diff --git a/internal/apply/process.go b/internal/apply/process.go
index b3c5978..f79fd87 100644
--- a/internal/apply/process.go
+++ b/internal/apply/process.go
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ func applyProcess(ctx context.Context, r *declaration.Process, run Runner,
 		// Everything about it is as declared. Still asked whether it is RUNNING, because a
 		// declaration that is satisfied by a record rather than by the machine is how a stopped
 		// service reports success.
+		// **The record is carried forward, not re-derived.** An unchanged outcome is recorded
+		// like any other, so one that said nothing about what was written erased the digest; the
+		// next apply then found no record, re-created the daemon, and the one after that found a
+		// record again — the node's runtime restarted every other cycle (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/210).
+		out.wrote = want
 		if active, err := run(ctx, "systemctl", "is-active", "--quiet", r.Name+".service"); err == nil {
 			_ = active
 			return out, nil
diff --git a/internal/apply/process_test.go b/internal/apply/process_test.go
index 7f055f7..70b9bdb 100644
--- a/internal/apply/process_test.go
+++ b/internal/apply/process_test.go
@@ -256,3 +256,60 @@ func TestAProcessRecordedUnderAPathlikeNameIsRefusedNotRemoved(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// novox/hq 04-ISSUES/210: the node's runtime was re-created — and restarted — on every reconcile,
+// because the host did not find what it wrote for a process the cycle before. Applying the same
+// process declaration twice must do no work the second time.
+func TestAProcessAppliedAgainIsUnchangedAndNotRestarted(t *testing.T) {
+	units, bundles := t.TempDir(), t.TempDir()
+	wasUnits, wasBundles := unitDir, daemonRoot
+	unitDir, daemonRoot = units, bundles
+	t.Cleanup(func() { unitDir, daemonRoot = wasUnits, wasBundles })
+
+	body, digest := anArchive(t, map[string]string{"main.js": "console.log(1)\n"})
+	var commands []string
+	run := func(ctx context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error) {
+		commands = append(commands, name+" "+strings.Join(args, " "))
+		return "", nil
+	}
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"node-tools.runtime","type":"process","name":"node-tools","source":"`+serving(t, body)+
+		`","digest":"`+digest+`","run":["node","main.js"],"env":{"MESH_TOOL_MODULES":"a=/x/index.js"}}`)
+
+	first, state, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{}, store.OriginDeclared, run, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if o := outcomeOf(first, "node-tools.runtime"); o.Action != "created" {
+		t.Fatalf("first apply: %+v, want created", o)
+	}
+	rec, ok := state.Find("node-tools.runtime")
+	if !ok || rec.Wrote == "" {
+		t.Fatalf("the host did not record what it wrote for the process: %+v", rec)
+	}
+	commands = nil
+	again, state, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, state, store.OriginDeclared, run, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if o := outcomeOf(again, "node-tools.runtime"); o.Action != "unchanged" {
+		t.Errorf("second apply: %+v, want unchanged", o)
+	}
+	for _, c := range commands {
+		if strings.Contains(c, "restart") {
+			t.Errorf("the second apply restarted the process: %v", commands)
+		}
+	}
+	// And the record survives an unchanged apply: the third cycle is unchanged too. This is the
+	// cycle the live mesh showed — created, unchanged, created — before the record was carried.
+	if rec, _ := state.Find("node-tools.runtime"); rec.Wrote == "" {
+		t.Fatalf("an unchanged apply dropped the digest from the record: %+v", rec)
+	}
+	commands = nil
+	third, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, state, store.OriginDeclared, run, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if o := outcomeOf(third, "node-tools.runtime"); o.Action != "unchanged" {
+		t.Errorf("third apply: %+v, want unchanged", o)
+	}
+}