diff --git a/packages/apps/kubernetes/templates/cluster.yaml b/packages/apps/kubernetes/templates/cluster.yaml
index 10d6fd80..99249c1a 100644
--- a/packages/apps/kubernetes/templates/cluster.yaml
+++ b/packages/apps/kubernetes/templates/cluster.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 {{- $etcd := .Values._namespace.etcd }}
+{{- if not $etcd }}
+{{- fail "Kubernetes tenant requires a parent tenant with etcd enabled: set .Values.etcd=true on tenant-root (or any ancestor tenant), wait for the etcd HelmRelease to reconcile (DataStore CR appears in the tenant namespace), then retry." }}
+{{- end }}
 {{- $ingress := .Values._namespace.ingress }}
 {{- $host := .Values._namespace.host }}
 {{- $kubevirtmachinetemplateNames := list }}