diff --git a/tests/Ioxide.Tests.E2E/Core/PipeReaderContractTests.cs b/tests/Ioxide.Tests.E2E/Core/PipeReaderContractTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c741c493
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Ioxide.Tests.E2E/Core/PipeReaderContractTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,245 @@
+using System.IO.Pipelines;
+using System.Buffers;
+using System.Net.Sockets;
+using System.Text;
+using ioxide;
+
+namespace Ioxide.Tests;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// <see cref="TcpConnectionPipeReader"/> against the PipeReader contract, and against the ring it
+/// is built on: does <c>AdvanceTo(consumed, examined)</c> mean what Pipelines says it means, and do
+/// recv buffers go back as consumption moves through them (#226).
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Both halves matter for a reader that hands out ring memory rather than copies. Getting
+/// <c>examined</c> wrong is a spin - ReadAsync hands back the same bytes forever; getting
+/// <c>consumed</c> wrong is either a leak (the buffer never returns to the group) or memory handed
+/// back while the caller still holds a slice of it.
+///
+/// Every handler here ignores its first connection when that connection sends nothing and closes:
+/// TestServer proves a port is listening by connecting and dropping, so each server serves one
+/// probe that is not the test's.
+/// </remarks>
+internal static class PipeReaderContractTests
+{
+    public static void Register(Runner runner)
+    {
+        runner.Test("pipereader: examined-to-the-end parks the next read instead of respinning it", () =>
+        {
+            // The contract: having examined everything held, ReadAsync must not come back until
+            // there is something NEW. A reader that ignores examined returns the same bytes
+            // immediately and an ordinary "read until I have a full frame" loop becomes a spin.
+            var report = new TaskCompletionSource<string>(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
+
+            int port = TestServer.Start(async (_, conn) =>
+            {
+                var reader = new TcpConnectionPipeReader(conn);
+                try
+                {
+                    ReadResult first = await reader.ReadAsync();
+                    if (first.Buffer.IsEmpty && first.IsCompleted)
+                    {
+                        return;   // the harness probe
+                    }
+
+                    string firstSeen = Text(first.Buffer);
+
+                    // Consumed nothing, examined everything.
+                    reader.AdvanceTo(first.Buffer.Start, first.Buffer.End);
+
+                    // Must not complete until the client sends its second chunk.
+                    // Shorter than the pause the client takes before its second chunk, so a read
+                    // that has not come back by here is parked rather than merely slow.
+                    Task<ReadResult> second = reader.ReadAsync().AsTask();
+                    bool parked = await Task.WhenAny(second, Task.Delay(300)) != second;
+
+                    ReadResult r = await second;
+                    string secondSeen = Text(r.Buffer);
+                    reader.AdvanceTo(r.Buffer.End);
+
+                    report.TrySetResult(parked
+                        ? $"ok:{firstSeen}:{secondSeen}"
+                        : $"the second read returned without new bytes: '{secondSeen}'");
+                }
+                catch (Exception e)
+                {
+                    report.TrySetResult($"{e.GetType().Name}: {e.Message}");
+                }
+                finally
+                {
+                    reader.Complete();
+                    conn.DecRef();
+                }
+            });
+
+            using var client = new TcpClient();
+            client.Connect("127.0.0.1", port);
+            NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream();
+
+            stream.Write("AB"u8);
+            Thread.Sleep(900);      // comfortably past the handler's 300ms deadline
+            stream.Write("C"u8);
+
+            Assert.True(report.Task.Wait(10_000), "the handler never reported");
+
+            // Unconsumed bytes must come back with the new ones appended, not be dropped.
+            Assert.Equal("ok:AB:ABC", report.Task.Result);
+        });
+
+        runner.Test("pipereader: consuming part of one recv leaves the rest readable", () =>
+        {
+            // Header and body arriving in a single recv, with the handler consuming only the header.
+            // The held sequence then starts mid-segment, which is where AdvanceTo's offsets have to
+            // be rebased onto the sequence start - GetOffset counts from the segment's RunningIndex,
+            // not from the sequence's logical start, so without the rebase the byte counters go
+            // negative and the next read parks forever on bytes that already arrived.
+            var report = new TaskCompletionSource<string>(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
+
+            int port = TestServer.Start(async (_, conn) =>
+            {
+                var reader = new TcpConnectionPipeReader(conn);
+                try
+                {
+                    ReadResult first = await reader.ReadAsync();
+                    if (first.Buffer.IsEmpty && first.IsCompleted)
+                    {
+                        return;
+                    }
+
+                    // Wait until the whole "HEAD|BODY" is in one buffer.
+                    while (first.Buffer.Length < 9)
+                    {
+                        reader.AdvanceTo(first.Buffer.Start, first.Buffer.End);
+                        first = await reader.ReadAsync();
+                    }
+
+                    string whole = Text(first.Buffer);
+
+                    // Consume the header only; the body stays held, mid-segment.
+                    reader.AdvanceTo(first.Buffer.GetPosition(5), first.Buffer.GetPosition(5));
+
+                    // The body is unexamined, so this must complete from what is already held.
+                    Task<ReadResult> again = reader.ReadAsync().AsTask();
+                    bool immediate = await Task.WhenAny(again, Task.Delay(2_000)) == again;
+
+                    if (!immediate)
+                    {
+                        report.TrySetResult($"parked on bytes already held (saw '{whole}')");
+                        return;
+                    }
+
+                    ReadResult rest = await again;
+                    string body = Text(rest.Buffer);
+                    reader.AdvanceTo(rest.Buffer.End);
+
+                    report.TrySetResult($"{whole}|{body}");
+                }
+                catch (Exception e)
+                {
+                    report.TrySetResult($"{e.GetType().Name}: {e.Message}");
+                }
+                finally
+                {
+                    reader.Complete();
+                    conn.DecRef();
+                }
+            });
+
+            using var client = new TcpClient();
+            client.Connect("127.0.0.1", port);
+            client.GetStream().Write("HEAD|BODY"u8);
+
+            Assert.True(report.Task.Wait(10_000), "the handler never reported");
+            Assert.Equal("HEAD|BODY|BODY", report.Task.Result);
+        });
+
+        runner.Test("pipereader: recv buffers go back to the ring as consumption passes them", () =>
+        {
+            // The direct form of "do we release the ring buffers as we advance". The buffer group is
+            // deliberately tiny: if a consumed buffer did not return, this exhausts the group within
+            // a handful of messages and the connection stalls or is torn down. Surviving far more
+            // round trips than the group has slots is the assertion.
+            const int slots = 8;
+            const int rounds = 2_000;
+
+            var report = new TaskCompletionSource<string>(TaskCreationOptions.RunContinuationsAsynchronously);
+
+            int port = TestServer.StartConfigured(async (_, conn) =>
+            {
+                var reader = new TcpConnectionPipeReader(conn);
+                int served = 0;
+                bool isProbe = true;
+                try
+                {
+                    while (true)
+                    {
+                        ReadResult result = await reader.ReadAsync();
+
+                        if (result.Buffer.IsEmpty && result.IsCompleted)
+                        {
+                            break;
+                        }
+                        isProbe = false;
+
+                        // Consume everything: every slice becomes fully consumed, so every buffer
+                        // behind it must be handed back.
+                        long n = result.Buffer.Length;
+                        reader.AdvanceTo(result.Buffer.End);
+
+                        for (long i = 0; i < n; i++)
+                        {
+                            conn.Write("."u8);
+                        }
+                        await conn.FlushAsync();
+
+                        served += (int)n;
+                        if (result.IsCompleted)
+                        {
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    if (!isProbe)
+                    {
+                        report.TrySetResult($"served {served}");
+                    }
+                }
+                catch (Exception e)
+                {
+                    report.TrySetResult($"{e.GetType().Name}: {e.Message} (after {served})");
+                }
+                finally
+                {
+                    reader.Complete();
+                    conn.DecRef();
+                }
+            }, new ServerConfig
+            {
+                RecvBufferSize = 512,
+                RecvSlots = slots,
+                Tcp = new TcpOptions { WriteSlabSize = 4096, PoolMax = 8, RecvQueueEntries = 64 },
+            }).Port;
+
+            using var client = new TcpClient();
+            client.Connect("127.0.0.1", port);
+            client.ReceiveTimeout = 15_000;
+            NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream();
+
+            var one = new byte[1];
+            for (int i = 0; i < rounds; i++)
+            {
+                stream.Write("x"u8);
+                Assert.Equal(1, stream.Read(one, 0, 1));
+            }
+
+            client.Close();
+            Assert.True(report.Task.Wait(10_000), "the handler never reported");
+
+            // Many times the slot count, so the group must have been recycled repeatedly.
+            Assert.Equal($"served {rounds}", report.Task.Result);
+        });
+    }
+
+    private static string Text(in ReadOnlySequence<byte> buffer) => Encoding.ASCII.GetString(buffer.ToArray());
+}
diff --git a/tests/Ioxide.Tests.E2E/Program.cs b/tests/Ioxide.Tests.E2E/Program.cs
index 0e74cc51..2e4f009e 100644
--- a/tests/Ioxide.Tests.E2E/Program.cs
+++ b/tests/Ioxide.Tests.E2E/Program.cs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ private static int Main()
         AffinityTests.Register(runner);
         HardeningTests.Register(runner);
         RecvBufferReclaimTests.Register(runner);
+        PipeReaderContractTests.Register(runner);
         TcpTimeoutTests.Register(runner);
         UdpTests.Register(runner);
         QuicTests.Register(runner);