diff --git a/packages/cli/src/__tests__/docker-cloudinit-skip.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/__tests__/docker-cloudinit-skip.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36b9fb250
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/src/__tests__/docker-cloudinit-skip.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+/**
+ * docker-cloudinit-skip.test.ts — Verify Docker mode skips cloud-init wait.
+ *
+ * When --beta docker is active, waitForReady() must skip cloud-init polling
+ * and only wait for SSH. This test reads the orchestrator source files to
+ * verify the useDocker check is present in the waitForReady condition.
+ *
+ * Without this, non-minimal agents (openclaw, codex) wait 5 minutes for a
+ * cloud-init marker that never appears when using Docker app images.
+ */
+
+import { describe, expect, it } from "bun:test";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { resolve } from "node:path";
+
+const CLI_SRC = resolve(import.meta.dir, "..");
+
+describe("Docker mode skips cloud-init wait", () => {
+  it("Hetzner waitForReady includes useDocker in skip condition", () => {
+    const source = readFileSync(resolve(CLI_SRC, "hetzner/main.ts"), "utf-8");
+    // The waitForReady condition must include useDocker to skip cloud-init
+    // when Docker mode is active (matching GCP's implementation)
+    expect(source).toContain("useDocker || snapshotId || cloud.skipCloudInit");
+  });
+
+  it("GCP waitForReady includes useDocker in skip condition", () => {
+    const source = readFileSync(resolve(CLI_SRC, "gcp/main.ts"), "utf-8");
+    expect(source).toContain("useDocker || cloud.skipCloudInit");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/hetzner/main.ts b/packages/cli/src/hetzner/main.ts
index d65f5f78a..d0fb96b24 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/hetzner/main.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/hetzner/main.ts
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ async function main() {
     },
     getServerName,
     async waitForReady() {
-      if (snapshotId || cloud.skipCloudInit) {
+      if (useDocker || snapshotId || cloud.skipCloudInit) {
         await waitForSshOnly();
       } else {
         await waitForCloudInit();