyDeleteAsync("pluralkit:shardstatus");
             }
 
             // Init the bot instance itself, register handlers and such to the client before beginning to connect
diff --git a/PluralKit.Bot/Services/ShardInfoService.cs b/PluralKit.Bot/Services/ShardInfoService.cs
index 3f7c86ac..8487ec97 100644
--- a/PluralKit.Bot/Services/ShardInfoService.cs
+++ b/PluralKit.Bot/Services/ShardInfoService.cs
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ public class ShardInfoService
 
     public async Task<IEnumerable<ShardState>> GetShards()
     {
+        if (_redis.Connection == null)
+            return new ShardState[] { };
         var db = _redis.Connection.GetDatabase();
         var redisInfo = await db.HashGetAllAsync("pluralkit:shardstatus");
         return redisInfo.Select(x => Proto.Unmarshal<ShardState>(x.Value));
@@ -48,6 +50,12 @@ public class ShardInfoService
 
         async Task Inner()
         {
+            if (_redis.Connection == null)
+            {
+                _logger.Warning("Redis is disabled, shard connection status will be unavailable.");
+                return;
+            }
+
             var db = _redis.Connection.GetDatabase();
             var redisInfo = await db.HashGetAsync("pluralkit::shardstatus", shard.ShardId);
 
diff --git a/PluralKit.Core/Services/RedisService.cs b/PluralKit.Core/Services/RedisService.cs
index c608cfed..22544514 100644
--- a/PluralKit.Core/Services/RedisService.cs
+++ b/PluralKit.Core/Services/RedisService.cs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ namespace PluralKit.Core;
 
 public class RedisService
 {
-    public ConnectionMultiplexer Connection { get; set; }
+    public ConnectionMultiplexer? Connection { get; set; }
 
     public async Task InitAsync(CoreConfig config)
     {