diff --git a/pkg/alertcontext/config.go b/pkg/alertcontext/config.go
index 160804487..74ca1523a 100644
--- a/pkg/alertcontext/config.go
+++ b/pkg/alertcontext/config.go
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ package alertcontext
 
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/fs"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"slices"
@@ -14,6 +16,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/crowdsecurity/crowdsec/pkg/cwhub"
 )
 
+var ErrNoContextData = errors.New("no context to send")
+
 // this file is here to avoid circular dependencies between the configuration and the hub
 
 // HubItemWrapper is a wrapper around a hub item to unmarshal only the context part
@@ -25,7 +29,7 @@ type HubItemWrapper struct {
 // mergeContext adds the context from src to dest.
 func mergeContext(dest map[string][]string, src map[string][]string) error {
 	if len(src) == 0 {
-		return fmt.Errorf("no context data to merge")
+		return ErrNoContextData
 	}
 
 	for k, v := range src {
@@ -86,8 +90,9 @@ func addContextFromFile(toSend map[string][]string, filePath string) error {
 	}
 
 	err = mergeContext(toSend, newContext)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Warningf("while merging context from %s: %s", filePath, err)
+	if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, ErrNoContextData) {
+		// having an empty console/context.yaml is not an error
+		return err
 	}
 
 	return nil
@@ -125,8 +130,10 @@ func LoadConsoleContext(c *csconfig.Config, hub *cwhub.Hub) error {
 	}
 
 	if err := addContextFromFile(c.Crowdsec.ContextToSend, c.Crowdsec.ConsoleContextPath); err != nil {
-		if !ignoreMissing || !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		if !errors.Is(err, fs.ErrNotExist) {
 			return err
+		} else if !ignoreMissing {
+			log.Warningf("while merging context from %s: %s", c.Crowdsec.ConsoleContextPath, err)
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/test/bats/09_context.bats b/test/bats/09_context.bats
index 6163d53f9..ba2954510 100644
--- a/test/bats/09_context.bats
+++ b/test/bats/09_context.bats
@@ -46,9 +46,21 @@ teardown() {
     assert_stderr --partial "loading console context from $CONTEXT_YAML"
 }
 
+@test "no error if context file is missing but not explicitly set" {
+    config_set "del(.crowdsec_service.console_context_path)"
+    rune -0 rm -f "$CONTEXT_YAML"
+    rune -0 cscli lapi context status --error
+    refute_stderr
+    assert_output --partial "No context found on this agent."
+    rune -0 "$CROWDSEC" -t
+    refute_stderr --partial "no such file or directory"
+}
+
 @test "error if context file is explicitly set but does not exist" {
     config_set ".crowdsec_service.console_context_path=strenv(CONTEXT_YAML)"
     rune -0 rm -f "$CONTEXT_YAML"
+    rune -1 cscli lapi context status --error
+    assert_stderr --partial "context.yaml: no such file or directory"
     rune -1 "$CROWDSEC" -t
     assert_stderr --partial "while checking console_context_path: stat $CONTEXT_YAML: no such file or directory"
 }