diff --git a/apps/api/tests/api-http.integration.ts b/apps/api/tests/api-http.integration.ts
index 990a55c..7dfd7b4 100644
--- a/apps/api/tests/api-http.integration.ts
+++ b/apps/api/tests/api-http.integration.ts
@@ -236,6 +236,97 @@ function createEventRecorder(): { events: string[]; expression: string } {
  * module also registers a restricted `GET /events/:eventId` route and a restricted, state-changing
  * `POST /events` route against that same permission, so the full HTTP mounting/enforcement chain
  * can be exercised live. */
+/** A handler gate shared with a dynamically imported fixture module through `globalThis`, the same
+ * technique `createEventRecorder` uses. The handler resolves `entered` when it is genuinely inside
+ * user code and then awaits `released`, so a test can position shutdown precisely instead of
+ * inferring handler entry from a connection count. `release` is idempotent and safe in `finally`. */
+function createHandlerGate(): {
+  readonly entered: Promise<void>;
+  readonly expression: string;
+  release: () => void;
+} {
+  const key = `ekklesia.api.integration.gate.${eventSymbols.length}.${Date.now()}.${Math.random()}`;
+  const symbol = Symbol.for(key);
+  let signalEntered: () => void = () => undefined;
+  let signalReleased: () => void = () => undefined;
+  const entered = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
+    signalEntered = resolve;
+  });
+  const released = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
+    signalReleased = resolve;
+  });
+  (globalThis as unknown as Record<PropertyKey, unknown>)[symbol] = {
+    enter: () => signalEntered(),
+    released,
+  };
+  eventSymbols.push(symbol);
+  return {
+    entered,
+    expression: `globalThis[Symbol.for(${JSON.stringify(key)})]`,
+    release: () => signalReleased(),
+  };
+}
+
+/** A fixture module with one public route whose handler blocks on the supplied gate, plus a stop
+ * hook that records when it ran — everything the graceful-drain ordering assertion needs. */
+async function createGatedRouteModule(
+  modulesDirectory: string,
+  id: string,
+  recorder: { expression: string },
+  gate: { expression: string },
+): Promise<void> {
+  const permissionId = `${id}.gated.read`;
+  const moduleDirectory = path.join(modulesDirectory, id);
+  await mkdir(path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/server"), { recursive: true });
+  await Promise.all([
+    writeFile(
+      path.join(moduleDirectory, "package.json"),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        ekklesia: { layer: "module" },
+        name: `@test/module-${id}`,
+        type: "module",
+        version: "0.1.0",
+      }),
+    ),
+    writeFile(
+      path.join(moduleDirectory, "ekklesia.module.json"),
+      JSON.stringify({
+        compatibility: { moduleSdk: "^0.1.0", platform: "^0.1.0" },
+        entrypoints: { server: "./dist/server/index.js" },
+        id,
+        manifestVersion: 3,
+        name: `${id} module`,
+        permissions: [{ baseline: "public", description: "Gated drain probe.", id: permissionId }],
+        version: "0.1.0",
+      }),
+    ),
+    writeFile(
+      path.join(moduleDirectory, "dist/server/index.js"),
+      `export default {
+        id: ${JSON.stringify(id)},
+        version: "0.1.0",
+        register({ http }) {
+          http.route({
+            method: "GET",
+            path: "/gated",
+            permission: ${JSON.stringify(permissionId)},
+            maxBodyBytes: 0,
+            async handler() {
+              ${recorder.expression}.push(${JSON.stringify(`${id}:handler-entered`)});
+              ${gate.expression}.enter();
+              await ${gate.expression}.released;
+              ${recorder.expression}.push(${JSON.stringify(`${id}:handler-finished`)});
+              return Response.json({ gated: true });
+            },
+          });
+        },
+        start() {},
+        stop() { ${recorder.expression}.push(${JSON.stringify(`${id}:stop`)}); },
+      };`,
+    ),
+  ]);
+}
+
 async function createFixtureModule(
   modulesDirectory: string,
   id: string,
@@ -2779,18 +2870,28 @@ describe.sequential("live API — bounded HTTP drain and shutdown", () => {
     }
   });
 
-  it("lets an already-entered request finish and close cleanly rather than force-closing it", async () => {
-    // Deterministic rather than racing an unresolved `fetch`: a raw socket sends a complete request
-    // with `Connection: close`, and shutdown only begins once the server provably holds that
-    // connection — observed by polling the real server's own connection count, never by sleeping.
+  it("lets a handler that has already entered finish, and closes its transport before module stop", async () => {
+    // A real handler gate, not an inference from the connection count: the fixture module's route
+    // handler announces that it has *entered*, then blocks until this test releases it. Shutdown
+    // therefore begins at a point where the handler is provably inside user code, and the ordering
+    // claim below is an assertion about recorded events rather than about timing.
+    const modulesDirectory = await createFixtureModulesDirectory();
+    const recorder = createEventRecorder();
+    const gate = createHandlerGate();
+    await createGatedRouteModule(modulesDirectory, "drainorder", recorder, gate);
+
     const database = await createDisposableDatabase("drain_order");
     await applyCoreMigrations(database.url);
-    const running = await startConfiguredApi(database.url, { drainTimeoutMsOverride: 20_000 });
+    const running = await startConfiguredApi(database.url, {
+      drainTimeoutMsOverride: 20_000,
+      modulesDirectoryOverride: modulesDirectory,
+    });
     const address = running.server.address();
     if (!address || typeof address !== "object") {
       throw harnessError("The API integration server has no bound address.");
     }
     const socket = net.connect({ host: "127.0.0.1", port: address.port });
+    let shutdown: Promise<void> | undefined;
     try {
       const responseBytes: Buffer[] = [];
       const responseClosed = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
@@ -2802,44 +2903,38 @@ describe.sequential("live API — bounded HTTP drain and shutdown", () => {
       await new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
         socket.once("error", reject);
         socket.write(
-          "GET /api/v1/principal HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: 127.0.0.1\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n",
+          `GET /api/v1/modules/drainorder/gated HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: 127.0.0.1\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n`,
           () => resolve(),
         );
       });
 
-      // Bounded, condition-based: wait until the server actually holds the connection, so the
-      // request has demonstrably entered before shutdown starts.
-      const connectionCounter = running.server as unknown as {
-        getConnections?: (callback: (error: Error | null, count: number) => void) => void;
-      };
-      const deadline = Date.now() + 15_000;
-      for (;;) {
-        const connections = await new Promise<number>((resolve) => {
-          if (typeof connectionCounter.getConnections !== "function") {
-            resolve(1);
-            return;
-          }
-          connectionCounter.getConnections((_error, count) => resolve(count ?? 0));
-        });
-        if (connections > 0) {
-          break;
-        }
-        if (Date.now() > deadline) {
-          throw harnessError("The request never reached the server.");
-        }
-        await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 10));
-      }
+      // Bounded wait on the handler's own signal — no sleep, no proxy for "entered".
+      await withDeadline(gate.entered, 20_000);
+      expect(recorder.events).toContain("drainorder:handler-entered");
 
-      // The graceful path: nothing is stalled, so shutdown completes without reaching the drain
-      // deadline and without force-closing anything.
-      await expect(withDeadline(running.shutdown(), 30_000)).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+      // Shutdown starts while the handler is still inside user code.
+      shutdown = running.shutdown();
+      // Release it, then require the graceful path to complete.
+      gate.release();
+      await expect(withDeadline(shutdown, 30_000)).resolves.toBeUndefined();
 
-      // The already-entered request completed normally — full response, clean transport close.
+      // The response really was served, in full, rather than force-closed mid-flight.
       await withDeadline(responseClosed, 10_000);
       const raw = Buffer.concat(responseBytes).toString("utf8");
       expect(raw).toContain("HTTP/1.1 200");
-      expect(raw).toContain('{"kind":"anonymous"}');
+      expect(raw).toContain('"gated":true');
+
+      // Explicit ordering: the handler finished and the module stopped, in that order.
+      const finished = recorder.events.indexOf("drainorder:handler-finished");
+      const stopped = recorder.events.indexOf("drainorder:stop");
+      expect(finished).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+      expect(stopped).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+      expect(finished).toBeLessThan(stopped);
     } finally {
+      gate.release();
+      if (shutdown) {
+        await shutdown.catch(() => undefined);
+      }
       socket.destroy();
       await running.shutdown().catch(() => undefined);
       await dropDatabase(database.name);