diff --git a/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-action.ts b/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-action.ts
index 4a24982737..39af24c07a 100644
--- a/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-action.ts
+++ b/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-action.ts
@@ -22,15 +22,13 @@ import {
   createSystemDeps as createSessionDeps,
   getActiveSandboxSessions,
 } from "./sandbox-session-state";
-import { stripAnsi } from "./openshell";
+import {
+  getSandboxDeleteOutcome,
+  shouldCleanupGatewayAfterDestroy,
+  shouldStopHostServicesAfterDestroy,
+} from "./sandbox-destroy-helpers";
 import { G, R, YW } from "./terminal-style";
 
-type SpawnLikeResult = {
-  status: number | null;
-  stdout?: string;
-  stderr?: string;
-};
-
 type DockerRmi = (tag: string, opts?: { ignoreError?: boolean }) => { status: number | null };
 
 type RemoveSandboxImageDeps = {
@@ -81,23 +79,6 @@ function hasNoLiveSandboxes(): boolean {
   return parseLiveSandboxNames(liveList.output).size === 0;
 }
 
-function isMissingSandboxDeleteResult(output = ""): boolean {
-  return /\bNotFound\b|\bNot Found\b|sandbox not found|sandbox .* not found|sandbox .* not present|sandbox does not exist|no such sandbox/i.test(
-    stripAnsi(output),
-  );
-}
-
-export function getSandboxDeleteOutcome(deleteResult: SpawnLikeResult): {
-  output: string;
-  alreadyGone: boolean;
-} {
-  const output = `${deleteResult.stdout || ""}${deleteResult.stderr || ""}`.trim();
-  return {
-    output,
-    alreadyGone: deleteResult.status !== 0 && isMissingSandboxDeleteResult(output),
-  };
-}
-
 function cleanupSandboxServices(
   sandboxName: string,
   { stopHostServices = false }: { stopHostServices?: boolean } = {},
@@ -248,10 +229,12 @@ export async function destroySandbox(
     process.exit(deleteResult.status || 1);
   }
 
-  const shouldStopHostServices =
-    (deleteResult.status === 0 || alreadyGone) &&
-    registry.listSandboxes().sandboxes.length === 1 &&
-    !!registry.getSandbox(sandboxName);
+  const deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone = deleteResult.status === 0 || alreadyGone;
+  const shouldStopHostServices = shouldStopHostServicesAfterDestroy({
+    deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone,
+    registeredSandboxCount: registry.listSandboxes().sandboxes.length,
+    sandboxStillRegistered: !!registry.getSandbox(sandboxName),
+  });
 
   cleanupSandboxServices(sandboxName, { stopHostServices: shouldStopHostServices });
   const removed = removeSandboxRegistryEntry(sandboxName);
@@ -263,10 +246,12 @@ export async function destroySandbox(
     });
   }
   if (
-    (deleteResult.status === 0 || alreadyGone) &&
-    removed &&
-    registry.listSandboxes().sandboxes.length === 0 &&
-    hasNoLiveSandboxes()
+    shouldCleanupGatewayAfterDestroy({
+      deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone,
+      removedRegistryEntry: removed,
+      noRegisteredSandboxes: registry.listSandboxes().sandboxes.length === 0,
+      noLiveSandboxes: hasNoLiveSandboxes(),
+    })
   ) {
     cleanupGatewayAfterLastSandbox();
   }
diff --git a/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-helpers.test.ts b/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-helpers.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b3c7577968
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-helpers.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import {
+  getSandboxDeleteOutcome,
+  isMissingSandboxDeleteOutput,
+  shouldCleanupGatewayAfterDestroy,
+  shouldStopHostServicesAfterDestroy,
+} from "./sandbox-destroy-helpers";
+
+describe("sandbox destroy helpers", () => {
+  it("detects missing sandbox delete output", () => {
+    expect(isMissingSandboxDeleteOutput("Error: sandbox alpha not found")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isMissingSandboxDeleteOutput("\u001b[31mNotFound\u001b[0m: missing")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isMissingSandboxDeleteOutput("permission denied")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("classifies delete outcomes", () => {
+    expect(getSandboxDeleteOutcome({ status: 1, stderr: "Error: sandbox alpha not found" })).toEqual({
+      output: "Error: sandbox alpha not found",
+      alreadyGone: true,
+    });
+    expect(getSandboxDeleteOutcome({ status: 1, stdout: "boom" })).toEqual({
+      output: "boom",
+      alreadyGone: false,
+    });
+    expect(getSandboxDeleteOutcome({ status: 0, stdout: "deleted" })).toEqual({
+      output: "deleted",
+      alreadyGone: false,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("decides when host services should stop before final registry removal", () => {
+    expect(
+      shouldStopHostServicesAfterDestroy({
+        deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone: true,
+        registeredSandboxCount: 1,
+        sandboxStillRegistered: true,
+      }),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      shouldStopHostServicesAfterDestroy({
+        deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone: true,
+        registeredSandboxCount: 2,
+        sandboxStillRegistered: true,
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("decides when gateway cleanup should run after destroy", () => {
+    expect(
+      shouldCleanupGatewayAfterDestroy({
+        deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone: true,
+        removedRegistryEntry: true,
+        noRegisteredSandboxes: true,
+        noLiveSandboxes: true,
+      }),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      shouldCleanupGatewayAfterDestroy({
+        deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone: true,
+        removedRegistryEntry: true,
+        noRegisteredSandboxes: true,
+        noLiveSandboxes: false,
+      }),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-helpers.ts b/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-helpers.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..64c5aea75d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/sandbox-destroy-helpers.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+/* v8 ignore start -- pure helper tests exercise this module; orchestration coverage still runs through dist. */
+
+import { stripAnsi } from "./openshell";
+
+export type SpawnLikeResult = {
+  status: number | null;
+  stdout?: string;
+  stderr?: string;
+};
+
+export function isMissingSandboxDeleteOutput(output = ""): boolean {
+  return /\bNotFound\b|\bNot Found\b|sandbox not found|sandbox .* not found|sandbox .* not present|sandbox does not exist|no such sandbox/i.test(
+    stripAnsi(output),
+  );
+}
+
+export function getSandboxDeleteOutcome(deleteResult: SpawnLikeResult): {
+  output: string;
+  alreadyGone: boolean;
+} {
+  const output = `${deleteResult.stdout || ""}${deleteResult.stderr || ""}`.trim();
+  return {
+    output,
+    alreadyGone: deleteResult.status !== 0 && isMissingSandboxDeleteOutput(output),
+  };
+}
+
+export function shouldStopHostServicesAfterDestroy(input: {
+  deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone: boolean;
+  registeredSandboxCount: number;
+  sandboxStillRegistered: boolean;
+}): boolean {
+  return (
+    input.deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone &&
+    input.registeredSandboxCount === 1 &&
+    input.sandboxStillRegistered
+  );
+}
+
+export function shouldCleanupGatewayAfterDestroy(input: {
+  deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone: boolean;
+  removedRegistryEntry: boolean;
+  noRegisteredSandboxes: boolean;
+  noLiveSandboxes: boolean;
+}): boolean {
+  return (
+    input.deleteSucceededOrAlreadyGone &&
+    input.removedRegistryEntry &&
+    input.noRegisteredSandboxes &&
+    input.noLiveSandboxes
+  );
+}
+
+/* v8 ignore stop */
diff --git a/src/lib/sandbox-rebuild-action.ts b/src/lib/sandbox-rebuild-action.ts
index 9baaab7e06..56ae7fef3a 100644
--- a/src/lib/sandbox-rebuild-action.ts
+++ b/src/lib/sandbox-rebuild-action.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ import * as policies from "./policies";
 import * as registry from "./registry";
 import { resolveOpenshell } from "./resolve-openshell";
 import { parseLiveSandboxNames } from "./runtime-recovery";
-import { getSandboxDeleteOutcome, removeSandboxRegistryEntry } from "./sandbox-destroy-action";
+import { getSandboxDeleteOutcome } from "./sandbox-destroy-helpers";
+import { removeSandboxRegistryEntry } from "./sandbox-destroy-action";
 import { executeSandboxCommand } from "./sandbox-process-recovery-action";
 import {
   createSystemDeps as createSessionDeps,
diff --git a/test/image-cleanup.test.ts b/test/image-cleanup.test.ts
index 1b939c9d64..e441b652b8 100644
--- a/test/image-cleanup.test.ts
+++ b/test/image-cleanup.test.ts
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
 
 import {
-  getSandboxDeleteOutcome,
   removeSandboxImage,
   removeSandboxRegistryEntry,
 } from "../src/lib/sandbox-destroy-action";
+import { getSandboxDeleteOutcome } from "../src/lib/sandbox-destroy-helpers";
 import { normalizeGarbageCollectImagesOptions } from "../src/lib/lifecycle-options";
 import { help as renderRootHelp } from "../src/lib/root-help-action";