t/xcpdb-reshard.t | 4 +++-

diff --git a/t/xcpdb-reshard.t b/t/xcpdb-reshard.t
index 88e6c3dc3494db9c8d86421d235b154ac1ddf49f..9335843dce973fb42926419eabdfc8243b07cf9f 100644
--- a/t/xcpdb-reshard.t
+++ b/t/xcpdb-reshard.t
@@ -50,7 +50,9 @@
 # ensure we can go up or down in shards, or stay the same:
 for my $R (qw(2 4 1 3 3)) {
 	delete $ibx->{search}; # release old handles
-	ok(run_script([@xcpdb, "-R$R", $ibx->{inboxdir}]), "xcpdb -R$R");
+	my $cmd = [@xcpdb, "-R$R", $ibx->{inboxdir}];
+	push @$cmd, '--compact' if $R == 1;
+	ok(run_script($cmd), "xcpdb -R$R");
 	my @new_shards = grep(m!/\d+\z!, glob("$ibx->{inboxdir}/xap*/*"));
 	is(scalar(@new_shards), $R, 'resharded to two shards');
 	my $msgs = $ibx->search->query('s:this');