diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 58ec349..4117548 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,14 @@ All notable changes to this module will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this module adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [0.9.1] - 2026-03-21
+
+### Fixed
+
+- `OnStop` now returns `nil` immediately when `s.srv == nil`, preventing a nil pointer
+  panic when the launcher calls cleanup on a server component whose `OnStart` was never
+  reached (e.g. because an earlier component failed during startup).
+
 ## [0.9.0] - 2026-03-18
 
 ### Added
@@ -25,4 +33,5 @@ and this module adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.
 - No middleware is installed by default; the full middleware stack is composed explicitly via `WithMiddleware` at construction time, keeping the stack visible and ordering unambiguous in the application source
 - chi was chosen as the underlying router because it uses stdlib `http.Handler` throughout, making it fully compatible with `httpmw` middleware and `httputil` handler adapters without any wrapper code at the boundary
 
+[0.9.1]: https://code.nochebuena.dev/go/httpserver/releases/tag/v0.9.1
 [0.9.0]: https://code.nochebuena.dev/go/httpserver/releases/tag/v0.9.0
diff --git a/httpserver.go b/httpserver.go
index af901af..dce277a 100644
--- a/httpserver.go
+++ b/httpserver.go
@@ -107,8 +107,12 @@ func (s *httpServer) OnStart() error {
 }
 
 // OnStop performs a graceful shutdown, waiting up to 10 seconds for in-flight
-// requests to complete.
+// requests to complete. If OnStart was never called (e.g. a prior component
+// failed during startup), this is a no-op.
 func (s *httpServer) OnStop() error {
+	if s.srv == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
 	s.logger.Info("httpserver: shutting down gracefully")
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()