diff --git a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common
index 9e98204a1..9fd5d6576 100755
--- a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common
+++ b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common
@@ -404,6 +404,25 @@ is_single_node_grid() {
 	grep "role: so-" /etc/salt/grains | grep -E "eval|standalone|import" &> /dev/null
 }
 
+initialize_elasticsearch_indices() {
+    local index_names=$1
+    local default_entry=${2:-'{"@timestamp":"0"}'}
+
+    for idx in $index_names; do
+        if ! so-elasticsearch-query "$idx" --fail --retry 3 --retry-delay 30 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            echo "Index does not already exist. Initializing $idx index."
+
+            if retry 3 10 "so-elasticsearch-query "$idx/_doc" -d '$default_entry' -XPOST --fail 2>/dev/null" '"successful":1'; then
+                echo "Successfully initialized $idx index."
+            else
+                echo "Failed to initialize $idx index after 3 attempts."
+            fi
+        else
+            echo "Index $idx already exists. No action needed."
+        fi
+    done
+}
+
 lookup_bond_interfaces() {
 	cat /proc/net/bonding/bond0 | grep "Slave Interface:" | sed -e "s/Slave Interface: //g"
 }
diff --git a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
index 92f3b6d14..b0ac226d2 100755
--- a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
+++ b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
@@ -692,6 +692,8 @@ post_to_2.4.210() {
 
   disable_redis_heavynodes
 
+  initialize_elasticsearch_indices "so-case so-casehistory so-assistant-session so-assistant-chat"
+
   echo "Regenerating Elastic Agent Installers"
   /sbin/so-elastic-agent-gen-installers
 
diff --git a/setup/so-setup b/setup/so-setup
index c2f589a45..1fa078b78 100755
--- a/setup/so-setup
+++ b/setup/so-setup
@@ -828,6 +828,7 @@ if ! [[ -f $install_opt_file ]]; then
 		fi
 		checkin_at_boot
 		set_initial_firewall_access
+        initialize_elasticsearch_indices "so-case so-casehistory so-assistant-session so-assistant-chat"
 		# run a final highstate before enabling scheduled highstates. 
 		# this will ensure so-elasticsearch-ilm-policy-load and so-elasticsearch-templates-load have a chance to run after elasticfleet is setup
 		info "Running final highstate for setup"