diff --git a/.github/workflows/smoke-chroot.lock.yml b/.github/workflows/smoke-chroot.lock.yml
index 3bdac71e0..95bcd95ff 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/smoke-chroot.lock.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/smoke-chroot.lock.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# gh-aw-metadata: {"schema_version":"v4","frontmatter_hash":"c076e29a618097d8e5e4c3c5760d406554243ed0f3e15cbec412f4775852f52b","body_hash":"72a920dfe6fe26462bdbb902164f4fb47a1abb12e9d97bec9c054dde82c34a8c","compiler_version":"v0.79.6","agent_id":"copilot","engine_versions":{"copilot":"1.0.60"}}
+# gh-aw-metadata: {"schema_version":"v4","frontmatter_hash":"4deb227db0dc9218844b2ef751da1791a35b9b42cc0c224f9164cd86cf516e8b","body_hash":"72a920dfe6fe26462bdbb902164f4fb47a1abb12e9d97bec9c054dde82c34a8c","compiler_version":"v0.79.6","agent_id":"copilot","engine_versions":{"copilot":"1.0.60"}}
 # gh-aw-manifest: {"version":1,"secrets":["COPILOT_GITHUB_TOKEN","GH_AW_GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_TOKEN","GH_AW_GITHUB_TOKEN","GITHUB_TOKEN"],"actions":[{"repo":"actions/checkout","sha":"df4cb1c069e1874edd31b4311f1884172cec0e10","version":"v6.0.3"},{"repo":"actions/download-artifact","sha":"3e5f45b2cfb9172054b4087a40e8e0b5a5461e7c","version":"v8.0.1"},{"repo":"actions/github-script","sha":"3a2844b7e9c422d3c10d287c895573f7108da1b3","version":"v9.0.0"},{"repo":"actions/setup-go","sha":"4a3601121dd01d1626a1e23e37211e3254c1c06c","version":"v6.4.0"},{"repo":"actions/setup-node","sha":"48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e","version":"v6.4.0"},{"repo":"actions/setup-python","sha":"a309ff8b426b58ec0e2a45f0f869d46889d02405","version":"v6.2.0"},{"repo":"actions/upload-artifact","sha":"043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a","version":"v7.0.1"},{"repo":"github/gh-aw-actions/setup","sha":"5c2fe865bb4dc46e1450f6ee0d0541d759aea73a","version":"v0.79.6"}],"containers":[{"image":"ghcr.io/github/gh-aw-firewall/agent:0.27.2","digest":"sha256:f88e5b17b6b7a600117bc121114d6ce2155c88c983c0c939c5df884f730fa1d6","pinned_image":"ghcr.io/github/gh-aw-firewall/agent:0.27.2@sha256:f88e5b17b6b7a600117bc121114d6ce2155c88c983c0c939c5df884f730fa1d6"},{"image":"ghcr.io/github/gh-aw-firewall/api-proxy:0.27.2","digest":"sha256:ee39841d980878ebbb87592903b06d31a1af500c71525c9616f7e8e2a27041a4","pinned_image":"ghcr.io/github/gh-aw-firewall/api-proxy:0.27.2@sha256:ee39841d980878ebbb87592903b06d31a1af500c71525c9616f7e8e2a27041a4"},{"image":"ghcr.io/github/gh-aw-firewall/cli-proxy:0.27.2","digest":"sha256:02f3ec08f32dc26c5427920c6a2e2f3036238fce44802f2f11ef49ed8621b5d0","pinned_image":"ghcr.io/github/gh-aw-firewall/cli-proxy:0.27.2@sha256:02f3ec08f32dc26c5427920c6a2e2f3036238fce44802f2f11ef49ed8621b5d0"},{"image":"ghcr.io/github/gh-aw-firewall/squid:0.27.2","digest":"sha256:2e3a717e5f19a654cd9a2263beb52012b56bcb68562ec5ae2e42f9d156b49591","pinned_image":"ghcr.io/github/gh-aw-firewall/squid:0.27.2@sha256:2e3a717e5f19a654cd9a2263beb52012b56bcb68562ec5ae2e42f9d156b49591"},{"image":"ghcr.io/github/gh-aw-mcpg:latest"},{"image":"ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:v1.1.2","digest":"sha256:30197479d8036c7811892bc07e06f9a05c9ef3cdd79bc59f256d50647f95788c","pinned_image":"ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:v1.1.2@sha256:30197479d8036c7811892bc07e06f9a05c9ef3cdd79bc59f256d50647f95788c"}]}
 #    ___                   _   _      
 #   / _ \                 | | (_)     
diff --git a/scripts/ci/security-guard-workflow.test.ts b/scripts/ci/security-guard-workflow.test.ts
index f7d47d1ad..f7ffd7e4f 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/security-guard-workflow.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/ci/security-guard-workflow.test.ts
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ describe('security guard workflow optimization config', () => {
     expect(lock).toContain('--max-turns 6');
     expect(lock).toContain('ANTHROPIC_MODEL: claude-sonnet-4-5');
     expect(lock).toContain('GH_AW_MAX_TURNS: 6');
-    expect(lock).toContain('github/gh-aw-actions/setup@d059700c6a8ec3b5fd798b9ea60f5d048447b918 # v0.79.4');
+    expect(lock).toContain('github/gh-aw-actions/setup@5c2fe865bb4dc46e1450f6ee0d0541d759aea73a # v0.79.6');
     expect(lock).not.toContain('github/gh-aw-actions/setup@v0.79.2');
     expect(lock).toContain('ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:v1.1.2');
   });
diff --git a/scripts/ci/test-coverage-improver-workflow.test.ts b/scripts/ci/test-coverage-improver-workflow.test.ts
index ee6cbbf7f..06831382b 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/test-coverage-improver-workflow.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/ci/test-coverage-improver-workflow.test.ts
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ describe('test coverage improver workflow token optimization config', () => {
     expect(lock).not.toContain("shell(cat:src/*.test.ts)");
     expect(lock).not.toContain("shell(npm run lint)");
     expect(lock).not.toContain("shell(npm run test)");
-    expect(lock).toContain('github/gh-aw-actions/setup@d059700c6a8ec3b5fd798b9ea60f5d048447b918 # v0.79.4');
+    expect(lock).toContain('github/gh-aw-actions/setup@5c2fe865bb4dc46e1450f6ee0d0541d759aea73a # v0.79.6');
     expect(lock).not.toContain('github/gh-aw-actions/setup@v0.79.2');
     expect(lock).toContain('ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:v1.1.2');
 
diff --git a/src/container-lifecycle-retry-timeout.test.ts b/src/container-lifecycle-retry-timeout.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bb48fe500
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/container-lifecycle-retry-timeout.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,326 @@
+/**
+ * Targeted tests for uncovered branches in container-lifecycle.ts:
+ *   - startContainers retry failure when api-proxy fails on both attempts
+ *   - startContainers cli-proxy first-attempt failure (no retry)
+ *   - startContainers cli-proxy failure on the retry attempt
+ *   - startContainers graceful handling of runComposeDown failure before retry
+ *   - runAgentCommand agentTimeoutMinutes path (exitCode 124, docker stop called)
+ *   - runAgentCommand isAgentExternallyKilled short-circuit path
+ *   - fastKillAgentContainer silent error handling
+ *   - fastKillAgentContainer default and custom stop-timeout
+ */
+
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-require-imports
+jest.mock('execa', () => require('./test-helpers/mock-execa.test-utils').execaMockFactory());
+jest.mock('./container-startup-diagnostics');
+jest.mock('./squid-log-reader', () => ({
+  checkSquidLogs: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ hasDenials: false, blockedTargets: [] }),
+}));
+
+import { startContainers, runAgentCommand, fastKillAgentContainer } from './container-lifecycle';
+import { containerLifecycleTestHelpers } from './container-lifecycle.test-utils';
+import { markAgentExternallyKilled } from './container-lifecycle-state';
+import { mockExecaFn } from './test-helpers/mock-execa.test-utils';
+import { useTempDir } from './test-helpers/docker-test-fixtures.test-utils';
+import {
+  didContainerFailStartup,
+  handleHealthcheckError,
+  logContainerLogsToStderr,
+} from './container-startup-diagnostics';
+
+const mockDidContainerFailStartup = jest.mocked(didContainerFailStartup);
+const mockHandleHealthcheckError = jest.mocked(handleHealthcheckError);
+const mockLogContainerLogsToStderr = jest.mocked(logContainerLogsToStderr);
+
+function ok(stdout = '', stderr = '', exitCode = 0): { stdout: string; stderr: string; exitCode: number } {
+  return { stdout, stderr, exitCode };
+}
+
+describe('container-lifecycle retry and timeout branches', () => {
+  const { getDir } = useTempDir();
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    mockExecaFn.mockReset();
+    containerLifecycleTestHelpers.resetAgentExternallyKilled();
+
+    mockDidContainerFailStartup.mockReset();
+    mockHandleHealthcheckError.mockReset();
+    mockLogContainerLogsToStderr.mockReset();
+
+    // Default mock behaviours — individual tests override with mockResolvedValueOnce as needed
+    mockDidContainerFailStartup.mockResolvedValue(false);
+    mockHandleHealthcheckError.mockRejectedValue(new Error('healthcheck failed'));
+    mockLogContainerLogsToStderr.mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+  });
+
+  // ─── startContainers retry failure: api-proxy fails both attempts ────────────
+
+  describe('startContainers – api-proxy fails on first attempt and on retry', () => {
+    it('throws with an api-proxy-specific message when the retry also fails', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker rm -f (cleanup)
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose up first attempt failed')) // first compose up
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker compose down (runComposeDown before retry)
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose up retry failed')); // retry compose up
+
+      // First attempt: api-proxy flagged as failed
+      mockDidContainerFailStartup
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(true) // first attempt: awf-api-proxy → true
+        // Retry attempt checks:
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(true); // retry: awf-api-proxy → true (fails again)
+
+      await expect(startContainers(getDir(), ['github.com'])).rejects.toThrow(
+        'awf-api-proxy failed to start on both attempts'
+      );
+
+      // logContainerLogsToStderr called twice: once before retry, once on retry failure
+      expect(mockLogContainerLogsToStderr).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    });
+  });
+
+  // ─── startContainers: squid fails on first attempt, retry fails ─────────────
+
+  describe('startContainers – squid fails on first attempt, retry fails with squid error', () => {
+    it('logs squid container and falls through to handleHealthcheckError on retry failure', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker rm -f
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose up first attempt failed'))
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker compose down
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose up retry failed'));
+
+      // First attempt: squid flagged as failed (api-proxy check returns false)
+      mockDidContainerFailStartup
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(false) // first: api-proxy → false
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(true)  // first: squid → true
+        // Retry attempt checks:
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(false) // retry: api-proxy → false
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(true)  // retry: squid → true (logs dumped, but no throw)
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(false); // retry: cli-proxy → false (falls through)
+
+      await expect(startContainers(getDir(), ['github.com'])).rejects.toThrow('healthcheck failed');
+
+      // handleHealthcheckError was invoked because squid failure doesn't throw directly on retry
+      expect(mockHandleHealthcheckError).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    });
+  });
+
+  // ─── startContainers: cli-proxy fails on first attempt (no retry) ───────────
+
+  describe('startContainers – cli-proxy fails on first attempt', () => {
+    it('throws with a cli-proxy-specific message without retrying', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker rm -f
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose up failed'));
+
+      // All three container checks: only cli-proxy returns true
+      mockDidContainerFailStartup
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(false) // api-proxy → false
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(false) // squid → false
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(true); // cli-proxy → true
+
+      await expect(startContainers(getDir(), ['github.com'])).rejects.toThrow(
+        'awf-cli-proxy could not connect to the external DIFC proxy'
+      );
+
+      // No retry: compose up called only once
+      const upCalls = mockExecaFn.mock.calls.filter(
+        (call: unknown[]) => call[0] === 'docker' && Array.isArray(call[1]) && (call[1] as string[]).includes('up')
+      );
+      expect(upCalls).toHaveLength(1);
+    });
+
+    it('includes the "agent was never invoked" note in the error', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any)
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose up failed'));
+
+      mockDidContainerFailStartup
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(false)
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(false)
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(true);
+
+      await expect(startContainers(getDir(), ['github.com'])).rejects.toThrow(
+        'The agent was never invoked'
+      );
+    });
+  });
+
+  // ─── startContainers: cli-proxy fails on the retry attempt ──────────────────
+
+  describe('startContainers – cli-proxy fails during the retry attempt', () => {
+    it('throws with a cli-proxy-specific message when cli-proxy fails on retry', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker rm -f
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose up first failed'))
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker compose down
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose up retry failed'));
+
+      mockDidContainerFailStartup
+        // First attempt: api-proxy triggers the retry
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(true)  // first: api-proxy → true (triggers retry)
+        // Retry attempt checks:
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(false) // retry: api-proxy → false
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(false) // retry: squid → false
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(true); // retry: cli-proxy → true
+
+      await expect(startContainers(getDir(), ['github.com'])).rejects.toThrow(
+        'awf-cli-proxy could not connect to the external DIFC proxy'
+      );
+    });
+  });
+
+  // ─── startContainers: cleanup before retry can fail gracefully ───────────────
+
+  describe('startContainers – runComposeDown failure before retry', () => {
+    it('proceeds with retry even when the compose-down teardown throws', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker rm -f
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose up first failed'))
+        .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('compose down also failed')) // runComposeDown throws
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any); // retry compose up succeeds
+
+      mockDidContainerFailStartup.mockResolvedValueOnce(true); // first: api-proxy → true (retry path)
+
+      // The compose-down failure should be silently ignored; retry succeeds
+      await expect(startContainers(getDir(), ['github.com'])).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+    });
+  });
+
+  // ─── runAgentCommand: timeout path ──────────────────────────────────────────
+
+  describe('runAgentCommand – agentTimeoutMinutes', () => {
+    it('returns exit code 124 when the container exceeds the timeout', async () => {
+      jest.useFakeTimers();
+      try {
+        mockExecaFn
+          .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker logs -f (logsProcess)
+          .mockReturnValueOnce(new Promise<never>(() => {})) // docker wait (never resolves)
+          .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any); // docker stop -t 10
+
+        const resultPromise = runAgentCommand(getDir(), ['github.com'], undefined, 1);
+
+        // Fire the 1-minute timeout (1 * 60 * 1000 ms)
+        await jest.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(60_001);
+        // Fire the 200 ms Squid-log flush delay
+        await jest.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(300);
+
+        const result = await resultPromise;
+
+        expect(result.exitCode).toBe(124);
+        expect(mockExecaFn).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+          'docker',
+          ['stop', '-t', '10', 'awf-agent'],
+          expect.objectContaining({ reject: false }),
+        );
+      } finally {
+        jest.useRealTimers();
+      }
+    });
+
+    it('uses the docker-wait exit code when the container exits before the timeout', async () => {
+      jest.useFakeTimers();
+      try {
+        mockExecaFn
+          .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker logs -f
+          .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok('42') as any); // docker wait → exit code 42
+
+        const resultPromise = runAgentCommand(getDir(), ['github.com'], undefined, 5);
+
+        // The docker-wait mock resolves immediately (before the 5-minute timeout)
+        // but we still need to advance past the 200 ms squid-log flush delay
+        await jest.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(300);
+
+        const result = await resultPromise;
+
+        expect(result.exitCode).toBe(42);
+        // docker stop should NOT have been called
+        const stopCalls = mockExecaFn.mock.calls.filter(
+          (call: unknown[]) =>
+            call[0] === 'docker' && Array.isArray(call[1]) && (call[1] as string[])[0] === 'stop'
+        );
+        expect(stopCalls).toHaveLength(0);
+      } finally {
+        jest.useRealTimers();
+      }
+    });
+  });
+
+  // ─── runAgentCommand: externally-killed path ─────────────────────────────────
+
+  describe('runAgentCommand – isAgentExternallyKilled', () => {
+    it('skips squid-log analysis and returns the docker-wait exit code when externally killed', async () => {
+      markAgentExternallyKilled();
+
+      mockExecaFn
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker logs -f
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok('143') as any); // docker wait
+
+      const result = await runAgentCommand(getDir(), ['github.com']);
+
+      expect(result.exitCode).toBe(143);
+      expect(result.blockedDomains).toEqual([]);
+    });
+
+    it('falls back to exit code 143 when docker wait reports 0 and agent was externally killed', async () => {
+      markAgentExternallyKilled();
+
+      mockExecaFn
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any) // docker logs -f
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok('0') as any); // docker wait returns 0
+
+      const result = await runAgentCommand(getDir(), ['github.com']);
+
+      // exitCode 0 is falsy → 0 || 143 === 143
+      expect(result.exitCode).toBe(143);
+    });
+  });
+
+  // ─── fastKillAgentContainer ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+  describe('fastKillAgentContainer', () => {
+    it('calls docker stop with the default 3-second timeout', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn.mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any);
+
+      await fastKillAgentContainer();
+
+      expect(mockExecaFn).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        'docker',
+        ['stop', '-t', '3', 'awf-agent'],
+        expect.objectContaining({ reject: false }),
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('calls docker stop with the provided timeout', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn.mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any);
+
+      await fastKillAgentContainer(7);
+
+      expect(mockExecaFn).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        'docker',
+        ['stop', '-t', '7', 'awf-agent'],
+        expect.any(Object),
+      );
+    });
+
+    it('silently swallows errors from docker stop', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn.mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('docker daemon not responding'));
+
+      // Must not throw
+      await expect(fastKillAgentContainer()).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    it('marks the agent as externally killed even when docker stop fails', async () => {
+      mockExecaFn.mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('docker CLI unavailable'));
+
+      await fastKillAgentContainer();
+
+      // Verify the flag was set: a subsequent runAgentCommand call should skip squid analysis
+      mockExecaFn
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok() as any)   // docker logs -f
+        .mockResolvedValueOnce(ok('137') as any); // docker wait
+
+      const result = await runAgentCommand(getDir(), ['github.com']);
+      expect(result.blockedDomains).toEqual([]);
+    });
+  });
+});