diff --git a/docs/contributing/ci-test-pools.md b/docs/contributing/ci-test-pools.md
index cb5010d32..c9f0d1dae 100644
--- a/docs/contributing/ci-test-pools.md
+++ b/docs/contributing/ci-test-pools.md
@@ -57,7 +57,14 @@ It covers `apply`, `config`, `interrupt`, `post-interrupt` and `uninstall`, each
 counterpart, plus log retention, `SKYHOOK_AGENT_WRITE_LOGS=false`, and the `check_results` /
 `<stage>_ALL_CHECKED` summary artifacts. `sigterm_grace` covers pod teardown mid-step: it deletes
 the package pod while `apply.sh` is running and asserts the step finishes inside the package's
-`gracefulShutdown` rather than being killed, and that the retry then skips it. `upgrade` is **not**
+`gracefulShutdown` rather than being killed, and that the retry then skips it. `service_restart`
+runs the `service` interrupt for real: kind nodes run systemd, so the agent's chrooted
+`systemctl daemon-reload` and `systemctl restart` act on a unit the scenario installs, and the
+unit is installed in two definitions with no reload between them so that the restart can only
+write the expected marker if the agent's `daemon-reload` reached the manager. It is the only
+interrupt type the suite currently executes rather than `noop`: a `reboot` would terminate the
+kind node container, so that path stays unit-tested, and `restart_all_services` is untested on
+the kind image either way. `upgrade` is **not**
 covered: the `shellscript` package these scenarios use declares no `upgrade` mode in any published
 version, so an upgrade scenario needs a package that supports one.
 
diff --git a/k8s-tests/operator-agent/service_restart/assert.yaml b/k8s-tests/operator-agent/service_restart/assert.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4d430172a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s-tests/operator-agent/service_restart/assert.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Node
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    nodewright.nvidia.com/test-node: skyhooke2e
+    nodewright.nvidia.com/status_service-restart-agent-operator: complete
+  annotations: 
+    nodewright.nvidia.com/status_service-restart-agent-operator: complete
+status:
+  (conditions[?type == 'nodewright.nvidia.com/service-restart-agent-operator/NotReady']):
+  - reason: "Complete"
+    status: "False"
+  (conditions[?type == 'nodewright.nvidia.com/service-restart-agent-operator/Erroring']):
+  - reason: "Not Erroring"
+    status: "False"
+---
+apiVersion: nodewright.nvidia.com/v1alpha1
+kind: NodeWright
+metadata:
+  name: service-restart-agent-operator
+status:
+  status: complete
+  nodeStatus:
+   # grab values should be one and is complete
+    (values(@)):
+      - complete
diff --git a/k8s-tests/operator-agent/service_restart/chainsaw-test.yaml b/k8s-tests/operator-agent/service_restart/chainsaw-test.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d3314bfd8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s-tests/operator-agent/service_restart/chainsaw-test.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kyverno/chainsaw/main/.schemas/json/test-chainsaw-v1alpha1.json
+apiVersion: chainsaw.kyverno.io/v1alpha1
+kind: Test
+metadata:
+  name: service-restart-agent-operator
+spec:
+  timeouts:
+    assert: 240s
+    exec: 90s
+  steps:
+  - try:
+    - script:
+        content: |
+          ## remove annotation from last run
+          ../../../operator/bin/nodewright reset service-restart-agent-operator --confirm 2>/dev/null || true
+    - script:
+        content: |
+          ## reinstall the debug pod in case it was deleted
+          ../setup.sh kind-worker setup
+    - script:
+        content: |
+          ## clean up from prior runs, including the unit a previous run installed on the node.
+          ## The same block runs in finally below; this copy covers a run that never got there.
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "rm -rf /var/log/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator || true" ".*" 2
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "rm -rf /var/lib/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator || true" ".*" 2
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "systemctl stop nodewright-e2e 2>/dev/null; rm -f /etc/systemd/system/nodewright-e2e.service; systemctl daemon-reload; systemctl reset-failed nodewright-e2e 2>/dev/null; true" ".*" 2
+    - apply:
+        file: nodewright.yaml
+    - assert:
+        file: assert.yaml
+    - script:
+        content: |
+          set -e
+          ## The unit's second definition appends one line to this marker per run, and nothing
+          ## starts it except the interrupt's `systemctl restart`, so exactly one line proves
+          ## the interrupt ran the real service manager exactly once. This is a single clean
+          ## pass; the resume-from-marker path a retry would take is not exercised here.
+          ## assert.yaml already waited for complete and a oneshot restart is synchronous, so a
+          ## short poll is enough.
+          state=/var/lib/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "grep -c . $state/service-restarts" "^1$" 10
+          ## Operation 0, the daemon-reload, is what makes the manager pick up that second
+          ## definition. apply.sh loaded and started the first definition (the one line in the
+          ## stale marker) and then overwrote the file without reloading, so a restart whose
+          ## daemon-reload never reached the manager would have re-run the stale definition:
+          ## two stale lines and no real one. Exactly one stale line is what pins operation 0,
+          ## and it is also the proof apply.sh ran, whose own log has been rotated away by now
+          ## (both agents keep the 5 newest step logs and this package writes 6).
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "grep -c . $state/service-restarts-stale" "^1$" 2
+    - script:
+        content: |
+          set -e
+          ## The service interrupt is two operations, daemon-reload then the restart, and both
+          ## agents leave one completion marker per operation, so the layout is the same once
+          ## the interrupt has finished and a retry on either agent resumes from it. They differ
+          ## in when the marker is written: Python before it runs the command, Go after the
+          ## command succeeds, so a Python pod killed mid-restart can leave a marker for a
+          ## restart that never completed. This scenario is a clean pass and asserts the layout.
+          flags=/var/lib/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator/interrupts/flags/service-restart-agent-operator*/
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "ls $flags" "service_restart_0.complete"
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "ls $flags" "service_restart_1.complete"
+    - script:
+        content: |
+          set -e
+          ## post-interrupt and post-interrupt-check both have to run after a service interrupt,
+          ## the same two assertions post_interrupt/ makes for the noop case. The inverted grep
+          ## is the missing-configmap-key guard from #605; every stage this package traverses
+          ## has a script, so it can only fire on a real defect. It sees only the surviving
+          ## shellscript_run.sh logs: the apply log has been rotated away (covered by the stale
+          ## marker above) and the interrupt's own log lives under $log/interrupts/.
+          log=/var/log/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator/shellscript/1.1.1
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "cat $log/*.log" "post interrupt ran" 10
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "cat $log/*.log" "post interrupt checked" 10
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "cat $log/*.log" "Could not find file" 2 true
+          ## Only the _ALL_CHECKED filename is attributable to post-interrupt-check; see
+          ## post_interrupt/ for why check_results is not asserted here.
+          flags=/var/lib/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator/flags
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "ls $flags" "post-interrupt-check_ALL_CHECKED" 10
+  - finally:
+    - delete:
+        file: nodewright.yaml
+    - script:
+        content: |
+          ## This is the only scenario that installs anything on the node outside the agent's
+          ## own state, so leave kind-worker as it was found: stop and remove the unit, reload
+          ## the manager, and drop the markers. Non-gating on purpose, like the cleanup above.
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "systemctl stop nodewright-e2e 2>/dev/null; rm -f /etc/systemd/system/nodewright-e2e.service; systemctl daemon-reload; systemctl reset-failed nodewright-e2e 2>/dev/null; true" ".*" 2
+          ../check_node.sh kind-worker "rm -rf /var/lib/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator/service-restarts /var/lib/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator/service-restarts-stale || true" ".*" 2
diff --git a/k8s-tests/operator-agent/service_restart/nodewright.yaml b/k8s-tests/operator-agent/service_restart/nodewright.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5423c43b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/k8s-tests/operator-agent/service_restart/nodewright.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+#
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+apiVersion: nodewright.nvidia.com/v1alpha1
+kind: NodeWright
+metadata:
+  labels:
+    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: skyhook-operator
+    app.kubernetes.io/created-by: skyhook-operator
+  name: service-restart-agent-operator
+spec:
+  nodeSelectors:
+    matchLabels:
+      nodewright.nvidia.com/test-node: skyhooke2e
+  packages:
+    service-restart-agent-operator:
+      version: "1.1.1"
+      image: ghcr.io/nvidia/skyhook-packages/shellscript
+      # The only interrupt type the suite currently executes for real: kind nodes
+      # run systemd as PID 1 and the host root is mounted HostToContainer, so
+      # systemctl inside the agent's chroot reaches the real manager. A reboot
+      # would terminate the kind node container; restart_all_services
+      # (`service procps force-reload`) is untested on the kind image either way.
+      interrupt:
+        type: service
+        services: [nodewright-e2e]
+      configMap:
+        # apply.sh installs the unit twice on purpose. The first definition is
+        # loaded into the manager and started, and RemainAfterExit keeps it in
+        # memory; its ExecStart appends to the *stale* marker. The file is then
+        # overwritten with the second definition, whose ExecStart appends to the
+        # real marker, WITHOUT a daemon-reload. The agent's service interrupt
+        # runs daemon-reload as operation 0 and the restart as operation 1, so
+        # a real-marker line can only come from the interrupt, and it can only
+        # be the real marker rather than a second stale line if operation 0
+        # actually reached the manager. `%%` is systemd's escape for a literal `%`.
+        apply.sh: |
+          #!/bin/bash
+          set -e
+          unit=/etc/systemd/system/nodewright-e2e.service
+          state=/var/lib/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator
+          mkdir -p "$state"
+          cat > "$unit" <<'UNIT'
+          [Unit]
+          Description=NodeWright operator-agent service-restart marker (stale definition)
+
+          [Service]
+          Type=oneshot
+          RemainAfterExit=yes
+          ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'date +%%s >> /var/lib/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator/service-restarts-stale'
+          UNIT
+          systemctl daemon-reload
+          systemctl start nodewright-e2e
+          cat > "$unit" <<'UNIT'
+          [Unit]
+          Description=NodeWright operator-agent service-restart marker
+
+          [Service]
+          Type=oneshot
+          RemainAfterExit=yes
+          ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'date +%%s >> /var/lib/skyhook/service-restart-agent-operator/service-restarts'
+          UNIT
+          echo "unit installed"
+        apply_check.sh: |
+          #!/bin/bash
+          echo "apply checked"
+        config.sh: |
+          #!/bin/bash
+          echo "configuring"
+        config_check.sh: |
+          #!/bin/bash
+          echo "config checked"
+        post_interrupt.sh: |
+          #!/bin/bash
+          echo "post interrupt ran"
+        post_interrupt_check.sh: |
+          #!/bin/bash
+          echo "post interrupt checked"