diff --git a/scripts/remote.sh b/scripts/remote.sh
index 178ce9da..997b73d0 100644
--- a/scripts/remote.sh
+++ b/scripts/remote.sh
@@ -1959,7 +1959,7 @@ _remote_sync_engine_start_locked() {
   # Stop only an engine whose argv proves that it owns this team. A stale
   # pidfile may point at a recycled, unrelated process and must never authorize
   # signalling that process.
-  IFS=$'\t' read -r old_state old_pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team")
+  IFS=$'\t' read -r old_state old_pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team" --pidfile-only)
   if [ "$old_state" = "running" ]; then
     kill "$old_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
   fi
@@ -2026,7 +2026,7 @@ _remote_sync_engine_stop() {
   local team="$1" pidfile pid state
   pidfile="$(_remote_sync_engine_pidfile "$team")"
   [ -f "$pidfile" ] || return 0
-  IFS=$'\t' read -r state pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team")
+  IFS=$'\t' read -r state pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team" --pidfile-only)
   if [ "$state" = "running" ]; then
     if ! _remote_sync_engine_reap_owned "$team" "$pid"; then
       echo "agmsg: sync engine pid $pid did not stop" >&2
@@ -2048,11 +2048,84 @@ _remote_sync_engine_stop() {
   rm -f "$(_remote_sync_engine_cycle_stamp "$team")" 2>/dev/null || true
 }
 
+# Return the systemd user-unit state as "state<TAB>pid".
+#
+# A unit that is not installed is not a systemd-managed team here, so callers
+# retain the pidfile behavior. An existing unit is different: an active unit
+# whose MainPID cannot be authenticated is UNKNOWN and must not be shadowed by
+# a new unmanaged engine. The command can be replaced in tests; no host
+# systemd query is needed there.
+_remote_systemd_engine_status() {
+  local team="$1" unit show load active sub pid command systemctl_bin
+  unit="agmsg-remote-sync-$team.service"
+  systemctl_bin="${AGMSG_SYSTEMCTL:-systemctl}"
+  command -v "$systemctl_bin" >/dev/null 2>&1 || { printf 'unavailable\t\n'; return; }
+  show="$($systemctl_bin --user show "$unit" -p LoadState -p ActiveState -p SubState -p MainPID 2>/dev/null)" || {
+    printf 'absent\t\n'
+    return
+  }
+  load="$(printf '%s\n' "$show" | sed -n 's/^LoadState=//p')"
+  active="$(printf '%s\n' "$show" | sed -n 's/^ActiveState=//p')"
+  sub="$(printf '%s\n' "$show" | sed -n 's/^SubState=//p')"
+  pid="$(printf '%s\n' "$show" | sed -n 's/^MainPID=//p')"
+  [ "$load" = "not-found" ] && { printf 'absent\t\n'; return; }
+  case "$active:$sub" in
+    active:running)
+      if _agmsg_pid_valid "$pid" && _agmsg_pid_alive_local "$pid"; then
+        command="$(compat_get_cmdline "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+        if agmsg_cmdline_names_path "$command" "$SCRIPT_DIR/internal/remote-sync.mjs" &&
+           case "$command" in *" run --team $team") true ;; *) false ;; esac; then
+          printf 'running\t%s\n' "$pid"
+        else
+          printf 'unknown\t%s\n' "$pid"
+        fi
+      else
+        printf 'unknown\t%s\n' "$pid"
+      fi
+      ;;
+    active:starting|active:reloading|active:auto-restart|activating:*|deactivating:*)
+      printf 'starting\t%s\n' "$pid"
+      ;;
+    inactive:*|failed:*)
+      printf 'inactive\t%s\n' "$pid"
+      ;;
+    *)
+      printf 'unknown\t%s\n' "$pid"
+      ;;
+  esac
+}
+
 # Print "<state>\t<pid>", where pid is empty when no valid pid is available.
 # A live PID is not enough: PID reuse can make an unrelated process pass
 # kill -0, so running requires the exact engine script/team suffix in argv.
+# The optional --pidfile-only mode is internal: lifecycle operations use it
+# when they must inspect only the unmanaged engine represented by this
+# command's pidfile. Human/JSON status and sync-start admission deliberately
+# omit it so an exported environment value cannot hide a systemd-owned engine.
 _remote_sync_engine_status() {
-  local team="$1" pidfile pid command expected
+  local team="$1" mode="${2:-}" pidfile pid command expected systemd_state systemd_pid
+  case "$mode" in
+    ""|--pidfile-only) ;;
+    *)
+      echo "agmsg: internal error: unknown sync engine status mode '$mode'" >&2
+      return 2
+      ;;
+  esac
+  REMOTE_SYNC_ENGINE_SUPERVISOR=""
+  REMOTE_SYNC_ENGINE_SUPERVISOR_PID=""
+  if [ "$mode" != --pidfile-only ]; then
+    IFS=$'\t' read -r systemd_state systemd_pid < <(_remote_systemd_engine_status "$team")
+  else
+    systemd_state=absent
+  fi
+  case "$systemd_state" in
+    running|starting|inactive|unknown)
+      REMOTE_SYNC_ENGINE_SUPERVISOR="systemd"
+      REMOTE_SYNC_ENGINE_SUPERVISOR_PID="$systemd_pid"
+      printf '%s\t%s\n' "$systemd_state" "$systemd_pid"
+      return
+      ;;
+  esac
   pidfile="$(_remote_sync_engine_pidfile "$team")"
   if [ ! -f "$pidfile" ]; then
     printf 'stopped\t\n'
@@ -2084,7 +2157,7 @@ _remote_sync_engine_status() {
 _remote_sync_engine_reap_owned() {
   local team="$1" owned_pid="$2" state pid signal attempts
   for signal in TERM KILL; do
-    IFS=$'\t' read -r state pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team")
+    IFS=$'\t' read -r state pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team" --pidfile-only)
     if ! _agmsg_pid_alive_local "$owned_pid"; then return 0; fi
     [ "$state" = "running" ] && [ "$pid" = "$owned_pid" ] || return 1
     kill "-$signal" "$owned_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
@@ -2496,6 +2569,12 @@ _remote_status_one() {
   case "$engine_state" in
     running)
       echo "$team	connected (engine running, pid $engine_pid) since $connected_at" ;;
+    starting)
+      echo "$team	connected (engine starting under systemd, pid $engine_pid; do not run sync start) since $connected_at" ;;
+    inactive)
+      echo "$team	connected (engine inactive under systemd; run: systemctl --user restart agmsg-remote-sync-$team.service) since $connected_at" ;;
+    unknown)
+      echo "$team	connected (engine state unknown under systemd; do not run sync start; inspect systemctl --user status agmsg-remote-sync-$team.service) since $connected_at" ;;
     stopped)
       echo "$team	connected (engine stopped — run: bash $(agmsg_shq "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/remote.sh") sync start $(agmsg_shq "$team")) since $connected_at" ;;
     stale)
@@ -2870,11 +2949,18 @@ cmd_sync_start() {
   fi
 
   IFS=$'\t' read -r engine_state engine_pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team")
-  if [ "$engine_state" = "running" ]; then
-    echo "Sync engine already running (pid $engine_pid)."
-    agmsg_lock_release
-    return
-  fi
+  case "$engine_state" in
+    running)
+      echo "Sync engine already running (pid $engine_pid)."
+      agmsg_lock_release
+      return
+      ;;
+    starting|inactive|unknown)
+      echo "agmsg: systemd owns team '$team' in state '$engine_state'; inspect or restart the user unit instead of sync start" >&2
+      agmsg_lock_release
+      return 1
+      ;;
+  esac
 
   logfile="$CONNECTION_ROOT/run/remote-sync.$team.log"
   [ -f "$logfile" ] && log_offset=$(( $(wc -c < "$logfile" | tr -d ' ') + 1 ))
@@ -2924,7 +3010,7 @@ cmd_sync_start() {
   # not the rest of the machine.
   agmsg_lock_release
   while [ "$i" -lt "$ready_ceiling" ]; do
-    IFS=$'\t' read -r engine_state ready_pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team")
+    IFS=$'\t' read -r engine_state ready_pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team" --pidfile-only)
     if [ "$engine_state" = "running" ] && [ "$ready_pid" = "$started_pid" ] &&
        tail -c "+$log_offset" "$logfile" 2>/dev/null |
          awk -v nonce="\"startup_nonce\":\"$startup_nonce\"" '
@@ -3419,7 +3505,7 @@ cmd_set_endpoint() {
     done
   fi
 
-  IFS=$'\t' read -r engine_state engine_pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team")
+  IFS=$'\t' read -r engine_state engine_pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team" --pidfile-only)
   [ "$engine_state" = "running" ] && was_running=1
   _remote_sync_engine_stop "$team" || {
     echo "agmsg: the sync engine did not stop; refusing to move the endpoint under it" >&2
@@ -3450,7 +3536,7 @@ cmd_set_endpoint() {
   # command ran is restarted too (never silently left stopped, and a restart
   # is what hands it the moved address -- a running engine keeps its old
   # config in memory). _remote_sync_engine_start kills a live engine first.
-  IFS=$'\t' read -r end_state end_pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team")
+  IFS=$'\t' read -r end_state end_pid < <(_remote_sync_engine_status "$team" --pidfile-only)
   if [ "$was_running" -eq 1 ] || [ "$end_state" = "running" ]; then
     # Same rule as cmd_pull and cmd_connect: the move is this command's purpose
     # and it is done by here, so a start failure reports rather than fails --
diff --git a/tests/test_remote_status_liveness.bats b/tests/test_remote_status_liveness.bats
index f6253289..0bf3e39d 100644
--- a/tests/test_remote_status_liveness.bats
+++ b/tests/test_remote_status_liveness.bats
@@ -889,3 +889,124 @@ write_unownable_ps_fixture() {
   run bash -c "grep -v '^[[:space:]]*#' \"\$1\" | sed 's/_agmsg_pid_alive_local//g' | grep -c '_agmsg_pid_alive'" _ "$SCRIPTS/remote.sh"
   [ "$output" = "0" ]
 }
+
+
+# systemd-supervised engine detection for #894. The process itself is real;
+# only systemctl is replaced, so these tests exercise the same argv/liveness
+# checks used on a host while remaining independent of the test runner's user bus.
+write_systemd_show_fixture() {
+  local state="$1" pid="$2" sub=dead fake="$TEST_SKILL_DIR/fake-systemctl"
+  [ "$state" = active ] && sub=running
+  printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' \
+    'if [ "${1:-}" = "--user" ] && [ "${2:-}" = "show" ]; then' \
+    "  printf '%s\n' 'LoadState=loaded' 'ActiveState=$state' 'SubState=$sub' 'MainPID=$pid'" \
+    '  exit 0' \
+    'fi' \
+    'exit 1' > "$fake"
+  chmod +x "$fake"
+  printf '%s\n' "$fake"
+}
+
+legacy_skip_systemd_probe_name() {
+  # Build the removed name without retaining it as a discoverable setting in
+  # the tree. These tests prove that an old wrapper exporting it is harmless.
+  printf '%s%s\n' AGMSG_SKIP_SYSTEMD _PROBE
+}
+
+@test "status: exported skip variable cannot hide a verified systemd engine (#894)" {
+  start_matching_engine
+  rm -f "$TEST_SKILL_DIR/run/remote-sync.testteam.pid"
+  local fake_bin fake_systemctl
+  fake_bin="$(write_matching_ps_fixture)"
+  fake_systemctl="$(write_systemd_show_fixture active "$ENGINE_PID")"
+
+  run env PATH="$fake_bin:$PATH" AGMSG_SYSTEMCTL="$fake_systemctl" \
+    "$(legacy_skip_systemd_probe_name)=1" \
+    bash "$SCRIPTS/remote.sh" status testteam
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -q -F -- "connected (engine running, pid $ENGINE_PID)"
+  refute grep -qi 'stale\|stopped' <<<"$output"
+}
+
+@test "JSON status: exported skip variable cannot hide a verified systemd engine (#894)" {
+  start_matching_engine
+  rm -f "$TEST_SKILL_DIR/run/remote-sync.testteam.pid"
+  local fake_bin fake_systemctl
+  fake_bin="$(write_matching_ps_fixture)"
+  fake_systemctl="$(write_systemd_show_fixture active "$ENGINE_PID")"
+
+  run env PATH="$fake_bin:$PATH" AGMSG_SYSTEMCTL="$fake_systemctl" \
+    "$(legacy_skip_systemd_probe_name)=1" \
+    bash "$SCRIPTS/remote.sh" status testteam --json
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$(sqlite_mem "SELECT json_extract('$(printf '%s' "$output" | sed "s/'/''/g")', '\$.engine_state');")" = running ]
+  [ "$(sqlite_mem "SELECT json_extract('$(printf '%s' "$output" | sed "s/'/''/g")', '\$.engine_pid');")" = "$ENGINE_PID" ]
+}
+
+@test "sync start: exported skip variable cannot duplicate an active systemd engine (#894)" {
+  start_matching_engine
+  rm -f "$TEST_SKILL_DIR/run/remote-sync.testteam.pid"
+  local fake_bin fake_systemctl
+  fake_bin="$(write_matching_ps_fixture)"
+  fake_systemctl="$(write_systemd_show_fixture active "$ENGINE_PID")"
+
+  run env PATH="$fake_bin:$PATH" AGMSG_SYSTEMCTL="$fake_systemctl" \
+    "$(legacy_skip_systemd_probe_name)=1" \
+    bash "$SCRIPTS/remote.sh" sync start testteam
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -q -F -- "already running (pid $ENGINE_PID)"
+  [ "$(find "$TEST_SKILL_DIR/run" -maxdepth 1 -name 'remote-sync.testteam.pid' | wc -l)" -eq 0 ]
+}
+
+@test "engine status: pidfile-only mode does not invoke the systemd probe (#894)" {
+  start_matching_engine
+  local fake_bin fake_systemctl probe_log="$TEST_SKILL_DIR/systemctl-called"
+  fake_bin="$(write_matching_ps_fixture)"
+  fake_systemctl="$TEST_SKILL_DIR/fake-systemctl-counting"
+  printf '%s\n' '#!/usr/bin/env bash' \
+    ': > "$AGMSG_TEST_SYSTEMCTL_PROBE_LOG"' \
+    "printf '%s\n' 'LoadState=loaded' 'ActiveState=active' 'SubState=running' 'MainPID=$ENGINE_PID'" \
+    > "$fake_systemctl"
+  chmod +x "$fake_systemctl"
+
+  run env PATH="$fake_bin:$PATH" AGMSG_SYSTEMCTL="$fake_systemctl" \
+    AGMSG_TEST_SYSTEMCTL_PROBE_LOG="$probe_log" \
+    bash -c 'source "$1/remote.sh"; _remote_sync_engine_status testteam --pidfile-only' _ "$SCRIPTS"
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  [ "$output" = $'running\t'"$ENGINE_PID" ]
+  [ ! -e "$probe_log" ]
+}
+
+@test "engine status: rejects an unknown internal mode (#894)" {
+  run bash -c 'source "$1/remote.sh"; _remote_sync_engine_status testteam --unknown-mode' _ "$SCRIPTS"
+  [ "$status" -eq 2 ]
+  [[ "$output" == *"unknown sync engine status mode '--unknown-mode'"* ]]
+}
+
+@test "sync start: refuses an active systemd unit with unverified identity (#894)" {
+  sleep 30 &
+  local foreign_pid=$!
+  ENGINE_PIDS="$ENGINE_PIDS $foreign_pid"
+  local fake_bin fake_systemctl
+  fake_bin="$(write_matching_ps_fixture)"
+  fake_systemctl="$(write_systemd_show_fixture active "$foreign_pid")"
+
+  run env PATH="$fake_bin:$PATH" AGMSG_SYSTEMCTL="$fake_systemctl" \
+    bash "$SCRIPTS/remote.sh" sync start testteam
+  [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+  printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -q -F -- "systemd owns team 'testteam'"
+  refute test -f "$TEST_SKILL_DIR/run/remote-sync.testteam.pid"
+}
+
+
+@test "status: reports an inactive systemd unit with restart guidance (#894)" {
+  start_matching_engine
+  rm -f "$TEST_SKILL_DIR/run/remote-sync.testteam.pid"
+  local fake_systemctl
+  fake_systemctl="$(write_systemd_show_fixture inactive 0)"
+
+  run env AGMSG_SYSTEMCTL="$fake_systemctl" bash "$SCRIPTS/remote.sh" status testteam
+  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
+  printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -q -F -- "engine inactive under systemd"
+  printf '%s\n' "$output" | grep -q -F -- "systemctl --user restart agmsg-remote-sync-testteam.service"
+}