diff --git a/src/scheduler/scheduler.rs b/src/scheduler/scheduler.rs
index babbc84..4d6cb74 100644
--- a/src/scheduler/scheduler.rs
+++ b/src/scheduler/scheduler.rs
@@ -509,6 +509,23 @@ async fn cleanup_deleted(pool: &SqlitePool, deleted: Vec<String>) {
 /// across readiness checks so the most-cautious wins.
 const DEFAULT_MIN_HEALTHY_TIME: Duration = Duration::from_secs(10);
 
+/// Whether a deployment currently has a live container for the purpose of the
+/// anti-flap window that refills `restart_count`.
+///
+/// A worker that reached `Running` obviously qualifies. So does one still in
+/// `Creating` that already has an instance: a host-network worker can never pass
+/// Ring's readiness checks (its container has no resolvable address), so it stays
+/// `Creating` for life even though its container runs fine. Requiring `Running`
+/// here left such a worker's `restart_count` monotonic, so its retry backoff
+/// climbed to the 60s cap and never came back down — every redeploy got slower.
+fn has_live_container(status: &DeploymentStatus, instances_empty: bool) -> bool {
+    match status {
+        DeploymentStatus::Running => true,
+        DeploymentStatus::Creating => !instances_empty,
+        _ => false,
+    }
+}
+
 /// Resolve the anti-flap window for a deployment: take the max of the
 /// per-HC `min_healthy_time` (parsed via `HealthCheck::parse_duration`)
 /// across readiness checks. Falls back to `DEFAULT_MIN_HEALTHY_TIME` when
@@ -1514,7 +1531,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn schedule(
             if result.kind == "worker"
                 && healthy_window.observe(
                     &result.id,
-                    result.status == DeploymentStatus::Running,
+                    has_live_container(&result.status, result.instances.is_empty()),
                     result.restart_count,
                     min_healthy_time_for(&result),
                 )
@@ -2129,4 +2146,37 @@ mod tests {
         log_running_transition(&pool, &DeploymentStatus::Running, &d).await;
         assert_eq!(count_state_transition_events(&pool, "trans-3").await, 0);
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn live_container_running_is_healthy() {
+        // A worker that reached Running always counts as healthy-running.
+        assert!(has_live_container(&DeploymentStatus::Running, false));
+        assert!(has_live_container(&DeploymentStatus::Running, true));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn live_container_creating_with_instance_is_healthy() {
+        // The host-network case: stuck in Creating (readiness can't pass) but the
+        // container is actually up. This must count as healthy so restart_count
+        // can be forgiven and the retry backoff stops climbing.
+        assert!(has_live_container(&DeploymentStatus::Creating, false));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn live_container_creating_without_instance_is_not_healthy() {
+        // Creating with no instance yet: genuinely not running, no reset.
+        assert!(!has_live_container(&DeploymentStatus::Creating, true));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn live_container_other_states_are_not_healthy() {
+        for status in [
+            DeploymentStatus::Pending,
+            DeploymentStatus::Failed,
+            DeploymentStatus::Deleted,
+        ] {
+            assert!(!has_live_container(&status, false));
+            assert!(!has_live_container(&status, true));
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/e2e/docker/t43_windowed_reset_stuck_creating.sh b/tests/e2e/docker/t43_windowed_reset_stuck_creating.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6cfbbbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/e2e/docker/t43_windowed_reset_stuck_creating.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# T43: windowed restart_count reset for a worker stuck in Creating with a live
+# container (the host-network regression fixed by has_live_container).
+#
+# A host-network worker never passes Ring's readiness checks — its container has
+# no resolvable address — so it stays in `Creating` for life even though the
+# container runs fine. The old anti-flap gate required status == Running, so such
+# a worker's restart_count stayed monotonic: its retry backoff climbed to the 60s
+# cap and never came back down. The fix counts a Creating worker that already has
+# a live instance as healthy, so the accrued count is forgiven.
+#
+# This reproduces that exact state end-to-end. Docker re-runs the SAME command on
+# every (re)spawn, so the "crash a few times then stay up" behaviour is driven by
+# a counter on a host bind mount: the first 3 starts exit 1 (each a crash Ring
+# counts toward restart_count); the 4th stays up (sleep 3600). The worker uses
+# host networking and a readiness probe that never turns green plus a long
+# start_period, so once the container is alive it sits in `creating` — never
+# `running`, never `failed` — with a live instance. That is the precise state
+# where the old gate left restart_count monotonic.
+#
+# Invariants:
+#   1. The crash phase registers: restart_count climbs to 3 (< MAX = 5), so a
+#      *windowed* reset is exercised rather than CrashLoopBackOff.
+#   2. The worker then settles in `creating` (readiness can't pass on host net)
+#      and STAYS there — it must never reach `running` or `failed`.
+#   3. After the anti-flap window elapses the scheduler forgives the accrued
+#      count: restart_count is reset to 0 while the status is still `creating`.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+# shellcheck source=../lib.sh
+source "$SCRIPT_DIR/../lib.sh"
+
+log "== T43: restart_count is forgiven for a live worker stuck in Creating =="
+
+NS="ring-e2e"
+NAME="crash-then-stuck-creating"
+
+# Host-side state directory the container increments a counter in. Start clean so
+# the counter begins at 0 even across re-runs of this test.
+STATE_DIR="/tmp/ring-e2e-t43"
+rm -rf "$STATE_DIR"
+mkdir -p "$STATE_DIR"
+
+start_ring
+ring_login
+
+"$RING_BIN" apply --file "$SCRIPT_DIR/../fixtures/crash-then-stuck-creating.yaml"
+
+# Invariant 1: the container crashes 3 times. Wait for restart_count to reach 3,
+# which proves the crash phase registered. It must stop at 3 (the 4th start stays
+# up), well short of MAX_RESTART_COUNT (5) — otherwise we couldn't test a
+# *windowed* reset, only a CrashLoopBackOff.
+log "waiting for the crash phase to accrue restart_count=3..."
+REACHED=0
+for _ in $(seq 1 60); do
+  RC=$(get_restart_count "$NS" "$NAME")
+  if [ "${RC:-0}" -ge 3 ]; then
+    REACHED=1
+    break
+  fi
+  sleep 1
+done
+if [ "$REACHED" -ne 1 ]; then
+  fail "restart_count never reached 3 during the crash phase (last: ${RC:-0})"
+fi
+log "crash phase registered: restart_count=$RC"
+
+if [ "${RC:-0}" -ge 5 ]; then
+  fail "restart_count reached the CrashLoopBackOff bound ($RC); cannot test the windowed reset"
+fi
+
+# Invariant 2: the 4th container stays up but can never pass readiness on host
+# networking, so it settles in `creating`. Wait for that, then confirm it STAYS
+# there past the anti-flap window (DEFAULT_MIN_HEALTHY_TIME = 10s) — it must
+# never be promoted to `running` nor failed by the rollout deadline (deferred by
+# the 300s start_period).
+wait_deployment_status "$NS" "$NAME" "creating" 60
+
+log "worker is 'creating' with a live container; watching 40s that it stays there..."
+for i in $(seq 1 40); do
+  STATUS=$("$RING_BIN" deployment list --output json 2>/dev/null \
+    | jq -r --arg ns "$NS" --arg n "$NAME" \
+        '.[] | select(.namespace==$ns and .name==$n) | .status' | head -n1)
+  case "$STATUS" in
+    creating) ;;
+    running) fail "worker reached 'running' at second $i — host-network readiness should never pass" ;;
+    failed) fail "worker reached 'failed' at second $i — start_period should defer the rollout deadline" ;;
+    *) fail "worker in unexpected status '$STATUS' at second $i" ;;
+  esac
+  sleep 1
+done
+log "Invariant 2: PASS (worker held 'creating' with a live container past the window)"
+
+# Invariant 3: the crash budget must have refilled even though the worker never
+# reached `running`. This is the regression: with status == Running gate, the
+# count stayed at 3 forever; with has_live_container it is forgiven to 0.
+RESTART_AFTER_WINDOW=$(get_restart_count "$NS" "$NAME")
+STATUS=$("$RING_BIN" deployment list --output json \
+  | jq -r --arg ns "$NS" --arg n "$NAME" \
+      '.[] | select(.namespace==$ns and .name==$n) | .status' \
+  | head -n1)
+
+log "observed: restart_count_after_window=$RESTART_AFTER_WINDOW status=$STATUS"
+
+if [ "$STATUS" != "creating" ]; then
+  fail "expected status still 'creating' after the window, got '$STATUS'"
+fi
+
+if [ "${RESTART_AFTER_WINDOW:-99}" -ne 0 ]; then
+  fail "expected restart_count reset to 0 after the healthy window, got $RESTART_AFTER_WINDOW (has_live_container did not forgive the Creating worker)"
+fi
+
+log "== T43: PASS =="
diff --git a/tests/e2e/fixtures/crash-then-stuck-creating.yaml b/tests/e2e/fixtures/crash-then-stuck-creating.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c87621
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/e2e/fixtures/crash-then-stuck-creating.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+deployments:
+  crash-then-stuck-creating:
+    name: crash-then-stuck-creating
+    namespace: ring-e2e
+    runtime: docker
+    # Host-network windowed restart_count reset (the regression fixed by
+    # has_live_container). Docker re-runs the SAME command on every (re)spawn, so
+    # the "crash a few times then stay up" behaviour is driven by state on a host
+    # bind mount: each start increments a counter in /state/count. While count
+    # <= 3 the container exits 1 (a crash Ring counts toward restart_count); on
+    # the 4th start it stops crashing and sleeps forever.
+    #
+    # Unlike crash-then-heal, this worker uses host networking and a readiness
+    # probe that never turns green (the file it checks for is never created). A
+    # host-network container has no resolvable address, so it can never pass
+    # readiness and stays in `Creating` for life even though its container is
+    # alive. A long start_period keeps the rollout deadline from failing it, so
+    # it sits in `Creating` with a live instance — the exact state where the old
+    # `status == Running` gate left restart_count monotonic. With the fix the
+    # scheduler recognises the live container and forgives the accrued count.
+    network:
+      mode: host
+    image: alpine:3.19
+    command:
+      - "sh"
+      - "-c"
+      - 'n=$(cat /state/count 2>/dev/null || echo 0); n=$((n+1)); echo $n > /state/count; if [ "$n" -le 3 ]; then echo "crash #$n" >&2; exit 1; fi; echo "healthy after $n starts" >&2; exec sleep 3600'
+    replicas: 1
+    health_checks:
+      - type: command
+        command: test -f /var/run/kemeter/never-ready
+        interval: 2s
+        timeout: 1s
+        threshold: 3
+        on_failure: alert
+        readiness: true
+        start_period: 300s
+    volumes:
+      - type: bind
+        source: /tmp/ring-e2e-t43
+        destination: /state
+        driver: local
+        permission: rw