diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-guards.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-guards.yml
index d639530f5126..965caabf2164 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-guards.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-guards.yml
@@ -608,6 +608,10 @@ jobs:
         if: ${{ matrix.group == 'ci' }}
         run: python3 tests/test_ci_checkout_network_diagnostics.py
 
+      - name: Validate production drift issue updates are sticky
+        if: ${{ matrix.group == 'ci' }}
+        run: python3 tests/test_iroh_drift_issue.py
+
       - name: Validate Swift Testing suite timeout guard
         if: ${{ matrix.group == 'app-host-execution' }}
         run: python3 tests/test_swift_testing_suite_timeout.py
diff --git a/.github/workflows/iroh-v2-production-drift.yml b/.github/workflows/iroh-v2-production-drift.yml
index be5b5d384882..2cd20970592a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/iroh-v2-production-drift.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/iroh-v2-production-drift.yml
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ jobs:
               await github.rest.issues.createLabel({ owner, repo, name: label, color: 'b60205', description: 'Production IROH v2 Worker is behind main' });
             }
             if (open.data.length > 0) {
-              await github.rest.issues.createComment({ owner, repo, issue_number: open.data[0].number, body });
+              await github.rest.issues.update({ owner, repo, issue_number: open.data[0].number, body });
             } else {
               await github.rest.issues.create({ owner, repo, title: 'IROH v2 production Worker is behind main', labels: [label], body });
             }
diff --git a/scripts/ci/workflow_guard_groups.py b/scripts/ci/workflow_guard_groups.py
index 1c32c49af696..a0a1c4f9229c 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/workflow_guard_groups.py
+++ b/scripts/ci/workflow_guard_groups.py
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@
     ".github/workflows/ci-web.yml": frozenset(GROUPS),
     ".github/workflows/web-complexity.yml": frozenset(("ci",)),
     ".github/workflows/web-complexity-trusted.yml": frozenset(("ci",)),
+    ".github/workflows/iroh-v2-production-drift.yml": frozenset(("ci",)),
+    "tests/test_iroh_drift_issue.py": frozenset(("ci",)),
     ".github/review-fabric-policy.json": frozenset(("preflight",)),
     ".github/review-fabric.md": frozenset(("preflight",)),
     ".github/scripts/review_fabric.py": frozenset(("preflight",)),
diff --git a/tests/test-execution.toml b/tests/test-execution.toml
index 0e2852a265e5..63012055a413 100644
--- a/tests/test-execution.toml
+++ b/tests/test-execution.toml
@@ -1483,3 +1483,7 @@ lane = "linux-guard"
 [[test]]
 path = "tests/test_ci_package_interface_fingerprint.py"
 lane = "linux-guard"
+
+[[test]]
+path = "tests/test_iroh_drift_issue.py"
+lane = "linux-guard"
diff --git a/tests/test_iroh_drift_issue.py b/tests/test_iroh_drift_issue.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a5551afef6cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_iroh_drift_issue.py
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Exercise the drift workflow's issue writes with an offline GitHub stub."""
+
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+import subprocess
+import textwrap
+import unittest
+
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+WORKFLOW = ROOT / ".github/workflows/iroh-v2-production-drift.yml"
+
+
+class DriftIssueTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def run_monitor(self, outcomes):
+        workflow = WORKFLOW.read_text()
+        script = textwrap.dedent(workflow.split("          script: |\n", 1)[1].split("      - name:", 1)[0])
+        harness = """
+const writes = [];
+let issue = null;
+const fs = {existsSync: () => true, readFileSync: () => 'different rules'};
+const context = {repo: {owner: 'o', repo: 'r'}, serverUrl: 'https://github.com', runId: 1};
+const github = {rest: {issues: {
+  listForRepo: async () => ({data: issue && issue.state === 'open' ? [issue] : []}),
+  getLabel: async () => ({}),
+  create: async args => { writes.push(['create', args]); issue = {...args, number: 9, state: 'open'}; },
+  createComment: async args => writes.push(['comment', args]),
+  update: async args => { writes.push(['update', args]); Object.assign(issue, args); },
+}}};
+const run = async () => {
+  for (const outcome of OUTCOMES) {
+    process.env.DRIFT_OUTCOME = outcome;
+    process.env.HEAD_SHA = String(context.runId).repeat(40);
+    await (async function(require) { SCRIPT })(name => {
+      if (name === 'fs') return fs;
+      throw new Error('unexpected dependency: ' + name);
+    });
+    context.runId++;
+  }
+  process.stdout.write(JSON.stringify({writes, issue}));
+};
+run().catch(error => { console.error(error); process.exitCode = 1; });
+""".replace("OUTCOMES", json.dumps(outcomes)).replace("SCRIPT", script)
+        result = subprocess.run(["node", "-e", harness], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True)
+        return json.loads(result.stdout)
+
+    def test_repeated_drift_updates_the_issue_without_appending_comments(self):
+        result = self.run_monitor(["failure", "failure", "failure"])
+        self.assertEqual([kind for kind, _ in result["writes"]], ["create", "update", "update"])
+        self.assertIn("actions/runs/3", result["issue"]["body"])
+
+    def test_recovery_comments_once_and_closes_the_issue(self):
+        result = self.run_monitor(["failure", "success", "success"])
+        self.assertEqual([kind for kind, _ in result["writes"]], ["create", "comment", "update"])
+        self.assertEqual(result["issue"]["state"], "closed")
+
+    def test_success_with_no_open_issue_writes_nothing(self):
+        self.assertEqual(self.run_monitor(["success"])["writes"], [])
+
+    def test_new_drift_after_recovery_opens_a_new_issue(self):
+        result = self.run_monitor(["failure", "success", "failure"])
+        self.assertEqual([kind for kind, _ in result["writes"]], ["create", "comment", "update", "create"])
+        self.assertEqual(result["issue"]["state"], "open")
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()