diff --git a/api/schemas/user_configuration.py b/api/schemas/user_configuration.py
index f147b37f..2e62396a 100644
--- a/api/schemas/user_configuration.py
+++ b/api/schemas/user_configuration.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from datetime import datetime
 
-from pydantic import BaseModel
+from pydantic import BaseModel, model_validator
 
 from api.services.configuration.registry import (
     EmbeddingsConfig,
@@ -21,3 +21,13 @@ class UserConfiguration(BaseModel):
     test_phone_number: str | None = None
     timezone: str | None = None
     last_validated_at: datetime | None = None
+
+    @model_validator(mode="before")
+    @classmethod
+    def strip_incomplete_realtime_when_disabled(cls, data):
+        """Skip realtime validation when is_realtime is False and api_key is missing."""
+        if isinstance(data, dict) and not data.get("is_realtime", False):
+            realtime = data.get("realtime")
+            if isinstance(realtime, dict) and not realtime.get("api_key"):
+                data.pop("realtime", None)
+        return data
diff --git a/api/services/configuration/check_validity.py b/api/services/configuration/check_validity.py
index 01cd8341..6ad0d19d 100644
--- a/api/services/configuration/check_validity.py
+++ b/api/services/configuration/check_validity.py
@@ -72,10 +72,13 @@ class UserConfigurationValidator:
                 configuration.embeddings, "embeddings", required=False
             )
         )
-        # Realtime is optional - only validate if configured
-        status_list.extend(
-            self._validate_service(configuration.realtime, "realtime", required=False)
-        )
+        # Realtime is optional - only validate if is_realtime is enabled
+        if configuration.is_realtime:
+            status_list.extend(
+                self._validate_service(
+                    configuration.realtime, "realtime", required=True
+                )
+            )
 
         if status_list:
             raise ValueError(status_list)