diff --git a/nix/vm-tests/full-setup.nix b/nix/vm-tests/full-setup.nix
index ec3a2677c..76b941a1c 100644
--- a/nix/vm-tests/full-setup.nix
+++ b/nix/vm-tests/full-setup.nix
@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ pkgs.testers.runNixOSTest (
           settle(
               f"curl --fail --silent --unix-socket {SOCKET} {API}/api/agents/status "
               "| jq -e '[.[] | select(.hive == \"" + HIVE + "\" and .freshness == \"fresh\" and .needs_login == true)"
-              " | .name] | contains([\"iris\", \"spawn\"])'",
+              " | .name] | map(select(. == \"iris\" or . == \"spawn\")) | unique | length == 2'",
               2400,
               ["swarm-controller", "hive-c0re"],
           )