diff --git a/services/nginx/app/resources/edge-gateway-agent/gateway-launcher.sh b/services/nginx/app/resources/edge-gateway-agent/gateway-launcher.sh
index cd502c8a..8d73ebe9 100644
--- a/services/nginx/app/resources/edge-gateway-agent/gateway-launcher.sh
+++ b/services/nginx/app/resources/edge-gateway-agent/gateway-launcher.sh
@@ -64,6 +64,32 @@ config_value() {
   ' "$CONFIG_PATH" "$key" "$fallback"
 }
 
+staged_update_value() {
+  local key="$1"
+  local fallback="${2:-}"
+  php -r '
+    $path = $argv[1];
+    $key = $argv[2];
+    $fallback = $argv[3];
+    if (!is_file($path)) {
+        echo $fallback;
+        exit(0);
+    }
+    $decoded = json_decode((string)file_get_contents($path), true);
+    if (!is_array($decoded) || !array_key_exists($key, $decoded) || $decoded[$key] === null || $decoded[$key] === "") {
+        echo $fallback;
+        exit(0);
+    }
+    echo is_scalar($decoded[$key]) ? (string)$decoded[$key] : json_encode($decoded[$key], JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES);
+  ' "$STAGED_UPDATE_PATH" "$key" "$fallback"
+}
+
+staged_update_is_applied() {
+  local status
+  status="$(staged_update_value status '')"
+  [ "$status" = "APPLIED" ]
+}
+
 ensure_dirs() {
   mkdir -p "$RUNTIME_DIR" "$RUNTIME_DIR/backups"
 }
@@ -106,7 +132,10 @@ ensure_stack_env() {
 
 within_update_window() {
   local window
-  window="$(config_value updateWindow '02:00-04:00')"
+  window="$(staged_update_value update_window '')"
+  if [ -z "$window" ]; then
+    window="$(config_value updateWindow '02:00-04:00')"
+  fi
   php -r '
     $window = $argv[1];
     [$start, $end] = array_pad(explode("-", $window, 2), 2, "");
@@ -286,6 +315,10 @@ case "$ACTION" in
     reconcile_stack
     ;;
   reconcile)
+    if [ -f "$STAGED_UPDATE_PATH" ] && staged_update_is_applied; then
+      log "Staged update already applied; nothing to reconcile"
+      exit 0
+    fi
     if [ -f "$STAGED_UPDATE_PATH" ] && ! within_update_window; then
       log "Update is staged but outside the maintenance window; keeping current stack running"
       exit 0
diff --git a/services/nginx/app/tests/Unit/Selfserve/EdgeGatewayUpdateLifecycleTest.php b/services/nginx/app/tests/Unit/Selfserve/EdgeGatewayUpdateLifecycleTest.php
index 28b06195..263a56d5 100644
--- a/services/nginx/app/tests/Unit/Selfserve/EdgeGatewayUpdateLifecycleTest.php
+++ b/services/nginx/app/tests/Unit/Selfserve/EdgeGatewayUpdateLifecycleTest.php
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ it('builds the installer around the compose stack artifacts and management polli
     expect($launcherSource)->toContain('ensure_stack_env');
     expect($launcherSource)->toContain('REDIS_PASSWORD');
     expect($launcherSource)->toContain('chmod 0600 "$ENV_FILE"');
+    expect($launcherSource)->toContain('staged_update_value()');
+    expect($launcherSource)->toContain('window="$(staged_update_value update_window \'\')"');
+    expect($launcherSource)->toContain('Staged update already applied; nothing to reconcile');
     expect($launcherSource)->toContain('AUTO_UPDATER_BASE_IMAGE="$auto_updater_base_image"');
     expect($launcherSource)->toContain('COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME="$compose_project_name" compose_cmd -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" ps || true');
     expect($launcherSource)->toContain('COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME="$compose_project_name" compose_cmd -f "$COMPOSE_FILE" logs --tail=80 || true');