diff --git a/app/controller/chainsail/controller/run.py b/app/controller/chainsail/controller/run.py
index 81d48828..74f849c4 100644
--- a/app/controller/chainsail/controller/run.py
+++ b/app/controller/chainsail/controller/run.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
     update_nodes_mpi,
 )
 from chainsail.grpc import Health, add_HealthServicer_to_server
+from chainsail.grpc import user_code_pb2_grpc, user_code_pb2
 
 ProcessStatus = Tuple[bool, str]
 
@@ -54,6 +55,51 @@ def check_status(proc: Process) -> ProcessStatus:
         return (True, "SUCCESS")
 
 
+def check_user_code_server_ready(host="localhost", port=50052, timeout=1.0):
+    """
+    Check if the user code server is ready to handle requests within the timeout.
+
+    Args:
+        host: Hostname of the user code server
+        port: Port of the user code server
+        timeout: Timeout in seconds for the health check
+
+    Returns:
+        bool: True if user code server is ready, False otherwise
+    """
+    try:
+        # Create a channel with timeout
+        channel = grpc.insecure_channel(f"{host}:{port}")
+
+        # Use the channel with a timeout for the call
+        stub = user_code_pb2_grpc.HealthStub(channel)
+        request = user_code_pb2.HealthCheckRequest(service="")
+
+        # Make the health check call with timeout
+        response = stub.Check(request, timeout=timeout)
+
+        # Check if the response indicates the server is serving
+        is_ready = response.status == user_code_pb2.HealthCheckResponse.SERVING
+
+        # Close the channel
+        channel.close()
+
+        logger.debug(
+            f"User code server health check: status={response.status}, ready={is_ready}"
+        )
+        return is_ready
+
+    except grpc.RpcError as e:
+        logger.debug(
+            f"User code server health check failed with gRPC error: "
+            f"{e.code()} - {e.details()}"
+        )
+        return False
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.debug(f"User code server health check failed with error: {e}")
+        return False
+
+
 @click.command()
 @click.option("--job", required=True, type=str, help="Chainsail job id")
 @click.option(
@@ -141,7 +187,22 @@ def wrapped_run_job():
 
     # Gets the status of the controller process
     def controller_state():
-        return check_status(controller_proc)[1]
+        # First check if the controller process itself is running
+        process_ready, process_status = check_status(controller_proc)
+
+        if not process_ready:
+            logger.debug(f"Controller process not ready: {process_status}")
+            return process_status
+
+        # If controller process is running, check if user code server is ready
+        user_code_ready = check_user_code_server_ready()
+
+        if not user_code_ready:
+            logger.debug("User code server not ready, controller reporting NOT_SERVING")
+            return "NOT_SERVING"
+
+        logger.debug("Both controller process and user code server are ready")
+        return process_status
 
     # Start gRPC server
     with futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=config.n_threads) as ex: