diff --git a/examples/server/server.cpp b/examples/server/server.cpp
index 48ef8ff2a..1ebf32ee0 100644
--- a/examples/server/server.cpp
+++ b/examples/server/server.cpp
@@ -202,6 +202,50 @@ struct server_slot {
     double t_prompt_processing; // ms
     double t_token_generation; // ms
 
+    bool check_server_health() {
+        // Check server health logic here
+        bool check_server_health(const std::string& server, const std::string& port) {
+            using namespace boost::asio;
+            io_service svc;
+            ip::tcp::socket socket(svc);
+            ip::tcp::resolver resolver(svc);
+            boost::system::error_code ec;
+
+            // Try to connect
+            connect(socket, resolver.resolve({server, port}), ec);
+            if (ec) {
+                std::cout << "Connection failed: " << ec.message() << std::endl;
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            // Send HTTP GET request to /health endpoint
+            std::string request = "GET /health HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: " + server + "\r\n\r\n";
+            write(socket, buffer(request), ec);
+            if (ec) {
+                std::cout << "Write failed: " << ec.message() << std::endl;
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            // Read the response
+            boost::asio::streambuf response;
+            read_until(socket, response, "\r\n", ec);
+            std::istream response_stream(&response);
+            std::string http_version;
+            unsigned int status_code;
+            response_stream >> http_version >> status_code;
+
+            bool server_status_ok = false;
+            
+            // Check HTTP response status code
+            if (status_code == 200 || status_code == 500 || status_code == 503) {
+                server_status_ok = true;
+            }
+            
+            return server_status_ok
+        }
+        return true; // Return false if the server is unhealthy
+    }
+    
     void reset() {
         n_prompt_tokens    = 0;
         generated_text     = "";
@@ -3427,6 +3471,13 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
     };
 
     const auto handle_completions = [&ctx_server, &res_error](const httplib::Request & req, httplib::Response & res) {
+        if (!check_server_health()) {
+                json error_response = {{"error", "Server is currently unavailable."}};
+                res.set_content(error_response.dump(), "application/json; charset=utf-8");
+                res.status = 503; // Service Unavailable
+                return;
+        } // added a server health checker to make sure completions only go through when there is a server running
+        
         res.set_header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", req.get_header_value("Origin"));
 
         json data = json::parse(req.body);