diff --git a/bin/runners-restart-safe.sh b/bin/runners-restart-safe.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..2852183
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/runners-restart-safe.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# runners-restart-safe.sh — Gracefully restart molecule-runner containers.
+#
+# Before restarting a runner container, waits for any active Gitea Actions
+# task that is currently running on it to complete (so we don't kill a
+# running job mid-execution).  After restart, verifies the runner
+# successfully re-registers with the platform by checking for the
+# 'declare successfully' log line.
+#
+# Usage: bin/runners-restart-safe.sh
+# Requires: docker, logger
+
+set -eu
+
+LOG_TAG="runners-restart-safe"
+# TEST_MODE=1 skips the task-wait loop (MAX_WAIT_MINUTES=0) so tests run fast.
+# In test mode the fake docker must faithfully represent what docker returns.
+MAX_WAIT_MINUTES=${TEST_MODE:-60}   # default 60 min; 0 = skip wait loop
+
+# Poll every 30 s for running tasks on a given runner.
+# Returns 0 when the runner is idle (safe to restart).
+# Returns 1 when tasks are still running (caller must skip this runner).
+wait_for_idle() {
+    local name="$1"
+    local waited=0
+    while true; do
+        # Temporarily disable set -e so grep's "no match" (rc=1) does not
+        # cause an early script exit.  The assignment captures the exit code.
+        set +e
+        docker ps --format '{{.Names}}' | grep -qE "GITEA-ACTIONS-TASK-.+-${name}"
+        local rc=$?
+        set -e
+        if (( rc == 0 )); then
+            # Task still running — wait or give up.
+            if (( waited >= MAX_WAIT_MINUTES * 60 )); then
+                logger -t "$LOG_TAG" "$name: waited ${MAX_WAIT_MINUTES}m for tasks — giving up"
+                return 0   # timed out → treat as idle, let restart proceed
+            fi
+            sleep 30
+            waited=$(( waited + 30 ))
+        else
+            break   # no tasks, runner is idle
+        fi
+    done
+    return 1   # idle → safe to restart
+}
+
+restart_runner() {
+    local name="$1"
+
+    # Skip if the container doesn't exist.
+    if ! docker inspect "$name" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        return 0
+    fi
+
+    # Wait for in-flight tasks to drain before touching the container.
+    # wait_for_idle returns 1 when idle (safe to restart), 0 when busy/timed-out.
+    wait_for_idle "$name"; local wi_rc=$?
+    if (( wi_rc != 1 )); then
+        # Runner is busy or timed out — skip silently.
+        return 0
+    fi
+
+    docker restart -t 30 "$name" || true
+
+    # Give the runner process time to start and emit its re-register log line.
+    sleep 8
+
+    # Verify re-registration succeeded.
+    set +e
+    docker logs --since 30s "$name" 2>&1 | grep -q 'declare successfully'
+    local rc=$?
+    set -e
+    if (( rc == 0 )); then
+        logger -t "$LOG_TAG" "$name: recycled OK"
+    else
+        logger -t "$LOG_TAG" "$name: failed to re-register (no 'declare successfully' in recent logs)"
+        return 1
+    fi
+}
+
+main() {
+    local failures=0
+    for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8; do
+        name="molecule-runner-$i"
+        restart_runner "$name" || failures=$(( failures + 1 ))
+    done
+
+    if (( failures > 0 )); then
+        logger -t "$LOG_TAG" "completed with $failures runner(s) failing re-register check"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    logger -t "$LOG_TAG" "all runners recycled OK"
+}
+
+main "$@"
diff --git a/scripts/test_runners_restart_safe.py b/scripts/test_runners_restart_safe.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f16bc6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/test_runners_restart_safe.py
@@ -0,0 +1,174 @@
+"""Tests for runners-restart-safe.sh.
+
+Uses a PATH-prepended fake-docker + fake-sleep so we can test the script's
+logic (container existence check, task-wait, restart, re-register verify)
+without a real Docker daemon.
+
+In test mode (TEST_MODE=1) the script sets MAX_WAIT_MINUTES=0 so the
+wait loop exits on the first iteration.  Fake docker ps outputs ""
+(no running tasks) so the runner is always idle.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+import stat
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+import textwrap
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+SCRIPT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "bin" / "runners-restart-safe.sh"
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Fake docker helpers
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def _mktmpdir() -> Path:
+    tmpdir = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="fake-docker-"))
+    (tmpdir / "sleep").write_text("#!/bin/bash\nexit 0\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    os.chmod(tmpdir / "sleep", stat.S_IRWXU | stat.S_IRGRP | stat.S_IROTH)
+    return tmpdir
+
+
+def _write_fake_docker(docker_content: str) -> Path:
+    tmpdir = _mktmpdir()
+    docker = tmpdir / "docker"
+    docker.write_text(docker_content, encoding="utf-8")
+    os.chmod(docker, stat.S_IRWXU | stat.S_IRGRP | stat.S_IROTH)
+    return tmpdir
+
+
+def _run_script(fake_docker_dir: Path, env_extra: dict | None = None) -> subprocess.CompletedProcess:
+    env = {**os.environ, "PATH": f"{fake_docker_dir}:{os.environ['PATH']}", "TEST_MODE": "1"}
+    if env_extra:
+        env.update(env_extra)
+    return subprocess.run(
+        [str(SCRIPT)],
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        env=env,
+        timeout=30,
+    )
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Fake docker: all containers missing (inspect exits 1)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+IDLE_DOCKER = textwrap.dedent("""\
+    #!/bin/bash
+    # All runners are absent; script should skip all and exit 0.
+    case "$1" in
+        inspect) exit 1 ;;
+        ps) echo "" ;;
+        restart) exit 1 ;;
+        logs) exit 1 ;;
+    esac
+    exit 0
+    """)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Fake docker: molecule-runner-1 exists, no tasks, re-register OK
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+OK_DOCKER = textwrap.dedent("""\
+    #!/bin/bash
+    # Runner-1 exists and is idle; re-register succeeds.
+    case "$1" in
+        inspect) echo '{"Name": "molecule-runner-1"}'; exit 0 ;;
+        ps) echo "" ;;
+        restart) exit 0 ;;
+        logs) echo "runner started, declare successfully registered"; exit 0 ;;
+    esac
+    exit 1
+    """)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Fake docker: molecule-runner-1 exists, no tasks, but re-register FAILS
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+FAIL_DOCKER = textwrap.dedent("""\
+    #!/bin/bash
+    # Runner-1 exists and is idle; re-register check fails.
+    # All runners' inspect succeeds so the script attempts all 8 restarts.
+    case "$1" in
+        inspect) echo '{"Name": "'"$2"'"}'; exit 0 ;;
+        ps) echo "" ;;
+        restart) exit 0 ;;
+        logs) echo "some other log output"; exit 0 ;;
+    esac
+    exit 0
+    """)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Fake docker: molecule-runner-1 has a running task (skip restart)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+BUSY_DOCKER = textwrap.dedent("""\
+    #!/bin/bash
+    # Runner-1 has a running Gitea task; restart must be skipped.
+    # docker ps outputs the busy task for runner-1 (grep matches), but
+    # runners 2-8's grep patterns don't match the task suffix → treated as idle.
+    # logs outputs "declare successfully" so re-register check passes.
+    case "$1" in
+        inspect) echo '{"Name": "'"$2"'"}'; exit 0 ;;
+        ps) echo "GITEA-ACTIONS-TASK-abc123-molecule-runner-1" ;;
+        restart) exit 0 ;;
+        logs) echo "runner started, declare successfully registered"; exit 0 ;;
+    esac
+    exit 0
+    """)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Tests
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+def test_script_passes_when_all_runners_missing():
+    """Positive path: no runner containers exist → script exits 0."""
+    fake = _write_fake_docker(IDLE_DOCKER)
+    try:
+        result = _run_script(fake)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, f"stderr: {result.stderr}"
+    finally:
+        import shutil
+        shutil.rmtree(fake)
+
+
+def test_script_restarts_idle_runner_ok():
+    """Positive path: runner exists, no tasks, re-registers successfully."""
+    fake = _write_fake_docker(OK_DOCKER)
+    try:
+        result = _run_script(fake)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, f"stderr: {result.stderr}"
+    finally:
+        import shutil
+        shutil.rmtree(fake)
+
+
+def test_script_fails_on_missing_declare_line():
+    """Negative path: runner restarted but did not emit 'declare successfully'."""
+    fake = _write_fake_docker(FAIL_DOCKER)
+    try:
+        result = _run_script(fake)
+        assert result.returncode == 1, (
+            f"expected failure, got rc={result.returncode}; stderr={result.stderr}"
+        )
+    finally:
+        import shutil
+        shutil.rmtree(fake)
+
+
+def test_script_skips_runner_with_busy_task():
+    """Positive path: runner has an in-flight task → script skips it silently."""
+    fake = _write_fake_docker(BUSY_DOCKER)
+    try:
+        result = _run_script(fake)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, (
+            f"expected 0, got rc={result.returncode}; stderr={result.stderr}"
+        )
+        assert "restart called while task is running" not in result.stderr
+    finally:
+        import shutil
+        shutil.rmtree(fake)