diff --git a/cmd/server/main.go b/cmd/server/main.go
index 0f3656c6..aea2c305 100644
--- a/cmd/server/main.go
+++ b/cmd/server/main.go
@@ -174,6 +174,12 @@ func main() {
 		database.hasResolvedPath = true // detectSchema ran before column was added; fix the flag
 	}
 
+	// Ensure observers.inactive column exists (PR #954 filters on it; ingestor migration
+	// adds it but server may run against DBs ingestor never touched, e.g. e2e fixture).
+	if err := ensureObserverInactiveColumn(dbPath); err != nil {
+		log.Printf("[store] warning: could not add observers.inactive column: %v", err)
+	}
+
 	// WaitGroup for background init steps that gate /api/healthz readiness.
 	var initWg sync.WaitGroup
 
diff --git a/cmd/server/neighbor_persist.go b/cmd/server/neighbor_persist.go
index 53f83437..feb77efb 100644
--- a/cmd/server/neighbor_persist.go
+++ b/cmd/server/neighbor_persist.go
@@ -281,6 +281,45 @@ func ensureResolvedPathColumn(dbPath string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// ensureObserverInactiveColumn adds the inactive column to observers if missing.
+// The column was originally added by ingestor migration (cmd/ingestor/db.go:344) to
+// support soft-delete via RemoveStaleObservers + filtered reads (PR #954). When the
+// server starts against a DB that was never touched by the ingestor (e.g. the e2e
+// fixture), the column is missing and read queries that filter on it (GetObservers,
+// GetStats) silently fail with "no such column: inactive" — leaving /api/observers
+// returning empty.
+func ensureObserverInactiveColumn(dbPath string) error {
+	rw, err := openRW(dbPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer rw.Close()
+
+	rows, err := rw.Query("PRAGMA table_info(observers)")
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer rows.Close()
+
+	for rows.Next() {
+		var cid int
+		var colName string
+		var colType sql.NullString
+		var notNull, pk int
+		var dflt sql.NullString
+		if rows.Scan(&cid, &colName, &colType, &notNull, &dflt, &pk) == nil && colName == "inactive" {
+			return nil // already exists
+		}
+	}
+
+	_, err = rw.Exec("ALTER TABLE observers ADD COLUMN inactive INTEGER DEFAULT 0")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("add inactive column: %w", err)
+	}
+	log.Println("[store] Added inactive column to observers")
+	return nil
+}
+
 // resolvePathForObs resolves hop prefixes to full pubkeys for an observation.
 // Returns nil if path is empty.
 func resolvePathForObs(pathJSON, observerID string, tx *StoreTx, pm *prefixMap, graph *NeighborGraph) []*string {