diff --git a/app/Actions/Shared/ComplexStatusCheck.php b/app/Actions/Shared/ComplexStatusCheck.php
index e06136e3c..fbaa8cae5 100644
--- a/app/Actions/Shared/ComplexStatusCheck.php
+++ b/app/Actions/Shared/ComplexStatusCheck.php
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ private function aggregateContainerStatuses($application, $containers)
         }
 
         if ($relevantContainerCount === 0) {
-            return 'running:healthy';
+            return 'exited:healthy';
         }
 
         if ($hasRestarting) {
diff --git a/app/Models/Service.php b/app/Models/Service.php
index ef755d105..15ee2d1bc 100644
--- a/app/Models/Service.php
+++ b/app/Models/Service.php
@@ -244,6 +244,11 @@ public function getStatusAttribute()
             }
         }
 
+        // If all services are excluded from status checks, return a default exited status
+        if ($complexStatus === null && $complexHealth === null) {
+            return 'exited:healthy';
+        }
+
         return "{$complexStatus}:{$complexHealth}";
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/Unit/ExcludeFromHealthCheckTest.php b/tests/Unit/ExcludeFromHealthCheckTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..56da2e6c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/ExcludeFromHealthCheckTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * Unit tests to verify that applications and services with all containers
+ * excluded from health checks (exclude_from_hc: true) show correct status.
+ *
+ * These tests verify the fix for the issue where services with all containers
+ * excluded would show incorrect "running:healthy" or ":" status, causing
+ * broken UI state with active start/stop buttons.
+ */
+it('ensures ComplexStatusCheck returns exited status when all containers excluded', function () {
+    $complexStatusCheckFile = file_get_contents(__DIR__.'/../../app/Actions/Shared/ComplexStatusCheck.php');
+
+    // Check that when all containers are excluded (relevantContainerCount === 0),
+    // the status is set to 'exited:healthy' instead of 'running:healthy'
+    expect($complexStatusCheckFile)
+        ->toContain("if (\$relevantContainerCount === 0) {\n            return 'exited:healthy';\n        }")
+        ->not->toContain("if (\$relevantContainerCount === 0) {\n            return 'running:healthy';\n        }");
+});
+
+it('ensures Service model returns exited status when all services excluded', function () {
+    $serviceModelFile = file_get_contents(__DIR__.'/../../app/Models/Service.php');
+
+    // Check that when all services are excluded from status checks,
+    // the Service model returns 'exited:healthy' instead of ':' (null:null)
+    expect($serviceModelFile)
+        ->toContain('// If all services are excluded from status checks, return a default exited status')
+        ->toContain("if (\$complexStatus === null && \$complexHealth === null) {\n            return 'exited:healthy';\n        }");
+});
+
+it('ensures GetContainersStatus returns null when all containers excluded', function () {
+    $getContainersStatusFile = file_get_contents(__DIR__.'/../../app/Actions/Docker/GetContainersStatus.php');
+
+    // Check that when all containers are excluded, the aggregateApplicationStatus
+    // method returns null to avoid updating status
+    expect($getContainersStatusFile)
+        ->toContain('// If all containers are excluded, don\'t update status')
+        ->toContain("if (\$relevantStatuses->isEmpty()) {\n            return null;\n        }");
+});
+
+it('ensures exclude_from_hc flag is properly checked in ComplexStatusCheck', function () {
+    $complexStatusCheckFile = file_get_contents(__DIR__.'/../../app/Actions/Shared/ComplexStatusCheck.php');
+
+    // Verify that exclude_from_hc is properly parsed from docker-compose
+    expect($complexStatusCheckFile)
+        ->toContain('$excludeFromHc = data_get($serviceConfig, \'exclude_from_hc\', false);')
+        ->toContain('if ($excludeFromHc || $restartPolicy === \'no\') {')
+        ->toContain('$excludedContainers->push($serviceName);');
+});
+
+it('ensures exclude_from_hc flag is properly checked in GetContainersStatus', function () {
+    $getContainersStatusFile = file_get_contents(__DIR__.'/../../app/Actions/Docker/GetContainersStatus.php');
+
+    // Verify that exclude_from_hc is properly parsed from docker-compose
+    expect($getContainersStatusFile)
+        ->toContain('$excludeFromHc = data_get($serviceConfig, \'exclude_from_hc\', false);')
+        ->toContain('if ($excludeFromHc || $restartPolicy === \'no\') {')
+        ->toContain('$excludedContainers->push($serviceName);');
+});