diff --git a/src/container-cleanup.ts b/src/container-cleanup.ts
index 117117c89..b97a77728 100644
--- a/src/container-cleanup.ts
+++ b/src/container-cleanup.ts
@@ -172,6 +172,22 @@ export async function collectDiagnosticLogs(workDir: string): Promise<void> {
   logger.info(`Diagnostic logs collected at: ${diagnosticsDir}`);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Runs `docker compose down -v -t 1` with the standard AWF options.
+ */
+export async function runComposeDown(
+  workDir: string,
+  options: { reject?: boolean } = {},
+): Promise<void> {
+  await execa('docker', ['compose', 'down', '-v', '-t', '1'], {
+    cwd: workDir,
+    stdout: process.stderr,
+    stderr: 'inherit',
+    env: getLocalDockerEnv(),
+    reject: options.reject ?? true,
+  });
+}
+
 /**
  * Stops and removes Docker Compose services
  */
@@ -184,12 +200,7 @@ export async function stopContainers(workDir: string, keepContainers: boolean):
   logger.info('Stopping containers...');
 
   try {
-    await execa('docker', ['compose', 'down', '-v', '-t', '1'], {
-      cwd: workDir,
-      stdout: process.stderr,
-      stderr: 'inherit',
-      env: getLocalDockerEnv(),
-    });
+    await runComposeDown(workDir);
     logger.success('Containers stopped successfully');
   } catch (error) {
     logger.error('Failed to stop containers:', error);
diff --git a/src/container-lifecycle.ts b/src/container-lifecycle.ts
index 78ddb856e..f30ffca84 100644
--- a/src/container-lifecycle.ts
+++ b/src/container-lifecycle.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import execa from 'execa';
 import { BlockedTarget } from './types';
 import { logger } from './logger';
 import { parseDomainWithProtocol, isWildcardPattern, wildcardToRegex } from './domain-patterns';
+import { runComposeDown } from './container-cleanup';
 import {
   AGENT_CONTAINER_NAME,
   SQUID_CONTAINER_NAME,
@@ -218,13 +219,7 @@ export async function startContainers(workDir: string, allowedDomains: string[],
 
       // Tear down before retry so Docker Compose starts fresh
       try {
-        await execa('docker', ['compose', 'down', '-v', '-t', '1'], {
-          cwd: workDir,
-          stdout: process.stderr,
-          stderr: 'inherit',
-          env: getLocalDockerEnv(),
-          reject: false,
-        });
+        await runComposeDown(workDir, { reject: false });
       } catch (cleanupError) {
         // Best-effort cleanup — proceed with retry regardless
         logger.debug('Cleanup before retry failed (proceeding anyway):', cleanupError);
diff --git a/src/docker-manager-lifecycle.test.ts b/src/docker-manager-lifecycle.test.ts
index e65d3ad98..1cbbb2dc0 100644
--- a/src/docker-manager-lifecycle.test.ts
+++ b/src/docker-manager-lifecycle.test.ts
@@ -137,6 +137,11 @@ describe('docker-manager lifecycle', () => {
         call[0] === 'docker' && Array.isArray(call[1]) && call[1].includes('up')
       );
       expect(upCalls).toHaveLength(2);
+      expect(mockExecaFn).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        'docker',
+        ['compose', 'down', '-v', '-t', '1'],
+        expect.objectContaining({ cwd: testDir, stdout: process.stderr, stderr: 'inherit', reject: false })
+      );
     });
 
     it('should retry once when awf-api-proxy exits during startup', async () => {