diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 15acf8294..f2a3fe8ea 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 .cache/
 .bash_history
 /compute-domain-controller
+/compute-domain-daemon
 /compute-domain-kubelet-plugin
 /gpu-kubelet-plugin
+/webhook
 .idea
 [._]*.sw[a-p]
 coverage.out
diff --git a/cmd/compute-domain-daemon/main.go b/cmd/compute-domain-daemon/main.go
index 03e95c394..fdee03466 100644
--- a/cmd/compute-domain-daemon/main.go
+++ b/cmd/compute-domain-daemon/main.go
@@ -204,6 +204,14 @@ func newApp() *cli.App {
 
 // Run invokes the IMEX daemon and manages its lifecycle.
 func run(ctx context.Context, cancel context.CancelFunc, flags *Flags) error {
+	// Verify that CDI container edits were applied by the container runtime by
+	// checking for COMPUTE_DOMAIN_UUID, which is always injected as part of the
+	// CDI edits. If it is missing, CDI is likely disabled and the daemon cannot
+	// function correctly (e.g. the /imexd mount will be missing).
+	if flags.computeDomainUUID == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("CDI container edits did not apply -- is CDI enabled in your container runtime?")
+	}
+
 	common.StartDebugSignalHandlers()
 
 	// Validate feature gate dependencies