diff --git a/pkg/api/agent_init_test.go b/pkg/api/agent_init_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..419ae05bb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/api/agent_init_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+package api
+
+// Blank-import pkg/agent so its init() runs during pkg/api's test binary,
+// which assigns ai.SetClusterContextProviders — called unconditionally in
+// NewServer (server.go). Before pkg/api/gpu_utilization_worker_test.go was
+// moved to pkg/api/gpuworker, that file transitively imported pkg/agent and
+// pulled the init() into every pkg/api test run. This file preserves the
+// exact same test-binary side effect without pinning any real dependency.
+//
+// The underlying hidden coupling (production callers relying on a package
+// they never import to have init'd a global var) is tracked separately —
+// see kubestellar/console#23735 comment thread.
+
+import (
+	_ "github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/agent"
+)
diff --git a/pkg/api/gpu_utilization_worker.go b/pkg/api/gpuworker/worker.go
similarity index 95%
rename from pkg/api/gpu_utilization_worker.go
rename to pkg/api/gpuworker/worker.go
index 9b7ade760d..089abfa3c4 100644
--- a/pkg/api/gpu_utilization_worker.go
+++ b/pkg/api/gpuworker/worker.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package api
+package gpuworker
 
 import (
 	"context"
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@ const (
 	maxConcurrentReservationCollectors = 10
 )
 
-// GPUUtilizationWorker periodically collects GPU utilization data for active reservations
-type GPUUtilizationWorker struct {
+// Worker periodically collects GPU utilization data for active reservations
+type Worker struct {
 	store               store.Store
 	k8sClient           *k8s.MultiClusterClient
 	interval            time.Duration
@@ -77,8 +77,8 @@ type GPUUtilizationWorker struct {
 	dcgmService   string
 }
 
-// NewGPUUtilizationWorker creates a new GPU utilization worker
-func NewGPUUtilizationWorker(s store.Store, k8sClient *k8s.MultiClusterClient, notificationService *notifications.Service) *GPUUtilizationWorker {
+// New creates a new GPU utilization worker
+func New(s store.Store, k8sClient *k8s.MultiClusterClient, notificationService *notifications.Service) *Worker {
 	intervalMs := defaultUtilPollIntervalMs
 	if envVal := os.Getenv("GPU_UTIL_POLL_INTERVAL_MS"); envVal != "" {
 		if parsed, err := strconv.Atoi(envVal); err == nil && parsed > 0 {
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ func NewGPUUtilizationWorker(s store.Store, k8sClient *k8s.MultiClusterClient, n
 	}
 
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
-	return &GPUUtilizationWorker{
+	return &Worker{
 		store:               s,
 		k8sClient:           k8sClient,
 		interval:            time.Duration(intervalMs) * time.Millisecond,
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ func NewGPUUtilizationWorker(s store.Store, k8sClient *k8s.MultiClusterClient, n
 }
 
 // Start begins the background polling loop
-func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) Start() {
+func (w *Worker) Start() {
 	w.wg.Add(1)
 	safego.GoWith("gpu-utilization-worker", func() {
 		defer w.wg.Done()
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) Start() {
 
 // Stop signals the worker to stop and waits for the background goroutine to exit.
 // It is safe to call multiple times; only the first call actually closes the stop channel.
-func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) Stop() {
+func (w *Worker) Stop() {
 	w.stopOnce.Do(func() {
 		w.baseCancel() // cancel all in-flight Kubernetes API calls (#6966)
 		close(w.stopCh)
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) Stop() {
 }
 
 // collectUtilization queries active reservations and records utilization snapshots
-func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) collectUtilization() {
+func (w *Worker) collectUtilization() {
 	if w.k8sClient == nil {
 		return
 	}
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) collectUtilization() {
 // per-namespace framebuffer utilization from the nested map. Returns
 // nil when DCGM is disabled via env flag — callers handle nil as
 // "no DCGM data, use legacy zero fallback".
-func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) scrapeDCGMPerCluster(
+func (w *Worker) scrapeDCGMPerCluster(
 	reservations []models.GPUReservation,
 	timeout time.Duration,
 ) map[string]map[string]*gpu.NamespaceMetrics {
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) scrapeDCGMPerCluster(
 // dcgmClusterMetrics is the per-namespace DCGM framebuffer map for the
 // reservation's cluster (or nil when DCGM is disabled / unreachable);
 // callers pass nil for the legacy zero-memory fallback.
-func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) collectForReservation(
+func (w *Worker) collectForReservation(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	reservation *models.GPUReservation,
 	dcgmClusterMetrics map[string]*gpu.NamespaceMetrics,
@@ -400,7 +400,7 @@ func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) collectForReservation(
 }
 
 // cleanupOldSnapshots removes snapshots older than the retention period
-func (w *GPUUtilizationWorker) cleanupOldSnapshots() {
+func (w *Worker) cleanupOldSnapshots() {
 	cutoff := time.Now().AddDate(0, 0, -snapshotRetentionDays)
 	deleted, err := w.store.DeleteOldUtilizationSnapshots(w.baseCtx, cutoff)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/api/gpu_utilization_worker_test.go b/pkg/api/gpuworker/worker_test.go
similarity index 91%
rename from pkg/api/gpu_utilization_worker_test.go
rename to pkg/api/gpuworker/worker_test.go
index a1494cbbc6..be4d319463 100644
--- a/pkg/api/gpu_utilization_worker_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/gpuworker/worker_test.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-package api
+package gpuworker
 
 import (
 	"context"
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/api"
 )
 
-func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_MetricAccuracy(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWorker_MetricAccuracy(t *testing.T) {
 	mockStore := new(test.MockStore)
 	k8sClient, _ := k8s.NewMultiClusterClient("")
 	fakeClient := k8sfake.NewSimpleClientset()
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_MetricAccuracy(t *testing.T) {
 		},
 	})
 
-	worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
+	worker := New(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
 
 	t.Run("collectForReservation - Accurate GPU calculation", func(t *testing.T) {
 		reservation := &models.GPUReservation{
@@ -172,9 +172,9 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_MetricAccuracy(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
-func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_Cleanup(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWorker_Cleanup(t *testing.T) {
 	mockStore := new(test.MockStore)
-	worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(mockStore, nil, nil)
+	worker := New(mockStore, nil, nil)
 
 	t.Run("cleanupOldSnapshots calls store", func(t *testing.T) {
 		mockStore.On("DeleteOldUtilizationSnapshots", mock.Anything).Return(int64(5), nil).Once()
@@ -183,16 +183,16 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_Cleanup(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
-func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_IntervalFromEnv(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWorker_IntervalFromEnv(t *testing.T) {
 	os.Setenv("GPU_UTIL_POLL_INTERVAL_MS", "5000")
 	defer os.Unsetenv("GPU_UTIL_POLL_INTERVAL_MS")
 
-	worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(nil, nil, nil)
+	worker := New(nil, nil, nil)
 	assert.Equal(t, 5*time.Second, worker.interval)
 }
 
-func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_StopCancel(t *testing.T) {
-	worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(nil, nil, nil)
+func TestWorker_StopCancel(t *testing.T) {
+	worker := New(nil, nil, nil)
 
 	ctx := worker.baseCtx
 	worker.Stop()
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_StopCancel(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_ThresholdAlerting(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWorker_ThresholdAlerting(t *testing.T) {
 	mockStore := new(test.MockStore)
 	notificationService := notifications.NewService()
 
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_ThresholdAlerting(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		})
 
-		worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(mockStore, k8sClient, notificationService)
+		worker := New(mockStore, k8sClient, notificationService)
 		assert.Equal(t, 80.0, worker.overThreshold)
 
 		reservation := &models.GPUReservation{
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_ThresholdAlerting(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		})
 
-		worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(mockStore, k8sClient, notificationService)
+		worker := New(mockStore, k8sClient, notificationService)
 		assert.Equal(t, 50.0, worker.underThreshold)
 
 		reservation := &models.GPUReservation{
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_ThresholdAlerting(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		})
 
-		worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(mockStore, k8sClient, notificationService)
+		worker := New(mockStore, k8sClient, notificationService)
 		assert.Equal(t, 90.0, worker.overThreshold)
 		assert.Equal(t, 10.0, worker.underThreshold)
 
@@ -372,13 +372,13 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_ThresholdAlerting(t *testing.T) {
 
 // Issue 9135 — DCGM GPU memory integration tests.
 
-func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_DCGMDisabled_MemoryZero(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWorker_DCGMDisabled_MemoryZero(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Setenv("GPU_METRICS_DCGM_ENABLED", "")
 
 	mockStore := new(test.MockStore)
 	k8sClient, _ := k8s.NewMultiClusterClient("")
 	k8sClient.InjectClient("c1", k8sfake.NewSimpleClientset())
-	worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
+	worker := New(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
 
 	if worker.dcgmEnabled {
 		t.Fatal("expected dcgmEnabled=false when GPU_METRICS_DCGM_ENABLED is unset")
@@ -404,14 +404,14 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_DCGMDisabled_MemoryZero(t *testing.T) {
 	mockStore.AssertExpectations(t)
 }
 
-func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_DCGMEnabled_EnvOverrides(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWorker_DCGMEnabled_EnvOverrides(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Setenv("GPU_METRICS_DCGM_ENABLED", "true")
 	t.Setenv("GPU_METRICS_DCGM_NAMESPACE", "custom-ns")
 	t.Setenv("GPU_METRICS_DCGM_SERVICE", "custom-svc")
 
 	mockStore := new(test.MockStore)
 	k8sClient, _ := k8s.NewMultiClusterClient("")
-	worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
+	worker := New(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
 
 	if !worker.dcgmEnabled {
 		t.Fatal("expected dcgmEnabled=true when GPU_METRICS_DCGM_ENABLED=true")
@@ -424,14 +424,14 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_DCGMEnabled_EnvOverrides(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_DCGMEnabled_MemoryFromScraper(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWorker_DCGMEnabled_MemoryFromScraper(t *testing.T) {
 	// Pass DCGM metrics directly to collectForReservation to verify the
 	// percentage computation and that non-matching namespaces fall back to 0.
 	mockStore := new(test.MockStore)
 	k8sClient, _ := k8s.NewMultiClusterClient("")
 	fakeClient := k8sfake.NewSimpleClientset()
 	k8sClient.InjectClient("c1", fakeClient)
-	worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
+	worker := New(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
 
 	// 75% framebuffer utilization: 30720 used out of 30720+10240 total.
 	const (
@@ -457,13 +457,13 @@ func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_DCGMEnabled_MemoryFromScraper(t *testing.T) {
 	mockStore.AssertExpectations(t)
 }
 
-func TestGPUUtilizationWorker_DCGMEnabled_NamespaceMiss_Zero(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWorker_DCGMEnabled_NamespaceMiss_Zero(t *testing.T) {
 	// DCGM returned data, but not for this reservation's namespace.
 	mockStore := new(test.MockStore)
 	k8sClient, _ := k8s.NewMultiClusterClient("")
 	fakeClient := k8sfake.NewSimpleClientset()
 	k8sClient.InjectClient("c1", fakeClient)
-	worker := NewGPUUtilizationWorker(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
+	worker := New(mockStore, k8sClient, nil)
 
 	dcgmByNs := map[string]*agent.DCGMNamespaceMetrics{
 		"other-ns": {FBUsedMiB: 1000, FBFreeMiB: 1000, SampleCount: 1},
diff --git a/pkg/api/server.go b/pkg/api/server.go
index 31a8e3b06a..8fb4cd3bed 100644
--- a/pkg/api/server.go
+++ b/pkg/api/server.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/ai"
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/audit"
+	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/gpuworker"
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/metrics"
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/middleware"
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/tracing"
@@ -269,7 +270,7 @@ func NewServer(cfg Config) (*Server, error) {
 
 	// Start GPU utilization background worker (collects hourly snapshots)
 	if k8sClient != nil {
-		server.background.gpuUtilWorker = NewGPUUtilizationWorker(db, k8sClient, notificationService)
+		server.background.gpuUtilWorker = gpuworker.New(db, k8sClient, notificationService)
 		server.background.gpuUtilWorker.Start()
 	} else {
 		slog.Info("[Server] GPU utilization worker skipped — no Kubernetes client available")
diff --git a/pkg/api/server_runtime.go b/pkg/api/server_runtime.go
index 42deb7620d..f93aecda70 100644
--- a/pkg/api/server_runtime.go
+++ b/pkg/api/server_runtime.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/handlers/auth"
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/handlers/rewards"
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/handlers/workloads"
+	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/gpuworker"
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/api/middleware"
 	"github.com/kubestellar/console/pkg/k8s"
 )
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ type authRuntime struct {
 }
 
 type backgroundServices struct {
-	gpuUtilWorker    *GPUUtilizationWorker
+	gpuUtilWorker    *gpuworker.Worker
 	workloadHandlers *workloads.WorkloadHandlers
 	rewardsHandler   *rewards.RewardsHandler
 }