diff --git a/local/scripts/check-pipe2-init-invariant.sh b/local/scripts/check-pipe2-init-invariant.sh
index b18c7f4ac1..f01cc5ca45 100755
--- a/local/scripts/check-pipe2-init-invariant.sh
+++ b/local/scripts/check-pipe2-init-invariant.sh
@@ -54,6 +54,20 @@ if pipe_line=$(grep -nE '\.unwrap_or_else.*panic.*pipe' "$file_path" | head -1);
     exit 1
 fi
 
+panic_line=""
+if panic_line=$(grep -nE '\bpanic!\s*\(' "$file_path" | head -1); then
+    line_no="${panic_line%%:*}"
+    fail "panic! present at line $line_no: ${panic_line#*:}"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+expect_line=""
+if expect_line=$(grep -nE '\.expect\(' "$file_path" | head -1); then
+    line_no="${expect_line%%:*}"
+    fail "expect() present at line $line_no: ${expect_line#*:}"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 panic_count=$(grep -o 'panic!' "$file_path" | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
 expect_count=$(grep -o '\.expect(' "$file_path" | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
 warn "panic! count: $panic_count"
diff --git a/local/scripts/test-boot-to-login.sh b/local/scripts/test-boot-to-login.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..def920a31b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/local/scripts/test-boot-to-login.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+script_dir="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+project_root="$(git -C "$script_dir" rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+iso_path="$project_root/build/x86_64/redbear-mini.iso"
+timeout_secs=60
+keep_running=0
+
+if [[ -t 1 ]]; then
+    c_reset=$'\033[0m'
+    c_red=$'\033[31m'
+    c_green=$'\033[32m'
+    c_yellow=$'\033[33m'
+else
+    c_reset=''
+    c_red=''
+    c_green=''
+    c_yellow=''
+fi
+
+ok() { printf '%sOK%s: %s\n' "$c_green" "$c_reset" "$*"; }
+warn() { printf '%sWARN%s: %s\n' "$c_yellow" "$c_reset" "$*"; }
+fail() { printf '%sFAIL%s: %s\n' "$c_red" "$c_reset" "$*" >&2; }
+
+usage() {
+    cat <<EOF
+Usage: $(basename "$0") [--timeout=N] [--keep-running] [ISO]
+
+Boot a Red Bear ISO in headless QEMU and check for boot/login markers.
+
+Options:
+  --timeout=N      Timeout in seconds (default: 60)
+  --keep-running   Do not kill QEMU after timeout; useful for manual debugging
+  -h, --help       Show this help
+
+Default ISO: build/x86_64/redbear-mini.iso
+EOF
+}
+
+for arg in "$@"; do
+    case "$arg" in
+        --timeout=*) timeout_secs="${arg#*=}" ;;
+        --keep-running) keep_running=1 ;;
+        -h|--help) usage; exit 0 ;;
+        --*) fail "unknown argument: $arg"; usage; exit 2 ;;
+        *) iso_path="$arg" ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+command -v qemu-system-x86_64 >/dev/null 2>&1 || { fail "qemu-system-x86_64 not found"; exit 1; }
+[[ -f "$iso_path" ]] || { fail "ISO not found: $iso_path"; exit 1; }
+
+bootlog="/tmp/bootlog.txt"
+: > "$bootlog"
+
+set +e
+if (( keep_running )); then
+    qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2G -nographic -serial mon:stdio -monitor none -cdrom "$iso_path" -boot d 2>&1 | tee "$bootlog"
+    qemu_status=${PIPESTATUS[0]}
+else
+    timeout "$timeout_secs" qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2G -nographic -serial mon:stdio -monitor none -cdrom "$iso_path" -boot d 2>&1 | tee "$bootlog"
+    qemu_status=${PIPESTATUS[0]}
+    if [[ $qemu_status -eq 124 ]]; then
+        warn "QEMU timed out after ${timeout_secs}s"
+    fi
+fi
+set -e
+
+python3 - "$bootlog" "$timeout_secs" <<'PY'
+import sys, re
+path = sys.argv[1]
+text = open(path, 'r', errors='ignore').read().lower()
+markers = [
+    ("initfs", "switchroot to /scheme/initfs"),
+    ("logd", "started logger", "[  ok   ]"),
+    ("runtime", "00_runtime.target", "runtime target"),
+    ("login", "ion>", "login:", "red bear os login"),
+]
+results = []
+pos = 0
+for item in markers:
+    name, *needles = item
+    found = -1
+    for needle in needles:
+        idx = text.find(needle.lower(), pos)
+        if idx != -1 and (found == -1 or idx < found):
+            found = idx
+    results.append((name, found != -1))
+    if found != -1:
+        pos = found
+
+for name, ok in results:
+    print(f"{name.upper()}: {'OK' if ok else f'not reached in {sys.argv[2]}s'}")
+sys.exit(0 if all(ok for _, ok in results) else 1)
+PY