diff --git a/python/python/lancedb/query.py b/python/python/lancedb/query.py
index e9814c05..a6f3efc5 100644
--- a/python/python/lancedb/query.py
+++ b/python/python/lancedb/query.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ from typing import (
 import deprecation
 import numpy as np
 import pyarrow as pa
+import pyarrow.fs as pa_fs
 import pydantic
 
 from . import __version__
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ from .arrow import AsyncRecordBatchReader
 from .common import VEC
 from .rerankers.base import Reranker
 from .rerankers.linear_combination import LinearCombinationReranker
-from .util import safe_import_pandas
+from .util import fs_from_uri, safe_import_pandas
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     import PIL
@@ -665,6 +666,14 @@ class LanceFtsQueryBuilder(LanceQueryBuilder):
 
         # get the index path
         index_path = self._table._get_fts_index_path()
+
+        # Check that we are on local filesystem
+        fs, _path = fs_from_uri(index_path)
+        if not isinstance(fs, pa_fs.LocalFileSystem):
+            raise NotImplementedError(
+                "Full-text search is only supported on the local filesystem"
+            )
+
         # check if the index exist
         if not Path(index_path).exists():
             raise FileNotFoundError(
diff --git a/python/python/lancedb/table.py b/python/python/lancedb/table.py
index 8c630601..02593c8f 100644
--- a/python/python/lancedb/table.py
+++ b/python/python/lancedb/table.py
@@ -1209,6 +1209,11 @@ class LanceTable(Table):
                 raise ValueError("Index already exists. Use replace=True to overwrite.")
             fs.delete_dir(path)
 
+        if not isinstance(fs, pa_fs.LocalFileSystem):
+            raise NotImplementedError(
+                "Full-text search is only supported on the local filesystem"
+            )
+
         index = create_index(
             self._get_fts_index_path(),
             field_names,