diff --git a/pkg/agent/run.go b/pkg/agent/run.go
index 16f76bb1be..a9bc8b096d 100644
--- a/pkg/agent/run.go
+++ b/pkg/agent/run.go
@@ -143,12 +143,12 @@ func run(ctx context.Context, cfg cmds.Agent, proxy proxy.Proxy) error {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
-	// the agent runtime is ready to host workloads when containerd is up and the airgap
+	// the container runtime is ready to host workloads when containerd is up and the airgap
 	// images have finished loading, as that portion of startup may block for an arbitrary
 	// amount of time depending on how long it takes to import whatever the user has placed
 	// in the images directory.
-	if cfg.AgentReady != nil {
-		close(cfg.AgentReady)
+	if cfg.ContainerRuntimeReady != nil {
+		close(cfg.ContainerRuntimeReady)
 	}
 
 	notifySocket := os.Getenv("NOTIFY_SOCKET")
@@ -258,8 +258,8 @@ func RunStandalone(ctx context.Context, cfg cmds.Agent) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if cfg.AgentReady != nil {
-		close(cfg.AgentReady)
+	if cfg.ContainerRuntimeReady != nil {
+		close(cfg.ContainerRuntimeReady)
 	}
 
 	if err := tunnelSetup(ctx, nodeConfig, cfg, proxy); err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/cli/cmds/agent.go b/pkg/cli/cmds/agent.go
index 83c04d84ff..53b620f4d0 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/cmds/agent.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/cmds/agent.go
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ type Agent struct {
 	Taints                   cli.StringSlice
 	ImageCredProvBinDir      string
 	ImageCredProvConfig      string
-	AgentReady               chan<- struct{}
+	ContainerRuntimeReady    chan<- struct{}
 	AgentShared
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/cli/server/server.go b/pkg/cli/server/server.go
index 7d9b7c39d2..d371528951 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/server/server.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/server/server.go
@@ -110,11 +110,11 @@ func run(app *cli.Context, cfg *cmds.Server, leaderControllers server.CustomCont
 		}
 	}
 
-	agentReady := make(chan struct{})
+	containerRuntimeReady := make(chan struct{})
 
 	serverConfig := server.Config{}
 	serverConfig.DisableAgent = cfg.DisableAgent
-	serverConfig.ControlConfig.Runtime = config.NewRuntime(agentReady)
+	serverConfig.ControlConfig.Runtime = config.NewRuntime(containerRuntimeReady)
 	serverConfig.ControlConfig.Token = cfg.Token
 	serverConfig.ControlConfig.AgentToken = cfg.AgentToken
 	serverConfig.ControlConfig.JoinURL = cfg.ServerURL
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ func run(app *cli.Context, cfg *cmds.Server, leaderControllers server.CustomCont
 	}
 
 	agentConfig := cmds.AgentConfig
-	agentConfig.AgentReady = agentReady
+	agentConfig.ContainerRuntimeReady = containerRuntimeReady
 	agentConfig.Debug = app.GlobalBool("debug")
 	agentConfig.DataDir = filepath.Dir(serverConfig.ControlConfig.DataDir)
 	agentConfig.ServerURL = url
diff --git a/pkg/daemons/config/types.go b/pkg/daemons/config/types.go
index f253cfa195..98b0b7ea11 100644
--- a/pkg/daemons/config/types.go
+++ b/pkg/daemons/config/types.go
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ type ControlRuntime struct {
 
 	HTTPBootstrap                        bool
 	APIServerReady                       <-chan struct{}
-	AgentReady                           <-chan struct{}
+	ContainerRuntimeReady                <-chan struct{}
 	ETCDReady                            <-chan struct{}
 	StartupHooksWg                       *sync.WaitGroup
 	ClusterControllerStarts              map[string]leader.Callback
@@ -357,9 +357,9 @@ type ControlRuntime struct {
 	EtcdConfig endpoint.ETCDConfig
 }
 
-func NewRuntime(agentReady <-chan struct{}) *ControlRuntime {
+func NewRuntime(containerRuntimeReady <-chan struct{}) *ControlRuntime {
 	return &ControlRuntime{
-		AgentReady:                           agentReady,
+		ContainerRuntimeReady:                containerRuntimeReady,
 		ClusterControllerStarts:              map[string]leader.Callback{},
 		LeaderElectedClusterControllerStarts: map[string]leader.Callback{},
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/etcd/etcd.go b/pkg/etcd/etcd.go
index 2ec3c8f544..d9d7356442 100644
--- a/pkg/etcd/etcd.go
+++ b/pkg/etcd/etcd.go
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ func (e *ETCD) IsInitialized() (bool, error) {
 func (e *ETCD) Reset(ctx context.Context, rebootstrap func() error) error {
 	// Wait for etcd to come up as a new single-node cluster, then exit
 	go func() {
-		<-e.config.Runtime.AgentReady
+		<-e.config.Runtime.ContainerRuntimeReady
 		t := time.NewTicker(5 * time.Second)
 		defer t.Stop()
 		for range t.C {
@@ -450,8 +450,8 @@ func (e *ETCD) Start(ctx context.Context, clientAccessInfo *clientaccess.Info) e
 		for {
 			select {
 			case <-time.After(30 * time.Second):
-				logrus.Infof("Waiting for agent to become ready before joining etcd cluster")
-			case <-e.config.Runtime.AgentReady:
+				logrus.Infof("Waiting for container runtime to become ready before joining etcd cluster")
+			case <-e.config.Runtime.ContainerRuntimeReady:
 				if err := wait.PollImmediateUntilWithContext(ctx, time.Second, func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
 					if err := e.join(ctx, clientAccessInfo); err != nil {
 						// Retry the join if waiting for another member to be promoted, or waiting for peers to connect after promotion
@@ -1040,7 +1040,7 @@ func (e *ETCD) RemovePeer(ctx context.Context, name, address string, allowSelfRe
 // being promoted to full voting member. The checks only run on the cluster member that is
 // the etcd leader.
 func (e *ETCD) manageLearners(ctx context.Context) {
-	<-e.config.Runtime.AgentReady
+	<-e.config.Runtime.ContainerRuntimeReady
 	t := time.NewTicker(manageTickerTime)
 	defer t.Stop()
 
diff --git a/pkg/etcd/etcd_test.go b/pkg/etcd/etcd_test.go
index 7293d99c53..f7d6e2da48 100644
--- a/pkg/etcd/etcd_test.go
+++ b/pkg/etcd/etcd_test.go
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ func mustGetAddress() string {
 }
 
 func generateTestConfig() *config.Control {
-	agentReady := make(chan struct{})
-	close(agentReady)
+	containerRuntimeReady := make(chan struct{})
+	close(containerRuntimeReady)
 	criticalControlArgs := config.CriticalControlArgs{
 		ClusterDomain:  "cluster.local",
 		ClusterDNS:     net.ParseIP("10.43.0.10"),
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func generateTestConfig() *config.Control {
 		ServiceIPRange: testutil.ServiceIPNet(),
 	}
 	return &config.Control{
-		Runtime:               config.NewRuntime(agentReady),
+		Runtime:               config.NewRuntime(containerRuntimeReady),
 		HTTPSPort:             6443,
 		SupervisorPort:        6443,
 		AdvertisePort:         6443,