diff --git a/contrib/criu-service-client/.gitignore b/contrib/criu-service-client/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7558a76f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/criu-service-client/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+criu-service-client
+*.o
+.install/
+criu-service.socket
+criu-service.log
+criu-service.pid
diff --git a/contrib/criu-service-client/Makefile b/contrib/criu-service-client/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e6971a6ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/criu-service-client/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+CC ?= gcc
+
+CFLAGS ?= -Wall -Wextra -O2
+LDFLAGS ?=
+LDLIBS := -lcriu
+
+TARGET := criu-service-client
+SRC := criu-service-client.c
+OBJ := $(SRC:.c=.o)
+
+# By default, build libcriu from source into a local staging directory.
+# Set LOCAL=0 to use the system-installed libcriu and criu instead:
+#   make LOCAL=0
+LOCAL ?= 1
+
+INSTALL_DIR := $(CURDIR)/.install
+ifeq ($(LOCAL),1)
+CRIU_INCLUDE := $(INSTALL_DIR)/include
+CRIU_LIB := $(INSTALL_DIR)/lib
+CFLAGS += -I$(CRIU_INCLUDE)
+LDFLAGS += -L$(CRIU_LIB)
+endif
+
+all: $(TARGET)
+.PHONY: all
+
+$(TARGET): $(OBJ)
+	$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS)
+
+ifeq ($(LOCAL),1)
+%.o: %.c | $(CRIU_INCLUDE)
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
+
+$(CRIU_LIB)/libcriu.so:
+	$(MAKE) -C ../../ install-lib \
+		DESTDIR=$(INSTALL_DIR) PREFIX=/ LIBDIR=/lib \
+		SKIP_PIP_INSTALL=1
+
+$(CRIU_INCLUDE): $(CRIU_LIB)/libcriu.so
+	@:
+else
+%.o: %.c
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
+endif
+
+ifeq ($(LOCAL),1)
+CRIU_BIN := $(CURDIR)/../../criu/criu
+else
+CRIU_BIN := criu
+endif
+
+CRIU_SERVICE_SOCKET ?= $(CURDIR)/criu-service.socket
+CRIU_SERVICE_LOG ?= $(CURDIR)/criu-service.log
+CRIU_SERVICE_PIDFILE ?= $(CURDIR)/criu-service.pid
+
+start-service:
+	$(CRIU_BIN) service --address $(CRIU_SERVICE_SOCKET) \
+		--log-file $(CRIU_SERVICE_LOG) \
+		--pidfile $(CRIU_SERVICE_PIDFILE) -d -v4
+	@echo "CRIU service started on $(CRIU_SERVICE_SOCKET) (PID $$(cat $(CRIU_SERVICE_PIDFILE)))"
+.PHONY: start-service
+
+stop-service:
+	@if [ -s $(CRIU_SERVICE_PIDFILE) ]; then \
+		kill $$(cat $(CRIU_SERVICE_PIDFILE)) 2>/dev/null || true; \
+		rm -f $(CRIU_SERVICE_PIDFILE); \
+	else \
+		echo "CRIU service not running (no pidfile at $(CRIU_SERVICE_PIDFILE))"; \
+	fi
+.PHONY: stop-service
+
+clean:
+	rm -f $(TARGET) $(OBJ)
+.PHONY: clean
+
+distclean: clean
+	rm -rf $(INSTALL_DIR)
+.PHONY: distclean
diff --git a/contrib/criu-service-client/README.md b/contrib/criu-service-client/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2502a30e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/criu-service-client/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+# CRIU service client
+
+An example CRIU service client that uses `libcriu` to checkpoint and restore
+processes. It demonstrates how to use the libcriu C API as an alternative to
+invoking the `criu` command-line tool directly.
+
+The option names mirror those of the `criu` CLI so that switching between the
+two is straightforward.
+
+## Building
+
+By default, `make` builds `libcriu` from the source tree so there is
+no need to install anything first:
+
+```
+make
+```
+
+If you already have `libcriu` installed on your system (via the
+`criu-devel` RPM or `libcriu-dev` DEB package), you can skip the
+source build:
+
+```
+make LOCAL=0
+```
+
+## Usage
+
+```
+criu-service-client <dump|pre-dump|restore> [OPTIONS]
+```
+
+### Dump
+
+Checkpoint a running process into an image directory:
+
+```
+sudo criu-service-client dump -t <PID> -D /tmp/imgs -j -v4
+```
+
+### Pre-dump
+
+Pre-dump captures only the modified memory pages while the process keeps
+running. This reduces final dump downtime by transferring most memory ahead
+of time. Use `--prev-images-dir` on subsequent pre-dumps or the final dump
+to point to the previous image directory (relative to `-D`):
+
+```
+mkdir -p /tmp/imgs/1 /tmp/imgs/2 /tmp/imgs/3
+
+sudo criu-service-client pre-dump -t <PID> -D /tmp/imgs/1 --track-mem -v4
+sudo criu-service-client pre-dump -t <PID> -D /tmp/imgs/2 --prev-images-dir ../1 --track-mem -v4
+sudo criu-service-client dump    -t <PID> -D /tmp/imgs/3 --prev-images-dir ../2 --track-mem -j -v4
+```
+
+### Restore
+
+Restore a process from a previously created checkpoint:
+
+```
+sudo criu-service-client restore -D /tmp/imgs -j -v4
+```
+
+### Connecting to a CRIU service
+
+By default the client launches `criu` internally via libcriu. To talk to an
+already-running `criu service` daemon, start the service first and then pass
+`--service-address`:
+
+```
+sudo make start-service
+sudo criu-service-client dump -t <PID> -D /tmp/imgs --service-address ./criu-service.socket
+```
+
+The `start-service` target daemonizes `criu service` with a pidfile. Stop
+it with `make stop-service`. The socket, log, and pidfile paths are
+configurable:
+
+```
+sudo make start-service CRIU_SERVICE_SOCKET=/var/run/criu.socket CRIU_SERVICE_LOG=/var/log/criu.log
+sudo make stop-service
+```
+
+## Testing
+
+Run the test suite (requires root for dump/restore operations):
+
+```
+sudo make test
+```
+
+This runs three tests:
+
+- **run.sh** - iterative pre-dump, dump, and restore using a loop workload
+- **run-shell-job.py** - dump and restore of a process with a controlling
+  terminal (`--shell-job`)
+- **run-service.sh** - pre-dump, dump, and restore through a `criu service`
+  daemon (`--service-address`)
+
+To test against the system-installed CRIU instead of building from source:
+
+```
+sudo make LOCAL=0 test
+```
diff --git a/contrib/criu-service-client/criu-service-client.c b/contrib/criu-service-client/criu-service-client.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2acc73101
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/criu-service-client/criu-service-client.c
@@ -0,0 +1,384 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <limits.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <getopt.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+#include <termios.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/wait.h>
+#include <criu/criu.h>
+
+enum action {
+	ACT_DUMP,
+	ACT_PRE_DUMP,
+	ACT_RESTORE
+};
+
+static struct option long_opts[] = {
+	{ "tree", required_argument, 0, 't' },
+	{ "images-dir", required_argument, 0, 'D' },
+	{ "prev-images-dir", required_argument, 0, 7 },
+	{ "shell-job", no_argument, 0, 'j' },
+	{ "leave-running", no_argument, 0, 'R' },
+	{ "tcp-established", no_argument, 0, 1 },
+	{ "tcp-close", no_argument, 0, 6 },
+	{ "ext-unix-sk", no_argument, 0, 'x' },
+	{ "file-locks", no_argument, 0, 'l' },
+	{ "manage-cgroups", no_argument, 0, 2 },
+	{ "track-mem", no_argument, 0, 3 },
+	{ "auto-dedup", no_argument, 0, 4 },
+	{ "log-file", required_argument, 0, 'o' },
+	{ "verbosity", optional_argument, 0, 'v' },
+	{ "service-address", required_argument, 0, 5 },
+	{ "help", no_argument, 0, 'h' },
+	{ 0, 0, 0, 0 }
+};
+
+static void print_usage(FILE *out)
+{
+	fprintf(out, "Usage: criu-service-client <dump|pre-dump|restore> [OPTIONS]\n\n");
+	fprintf(out, "Options:\n");
+	fprintf(out, "  -t, --tree <PID>              Target PID to checkpoint (dump/pre-dump only)\n");
+	fprintf(out, "  -D, --images-dir <DIR>        Directory to store/load checkpoint images\n");
+	fprintf(out, "      --prev-images-dir <DIR>   Path to parent images from a previous dump\n");
+	fprintf(out, "  -j, --shell-job               Allow dumping processes with TTY\n");
+	fprintf(out, "  -R, --leave-running           Leave the process running after dump\n");
+	fprintf(out, "      --tcp-established         Dump established TCP connections\n");
+	fprintf(out, "      --tcp-close               Close TCP connections on restore\n");
+	fprintf(out, "  -x, --ext-unix-sk             Dump external Unix sockets\n");
+	fprintf(out, "  -l, --file-locks              Dump file locks\n");
+	fprintf(out, "      --manage-cgroups          Manage cgroups\n");
+	fprintf(out, "      --track-mem               Track memory changes\n");
+	fprintf(out, "      --auto-dedup              Deduplicate memory pages automatically\n");
+	fprintf(out, "  -o, --log-file <FILE>         Log file path (default: criu.log)\n");
+	fprintf(out, "  -v[N], --verbosity[=N]        Log level 0-4 (default: 2); -v raises by 1\n");
+	fprintf(out, "      --service-address <SOCK>  CRIU service Unix socket path\n");
+	fprintf(out, "  -h, --help                    Show this help message\n");
+}
+
+static void print_criu_error(const char *op, int ret)
+{
+	const char *msg;
+
+	switch (ret) {
+	case -EBADE:
+		msg = "RPC returned failure (check the CRIU log)";
+		break;
+	case -ECONNREFUSED:
+		msg = "Unable to connect to CRIU service";
+		break;
+	case -ECOMM:
+		msg = "Unable to send/recv message to/from CRIU";
+		break;
+	case -EINVAL:
+		msg = "CRIU rejected the request (bad sequence or unsupported request type)";
+		break;
+	case -EBADMSG:
+		msg = "Unexpected response from CRIU (consider updating CRIU)";
+		break;
+	default:
+		msg = "Unknown error";
+		break;
+	}
+
+	if (errno)
+		fprintf(stderr, "CRIU %s failed: %s (ret=%d, errno=%d: %s)\n",
+			op, msg, ret, errno, strerror(errno));
+	else
+		fprintf(stderr, "CRIU %s failed: %s (ret=%d)\n",
+			op, msg, ret);
+}
+
+static int parse_int(const char *str, const char *name, int *val)
+{
+	char *end;
+	long v;
+
+	errno = 0;
+	v = strtol(str, &end, 10);
+	if (errno || *end != '\0' || end == str || v < INT_MIN || v > INT_MAX) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Invalid value for %s: '%s'\n", name, str);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	*val = (int)v;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+	enum action action;
+	int opt, option_index = 0;
+	int pid = -1;
+	const char *images_dir = NULL;
+	const char *prev_images_dir = NULL;
+	const char *log_file = "criu.log";
+	int log_level = CRIU_LOG_WARN;
+	const char *service_socket = NULL;
+	int dirfd = -1;
+	int ret = 1;
+
+	bool shell_job = false;
+	bool leave_running = false;
+	bool tcp_established = false;
+	bool tcp_close = false;
+	bool ext_unix_sk = false;
+	bool file_locks = false;
+	bool manage_cgroups = false;
+	bool track_mem = false;
+	bool auto_dedup = false;
+
+	if (argc < 2) {
+		print_usage(stderr);
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	if (strcmp(argv[1], "dump") == 0) {
+		action = ACT_DUMP;
+	} else if (strcmp(argv[1], "pre-dump") == 0) {
+		action = ACT_PRE_DUMP;
+	} else if (strcmp(argv[1], "restore") == 0) {
+		action = ACT_RESTORE;
+	} else if (strcmp(argv[1], "help") == 0 || strcmp(argv[1], "--help") == 0) {
+		print_usage(stdout);
+		return 0;
+	} else {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Unknown command '%s'; expected dump, pre-dump, restore, or help\n",
+			argv[1]);
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	/* Skip the subcommand so getopt_long() only sees the options. */
+	argc--;
+	argv++;
+
+	while ((opt = getopt_long(argc, argv, "t:D:jRxlo:v::h", long_opts,
+				  &option_index)) != -1) {
+		switch (opt) {
+		case 't':
+			if (parse_int(optarg, "tree", &pid))
+				return 1;
+			if (pid <= 0) {
+				fprintf(stderr, "PID must be positive\n");
+				return 1;
+			}
+			break;
+		case 'D':
+			images_dir = optarg;
+			break;
+		case 'j':
+			shell_job = true;
+			break;
+		case 'R':
+			leave_running = true;
+			break;
+		case 1:
+			tcp_established = true;
+			break;
+		case 6:
+			tcp_close = true;
+			break;
+		case 'x':
+			ext_unix_sk = true;
+			break;
+		case 'l':
+			file_locks = true;
+			break;
+		case 2:
+			manage_cgroups = true;
+			break;
+		case 3:
+			track_mem = true;
+			break;
+		case 4:
+			auto_dedup = true;
+			break;
+		case 7:
+			prev_images_dir = optarg;
+			break;
+		case 'o':
+			log_file = optarg;
+			break;
+		case 'v':
+			if (optarg) {
+				if (optarg[0] == 'v')
+					log_level += strlen(optarg) + 1;
+				else if (parse_int(optarg, "verbosity", &log_level))
+					return 1;
+			} else {
+				log_level++;
+			}
+			break;
+		case 5:
+			service_socket = optarg;
+			break;
+		case 'h':
+			print_usage(stdout);
+			return 0;
+		default:
+			print_usage(stderr);
+			return 1;
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (!images_dir) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Images directory required (-D)\n");
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	if (action != ACT_RESTORE && pid <= 0) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "%s requires -t <pid>\n",
+			action == ACT_DUMP ? "Dump" : "Pre-dump");
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	if (log_level < CRIU_LOG_MSG || log_level > CRIU_LOG_DEBUG) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Verbosity must be in the range 0-4\n");
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	if (criu_init_opts() < 0) {
+		perror("criu_init_opts");
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	if (service_socket && criu_set_service_address(service_socket)) {
+		perror("criu_set_service_address");
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	dirfd = open(images_dir, O_RDONLY | O_DIRECTORY);
+	if (dirfd < 0) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Failed to open images dir '%s': %s\n",
+			images_dir, strerror(errno));
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	criu_set_images_dir_fd(dirfd);
+	if (prev_images_dir && criu_set_parent_images(prev_images_dir)) {
+		perror("criu_set_parent_images");
+		goto out;
+	}
+	if (criu_set_log_file(log_file)) {
+		perror("criu_set_log_file");
+		goto out;
+	}
+	criu_set_log_level(log_level);
+
+	if (shell_job)
+		criu_set_shell_job(true);
+	if (leave_running)
+		criu_set_leave_running(true);
+	if (tcp_established)
+		criu_set_tcp_established(true);
+	if (tcp_close)
+		criu_set_tcp_close(true);
+	if (ext_unix_sk)
+		criu_set_ext_unix_sk(true);
+	if (file_locks)
+		criu_set_file_locks(true);
+	if (manage_cgroups)
+		criu_set_manage_cgroups(true);
+	if (track_mem)
+		criu_set_track_mem(true);
+	if (auto_dedup)
+		criu_set_auto_dedup(true);
+
+	switch (action) {
+	case ACT_PRE_DUMP:
+		criu_set_pid(pid);
+		fprintf(stderr, "Pre-dumping PID %d to '%s'\n", pid, images_dir);
+		ret = criu_pre_dump();
+		break;
+	case ACT_DUMP:
+		criu_set_pid(pid);
+		fprintf(stderr, "Dumping PID %d to '%s'\n", pid, images_dir);
+		ret = criu_dump();
+		break;
+	case ACT_RESTORE:
+		fprintf(stderr, "Restoring from '%s'\n", images_dir);
+		ret = criu_restore_child();
+		if (ret <= 0)
+			break;
+
+		pid = ret;
+		ret = 0;
+
+		/*
+		 * When the restored process shares our session and
+		 * stdin is a terminal, hand the terminal over to the
+		 * restored process so it can read input and receive
+		 * signals (Ctrl-C, etc.). We temporarily ignore
+		 * SIGTTOU because tcsetpgrp() would otherwise stop
+		 * this process since it is no longer in the foreground.
+		 *
+		 * Skip this when the restored process lives in a
+		 * different session since tcsetpgrp() only works
+		 * within the same session.
+		 */
+		if (shell_job && isatty(STDIN_FILENO) &&
+		    getsid(pid) == getsid(0)) {
+			struct sigaction sa, old_sa;
+			pid_t pgrp;
+
+			pgrp = getpgid(pid);
+			if (pgrp < 0) {
+				perror("getpgid");
+				ret = 1;
+				goto out;
+			}
+
+			sa.sa_handler = SIG_IGN;
+			sigemptyset(&sa.sa_mask);
+			sa.sa_flags = 0;
+			if (sigaction(SIGTTOU, &sa, &old_sa) < 0) {
+				perror("sigaction");
+				ret = 1;
+				goto out;
+			}
+
+			if (tcsetpgrp(STDIN_FILENO, pgrp) < 0)
+				perror("tcsetpgrp");
+
+			sigaction(SIGTTOU, &old_sa, NULL);
+		}
+
+		if (waitpid(pid, &ret, 0) < 0) {
+			perror("waitpid");
+			ret = 1;
+			goto out;
+		}
+
+		if (WIFEXITED(ret))
+			ret = WEXITSTATUS(ret);
+		else if (WIFSIGNALED(ret))
+			ret = 128 + WTERMSIG(ret);
+		else
+			ret = 1;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	if (ret < 0) {
+		const char *names[] = {
+			[ACT_DUMP] = "dump",
+			[ACT_PRE_DUMP] = "pre-dump",
+			[ACT_RESTORE] = "restore",
+		};
+
+		print_criu_error(names[action], ret);
+		ret = 1;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	ret = 0;
+out:
+	if (dirfd >= 0)
+		close(dirfd);
+	return ret;
+}