diff --git a/backend/app/routers/plugins.py b/backend/app/routers/plugins.py
index e9ed573..e547adc 100644
--- a/backend/app/routers/plugins.py
+++ b/backend/app/routers/plugins.py
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
 from app.database import get_db
 from app.deps import check_plugin_access, get_current_user
 from app.models.user import User
-from app.services.service_health import _REGISTRY, get_cached_manifest, get_service_url
+from app.services.service_health import get_cached_manifest, get_registry, get_service_url
 
 router = APIRouter()
 
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ async def list_plugins(
 ) -> list[dict]:
     """Return the list of plugins the current user may access."""
     accessible = []
-    for svc in _REGISTRY:
+    for svc in get_registry():
         manifest = get_cached_manifest(svc.id)
         if manifest is None:
             continue
diff --git a/backend/app/services/service_health.py b/backend/app/services/service_health.py
index 44d0062..0805075 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/service_health.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/service_health.py
@@ -162,3 +162,8 @@ def get_service_url(service_id: str) -> str | None:
         if svc.id == service_id:
             return svc.internal_url
     return None
+
+
+def get_registry() -> list[ServiceDefinition]:
+    """Return the current service registry (always up-to-date after register_services)."""
+    return _REGISTRY
diff --git a/features/doc-service/app/services/file_watcher.py b/features/doc-service/app/services/file_watcher.py
index e0bdde0..e9de9d7 100644
--- a/features/doc-service/app/services/file_watcher.py
+++ b/features/doc-service/app/services/file_watcher.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ import uuid
 from pathlib import Path
 
 from watchdog.events import FileSystemEventHandler
-from watchdog.observers import Observer
+from watchdog.observers.polling import PollingObserver
 
 from app.database import AsyncSessionLocal
 from app.models.category import DocumentCategory
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ class FileWatcherService:
             return
 
         handler = _PdfEventHandler(self._watch_root, self._loop, config)
-        self._observer = Observer()
+        self._observer = PollingObserver()
         self._observer.schedule(handler, watch_path, recursive=True)
         self._observer.start()
         logger.info("[watcher] started, watching %s", watch_path)