diff --git a/circuit_breaker_nil_monitoring_test.go b/circuit_breaker_nil_monitoring_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad2de5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/circuit_breaker_nil_monitoring_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"testing"
+
+	libpack_logger "github.com/lukaszraczylo/graphql-monitoring-proxy/logging"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// TestInitCircuitBreaker_NilMonitoring_NoPanic is a regression test for a boot
+// panic: enabling the circuit breaker (ENABLE_CIRCUIT_BREAKER=true) crashed at
+// startup because parseConfig calls initCircuitBreaker before the monitoring
+// server assigns cfg.Monitoring (StartMonitoringServer runs later). The metrics
+// gauge registration then dereferenced a nil *MetricsSetup.
+//
+// The breaker (and the admin dashboard, which reads gobreaker state directly)
+// must initialise without panicking even when monitoring is not yet available.
+func TestInitCircuitBreaker_NilMonitoring_NoPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	origCfg := cfg
+	cbMutex.Lock()
+	origCb, origMetrics := cb, cbMetrics
+	cb, cbMetrics = nil, nil
+	cbMutex.Unlock()
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		cbMutex.Lock()
+		cb, cbMetrics = origCb, origMetrics
+		cbMutex.Unlock()
+		cfg = origCfg
+	})
+
+	cfg = &config{}
+	cfg.Logger = libpack_logger.New().SetOutput(&bytes.Buffer{})
+	cfg.Monitoring = nil // the production state when parseConfig runs
+	cfg.CircuitBreaker.Enable = true
+	cfg.CircuitBreaker.MaxFailures = 3
+	cfg.CircuitBreaker.Timeout = 5
+	cfg.CircuitBreaker.MaxRequestsInHalfOpen = 2
+
+	require.NotPanics(t, func() { initCircuitBreaker(cfg) },
+		"initCircuitBreaker must not panic when cfg.Monitoring is nil")
+	require.NotNil(t, cb, "circuit breaker must initialise even without monitoring")
+	require.NotNil(t, cbMetrics, "circuit breaker metrics manager must be created")
+}
diff --git a/monitoring/monitoring.go b/monitoring/monitoring.go
index da6c147..e84901f 100644
--- a/monitoring/monitoring.go
+++ b/monitoring/monitoring.go
@@ -109,6 +109,11 @@ func (ms *MetricsSetup) ListActiveMetrics() []string {
 }
 
 func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterMetricsGauge(metric_name string, labels map[string]string, val float64) *metrics.Gauge {
+	if ms == nil {
+		// Monitoring may not be initialized yet (e.g. during config parsing,
+		// before the monitoring server starts). Return a dummy to prevent panics.
+		return &metrics.Gauge{}
+	}
 	if err := validate_metrics_name(metric_name); err != nil {
 		log.Error(&libpack_logger.LogMessage{
 			Message: "RegisterMetricsGauge() error - invalid metric name",
@@ -125,6 +130,9 @@ func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterMetricsGauge(metric_name string, labels map[stri
 // RegisterMetricsGaugeFunc registers a gauge with a callback function that is called on every scrape
 // This is useful for metrics that need to return a dynamic value
 func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterMetricsGaugeFunc(metric_name string, labels map[string]string, fn func() float64) *metrics.Gauge {
+	if ms == nil {
+		return &metrics.Gauge{}
+	}
 	if err := validate_metrics_name(metric_name); err != nil {
 		log.Error(&libpack_logger.LogMessage{
 			Message: "RegisterMetricsGaugeFunc() error - invalid metric name",
@@ -137,6 +145,9 @@ func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterMetricsGaugeFunc(metric_name string, labels map[
 }
 
 func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterMetricsCounter(metric_name string, labels map[string]string) *metrics.Counter {
+	if ms == nil {
+		return &metrics.Counter{}
+	}
 	if err := validate_metrics_name(metric_name); err != nil {
 		log.Error(&libpack_logger.LogMessage{
 			Message: "RegisterMetricsCounter() error - invalid metric name",
@@ -152,6 +163,9 @@ func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterMetricsCounter(metric_name string, labels map[st
 }
 
 func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterFloatCounter(metric_name string, labels map[string]string) *metrics.FloatCounter {
+	if ms == nil {
+		return &metrics.FloatCounter{}
+	}
 	if err := validate_metrics_name(metric_name); err != nil {
 		log.Error(&libpack_logger.LogMessage{
 			Message: "RegisterFloatCounter() error - invalid metric name",
@@ -164,6 +178,9 @@ func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterFloatCounter(metric_name string, labels map[stri
 }
 
 func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterMetricsSummary(metric_name string, labels map[string]string) *metrics.Summary {
+	if ms == nil {
+		return &metrics.Summary{}
+	}
 	if err := validate_metrics_name(metric_name); err != nil {
 		log.Error(&libpack_logger.LogMessage{
 			Message: "RegisterMetricsSummary() error - invalid metric name",
@@ -176,6 +193,9 @@ func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterMetricsSummary(metric_name string, labels map[st
 }
 
 func (ms *MetricsSetup) RegisterMetricsHistogram(metric_name string, labels map[string]string) *metrics.Histogram {
+	if ms == nil {
+		return &metrics.Histogram{}
+	}
 	if err := validate_metrics_name(metric_name); err != nil {
 		log.Error(&libpack_logger.LogMessage{
 			Message: "RegisterMetricsHistogram() error - invalid metric name",
diff --git a/monitoring/nil_safety_test.go b/monitoring/nil_safety_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3656dd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/monitoring/nil_safety_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+package libpack_monitoring
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+// TestRegistrationMethods_NilReceiver_NoPanic verifies that the metric
+// registration methods tolerate a nil *MetricsSetup receiver. Callers may
+// register metrics before the monitoring server has constructed the global
+// MetricsSetup (e.g. circuit breaker init during config parsing); these
+// methods must return a non-nil dummy instead of panicking.
+func TestRegistrationMethods_NilReceiver_NoPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	var ms *MetricsSetup // nil
+
+	require.NotPanics(t, func() {
+		require.NotNil(t, ms.RegisterMetricsGauge("g", nil, 1))
+		require.NotNil(t, ms.RegisterMetricsGaugeFunc("gf", nil, func() float64 { return 1 }))
+		require.NotNil(t, ms.RegisterMetricsCounter("c", nil))
+		require.NotNil(t, ms.RegisterFloatCounter("fc", nil))
+		require.NotNil(t, ms.RegisterMetricsSummary("s", nil))
+		require.NotNil(t, ms.RegisterMetricsHistogram("h", nil))
+	})
+}