diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c5e7fd0..4aa32d0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,20 @@
+## v0.220.2 — the operator route to clear a hold now says the restart is required (2026-08-22, R-379)
+**MinAgent: 0.129.0** (unchanged)
+
+`--clear-restore-hold` runs as a SECOND process. It clears the hold in `settings.json`, but the
+RUNNING controller holds its own in-memory `Settings` and keeps refusing until it reloads. Measured on
+`demo-hp`: the clear succeeded, the file was correct, and the customer's start button still refused —
+until the controller was restarted, after which the app started normally.
+
+The command now prints the restart it needs. **A route the operator believes worked, and did not, is
+worse than no route**, and this was found by using it rather than by reading it.
+
+Recorded with it: there is a lost-update window while both processes hold the file. Restarting
+promptly closes it. Clearing through the running controller would remove both problems and is the
+right shape later; it needs an operator tier the controller's HTTP surface does not have today — it
+authenticates as the customer, and a customer clearing their own hold is what the hold exists to
+prevent.
+
 ## v0.220.1 — the rollback poured the undo into a container that no longer existed (2026-08-22, R-379)
 **MinAgent: 0.129.0** (unchanged)
 
diff --git a/controller/cmd/controller/main.go b/controller/cmd/controller/main.go
index a6b9b99..685df25 100644
--- a/controller/cmd/controller/main.go
+++ b/controller/cmd/controller/main.go
@@ -200,7 +200,22 @@ func main() {
 			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "no restore hold in force for %q — nothing was changed\n", *clearRestoreHold)
 			os.Exit(2)
 		}
-		fmt.Printf("restore hold cleared for %s — the app may be started again. Check its data first: the undo copies are in its unit's db-dumps dir.\n", *clearRestoreHold)
+		// THE RESTART IS NOT OPTIONAL, and saying so is the difference between a route that works
+		// and one an operator believes worked. This runs as a SECOND process: it clears the hold in
+		// settings.json, but the RUNNING controller holds its own in-memory Settings and keeps
+		// refusing until it reloads. Measured on demo-hp 2026-08-22 — the clear succeeded, the file
+		// was correct, and the customer's start button still refused until the controller restarted.
+		//
+		// There is also a lost-update window while both processes hold the file: if the running
+		// controller saves settings.json from its own copy before the restart, the clear is undone.
+		// Restarting promptly closes it. A route that clears through the running controller would
+		// remove both problems and is the right shape later; it needs an operator tier the
+		// controller's HTTP surface does not have today (it authenticates as the CUSTOMER, and a
+		// customer clearing their own hold is precisely what the hold exists to prevent).
+		fmt.Printf("restore hold cleared for %s in settings.json.\n", *clearRestoreHold)
+		fmt.Printf("  NOW RESTART THE CONTROLLER, or it will keep refusing to start the app:\n")
+		fmt.Printf("    systemctl restart felhom-controller-bootstrap.service\n")
+		fmt.Printf("  Check the app's data first — the undo copies are in its unit's db-dumps dir.\n")
 		os.Exit(0)
 	}