diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 308fa4f6a..06a1155eb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## [1.2.20]
+
+* **fix: Prevent weaviate cloud precheck from passing with invalid config**
+
 ## [1.2.19]
 
 * **fix: Pinned aibotocore to skip version that's incompatible with recent botocore version**
diff --git a/test/integration/connectors/weaviate/test_cloud.py b/test/integration/connectors/weaviate/test_cloud.py
index c3d0ae4dc..a376e6a89 100644
--- a/test/integration/connectors/weaviate/test_cloud.py
+++ b/test/integration/connectors/weaviate/test_cloud.py
@@ -1,17 +1,20 @@
 import pytest
 
 from test.integration.connectors.utils.constants import DESTINATION_TAG, VECTOR_DB_TAG
-from unstructured_ingest.error import ValueError
+from unstructured_ingest.error import DestinationConnectionError
+from unstructured_ingest.error import ValueError as IngestValueError
 from unstructured_ingest.processes.connectors.weaviate.cloud import (
     CONNECTOR_TYPE,
     CloudWeaviateAccessConfig,
     CloudWeaviateConnectionConfig,
+    CloudWeaviateUploader,
+    CloudWeaviateUploaderConfig,
 )
 
 
 @pytest.mark.tags(CONNECTOR_TYPE, DESTINATION_TAG, VECTOR_DB_TAG)
 def test_weaviate_failing_connection_config():
-    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+    with pytest.raises(IngestValueError):
         CloudWeaviateConnectionConfig(
             access_config=CloudWeaviateAccessConfig(api_key="my key", password="password"),
             username="username",
@@ -37,3 +40,20 @@ def test_weaviate_connection_config_anonymous():
         anonymous=True,
         cluster_url="clusterurl",
     )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.tags(CONNECTOR_TYPE, DESTINATION_TAG, VECTOR_DB_TAG)
+def test_weaviate_precheck_invalid_credentials():
+    """Test that precheck properly validates connection with invalid credentials."""
+    connection_config = CloudWeaviateConnectionConfig(
+        access_config=CloudWeaviateAccessConfig(api_key="invalid-test-key-12345"),
+        cluster_url="https://invalid-test-cluster.weaviate.cloud",
+        anonymous=False,
+    )
+    upload_config = CloudWeaviateUploaderConfig(collection=None)
+    uploader = CloudWeaviateUploader(
+        connection_config=connection_config,
+        upload_config=upload_config,
+    )
+    with pytest.raises(DestinationConnectionError):
+        uploader.precheck()
diff --git a/unstructured_ingest/__version__.py b/unstructured_ingest/__version__.py
index 3c03d1982..bea5393cf 100644
--- a/unstructured_ingest/__version__.py
+++ b/unstructured_ingest/__version__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "1.2.19"  # pragma: no cover
+__version__ = "1.2.20"  # pragma: no cover
diff --git a/unstructured_ingest/processes/connectors/weaviate/weaviate.py b/unstructured_ingest/processes/connectors/weaviate/weaviate.py
index 5fe3a9d86..dbdfa7e28 100644
--- a/unstructured_ingest/processes/connectors/weaviate/weaviate.py
+++ b/unstructured_ingest/processes/connectors/weaviate/weaviate.py
@@ -220,7 +220,10 @@ def _collection_exists(self, collection_name: Optional[str] = None):
 
     def precheck(self) -> None:
         try:
-            self.connection_config.get_client()
+            with self.connection_config.get_client():
+                # Connection test successful - client is available but not needed
+                pass
+
             # only if collection name populated should we check that it exists
             if self.upload_config.collection and not self._collection_exists():
                 raise DestinationConnectionError(