diff --git a/server/src/main/java/io/deephaven/server/console/ConsoleServiceGrpcImpl.java b/server/src/main/java/io/deephaven/server/console/ConsoleServiceGrpcImpl.java
index 3fec26cab7b..864d1c1ad51 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/io/deephaven/server/console/ConsoleServiceGrpcImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/io/deephaven/server/console/ConsoleServiceGrpcImpl.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import com.google.rpc.Code;
 import io.deephaven.base.LockFreeArrayQueue;
 import io.deephaven.configuration.Configuration;
+import io.deephaven.engine.context.QueryScope;
 import io.deephaven.engine.table.Table;
 import io.deephaven.engine.table.impl.perf.QueryPerformanceNugget;
 import io.deephaven.engine.table.impl.perf.QueryPerformanceRecorder;
@@ -61,8 +62,10 @@ public class ConsoleServiceGrpcImpl extends ConsoleServiceGrpc.ConsoleServiceImp
     public static final boolean REMOTE_CONSOLE_DISABLED =
             Configuration.getInstance().getBooleanWithDefault("deephaven.console.disable", false);
 
+    private static final String DISABLE_AUTOCOMPLETE_FLAG = "deephaven.console.autocomplete.disable";
     public static final boolean AUTOCOMPLETE_DISABLED =
-            Configuration.getInstance().getBooleanWithDefault("deephaven.console.autocomplete.disable", false);
+            Configuration.getInstance().getBooleanWithDefault(DISABLE_AUTOCOMPLETE_FLAG, false);
+
 
     public static final boolean QUIET_AUTOCOMPLETE_ERRORS =
             Configuration.getInstance().getBooleanWithDefault("deephaven.console.autocomplete.quiet", true);
@@ -75,6 +78,8 @@ public class ConsoleServiceGrpcImpl extends ConsoleServiceGrpc.ConsoleServiceImp
     public static final int SUBSCRIBE_TO_LOGS_BUFFER_SIZE =
             Configuration.getInstance().getIntegerWithDefault(SUBSCRIBE_TO_LOGS_BUFFER_SIZE_PROP, 32768);
 
+    private static final AtomicBoolean ALREADY_WARNED_ABOUT_NO_AUTOCOMPLETE = new AtomicBoolean();
+
     private final TicketRouter ticketRouter;
     private final SessionService sessionService;
     private final Provider<ScriptSession> scriptSessionProvider;
@@ -296,7 +301,7 @@ public void bindTableToVariable(
     public StreamObserver<AutoCompleteRequest> autoCompleteStream(
             @NotNull final StreamObserver<AutoCompleteResponse> responseObserver) {
         final SessionState session = sessionService.getCurrentSession();
-        if (AUTOCOMPLETE_DISABLED) {
+        if (AUTOCOMPLETE_DISABLED || ALREADY_WARNED_ABOUT_NO_AUTOCOMPLETE.get()) {
             return new NoopAutoCompleteObserver(session, responseObserver);
         }
         if (PythonDeephavenSession.SCRIPT_TYPE.equals(scriptSessionProvider.get().scriptType())) {
@@ -307,7 +312,13 @@ public StreamObserver<AutoCompleteRequest> autoCompleteStream(
                         "from deephaven_internal.auto_completer import jedi_settings ; jedi_settings.set_scope(globals())");
                 settings[0] = (PyObject) scriptSession.getVariable("jedi_settings");
             } catch (Exception err) {
-                log.error().append("Error trying to enable jedi autocomplete").append(err).endl();
+                if (!ALREADY_WARNED_ABOUT_NO_AUTOCOMPLETE.getAndSet(true)) {
+                    log.error().append("Autocomplete package not found; disabling autocomplete.").endl();
+                    log.error().append("Do you need to install the autocomplete package?").endl();
+                    log.error().append("    pip install deephaven-core[autocomplete]==<version>").endl();
+                    log.error().append("Add the jvm flag '-D").append(DISABLE_AUTOCOMPLETE_FLAG)
+                            .append("=true' to disable this message.").endl();
+                }
             }
             boolean canJedi = settings[0] != null && settings[0].call("can_jedi").getBooleanValue();
             log.info().append(canJedi ? "Using jedi for python autocomplete"