diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index d21bb3a2d..dfc8ba434 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ import { init as statsInit, onExit as statsOnExit } from './src/endpoints/stats.
 import { checkForNewContent } from './src/endpoints/content-manager.js';
 import { init as settingsInit } from './src/endpoints/settings.js';
 import { redirectDeprecatedEndpoints, ServerStartup, setupPrivateEndpoints } from './src/server-startup.js';
+import { verifyCharactersDiskCache } from './src/endpoints/characters.js';
 
 // Unrestrict console logs display limit
 util.inspect.defaultOptions.maxArrayLength = null;
@@ -268,6 +269,7 @@ async function preSetupTasks() {
     const directories = await getUserDirectoriesList();
     await checkForNewContent(directories);
     await ensureThumbnailCache();
+    await verifyCharactersDiskCache(directories);
     cleanUploads();
     migrateAccessLog();
 
diff --git a/src/endpoints/characters.js b/src/endpoints/characters.js
index 019c33504..2794658ba 100644
--- a/src/endpoints/characters.js
+++ b/src/endpoints/characters.js
@@ -54,6 +54,34 @@ const diskCache = {
     },
 };
 
+/**
+ * Verifies disk cache size and prunes it if necessary.
+ * @param {import('../users.js').UserDirectoryList[]} directoriesList List of user directories
+ * @returns {Promise<void>}
+ */
+export async function verifyCharactersDiskCache(directoriesList) {
+    if (!useDiskCache) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    const cache = await diskCache.instance();
+    const validKeys = [];
+    for (const dir of directoriesList) {
+        const files = fs.readdirSync(dir.characters);
+        for (const file of files) {
+            const filePath = path.join(dir.characters, file);
+            const stat = fs.statSync(filePath);
+            validKeys.push(`${filePath}-${stat.mtimeMs}`);
+        }
+    }
+    const cacheKeys = await cache.keys();
+    for (const key of cacheKeys) {
+        if (!validKeys.includes(key)) {
+            await cache.removeItem(key);
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 /**
  * Reads the character card from the specified image file.
  * @param {string} inputFile - Path to the image file