diff --git a/internal/controller/marimonotebook_controller_test.go b/internal/controller/marimonotebook_controller_test.go
index 17412a3..d6580a9 100644
--- a/internal/controller/marimonotebook_controller_test.go
+++ b/internal/controller/marimonotebook_controller_test.go
@@ -472,6 +472,39 @@ var _ = Describe("MarimoNotebook Controller", func() {
 			}, timeout, interval).Should(BeTrue(), "Pod should be recreated with MY_VAR env var")
 		})
 
+		It("should recreate Pod when inline content is changed", func() {
+			original := "import marimo\napp = marimo.App()\n"
+			notebook.Spec.Source = ""
+			notebook.Spec.Content = &original
+
+			By("creating the MarimoNotebook with inline content")
+			Expect(k8sClient.Create(ctx, notebook)).To(Succeed())
+
+			By("waiting for initial Pod to be created")
+			pod := &corev1.Pod{}
+			Eventually(func() error {
+				return k8sClient.Get(ctx, namespacedName, pod)
+			}, timeout, interval).Should(Succeed())
+			originalUID := pod.UID
+
+			By("updating the notebook content")
+			updated := original + "\n@app.cell\ndef _():\n    return\n"
+			nb := &marimov1alpha1.MarimoNotebook{}
+			Expect(k8sClient.Get(ctx, namespacedName, nb)).To(Succeed())
+			nb.Spec.Content = &updated
+			Expect(k8sClient.Update(ctx, nb)).To(Succeed())
+
+			// The copy-content init container only runs at pod start, so the
+			// running pod keeps serving the old file until it is replaced.
+			By("verifying Pod is recreated")
+			Eventually(func() bool {
+				if err := k8sClient.Get(ctx, namespacedName, pod); err != nil {
+					return false
+				}
+				return pod.UID != originalUID
+			}, timeout, interval).Should(BeTrue(), "Pod should be recreated after a content change")
+		})
+
 		It("should reject changes to the storage attribute", func() {
 			By("creating the MarimoNotebook with storage")
 			Expect(k8sClient.Create(ctx, notebook)).To(Succeed())
diff --git a/pkg/resources/pod.go b/pkg/resources/pod.go
index e79eba5..c93a845 100644
--- a/pkg/resources/pod.go
+++ b/pkg/resources/pod.go
@@ -22,14 +22,22 @@ const (
 	DefaultMode = "edit"
 	// PodSpecHashAnnotation is the annotation key used to store the hash of the desired pod spec.
 	PodSpecHashAnnotation = "marimo.io/pod-spec-hash"
+	// ContentHashAnnotation records the hash of inline content on content-mode pods.
+	ContentHashAnnotation = "marimo.io/content-hash"
 )
 
 // PodSpecHash returns a SHA-256 hash of the pod's spec for change detection.
+// The content hash annotation is folded in because the spec only names the
+// content ConfigMap: a content change leaves the spec untouched, and the
+// copy-content init container has already copied the old file.
 func PodSpecHash(pod *corev1.Pod) (string, error) {
 	data, err := json.Marshal(pod.Spec)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
+	if contentHash, ok := pod.Annotations[ContentHashAnnotation]; ok {
+		data = append(data, contentHash...)
+	}
 	sum := sha256.Sum256(data)
 	return hex.EncodeToString(sum[:]), nil
 }
@@ -299,7 +307,7 @@ func BuildPod(notebook *marimov1alpha1.MarimoNotebook) *corev1.Pod {
 		basePodSpec = applyPodOverrides(basePodSpec, *notebook.Spec.PodOverrides)
 	}
 
-	return &corev1.Pod{
+	pod := &corev1.Pod{
 		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 			Name:      notebook.Name,
 			Namespace: notebook.Namespace,
@@ -307,6 +315,12 @@ func BuildPod(notebook *marimov1alpha1.MarimoNotebook) *corev1.Pod {
 		},
 		Spec: basePodSpec,
 	}
+	if contentKey != "" {
+		pod.Annotations = map[string]string{
+			ContentHashAnnotation: ContentHash(*notebook.Spec.Content),
+		}
+	}
+	return pod
 }
 
 // buildSidecarContainer creates a container spec from a SidecarSpec.
diff --git a/pkg/resources/pod_test.go b/pkg/resources/pod_test.go
index fa4179a..2b6c70f 100644
--- a/pkg/resources/pod_test.go
+++ b/pkg/resources/pod_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 package resources
 
 import (
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -1510,3 +1514,68 @@ func TestBuildPod_NoSSHFSSidecar_NoSecretMount(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestPodSpecHash_ChangesWithContent(t *testing.T) {
+	build := func(content string) *corev1.Pod {
+		return BuildPod(&marimov1alpha1.MarimoNotebook{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "test-notebook", Namespace: "default"},
+			Spec: marimov1alpha1.MarimoNotebookSpec{
+				Image:   "ghcr.io/marimo-team/marimo:latest",
+				Port:    2718,
+				Content: &content,
+			},
+		})
+	}
+
+	before, after := build("import marimo\n"), build("import marimo\nimport polars\n")
+
+	// Both pods only reference the ConfigMap by name, so the specs are identical.
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(before.Spec, after.Spec) {
+		t.Fatal("expected identical pod specs for different content")
+	}
+	if before.Annotations[ContentHashAnnotation] == after.Annotations[ContentHashAnnotation] {
+		t.Error("expected content hash annotation to differ")
+	}
+
+	beforeHash, err := PodSpecHash(before)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	afterHash, err := PodSpecHash(after)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if beforeHash == afterHash {
+		t.Error("expected pod spec hash to change when content changes")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPodSpecHash_SourceModeUnchanged(t *testing.T) {
+	pod := BuildPod(&marimov1alpha1.MarimoNotebook{
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "test-notebook", Namespace: "default"},
+		Spec: marimov1alpha1.MarimoNotebookSpec{
+			Image:  "ghcr.io/marimo-team/marimo:latest",
+			Port:   2718,
+			Source: "https://github.com/marimo-team/marimo.git",
+		},
+	})
+
+	if _, ok := pod.Annotations[ContentHashAnnotation]; ok {
+		t.Error("expected no content hash annotation in source mode")
+	}
+
+	// Source-mode hashes must match the spec-only hash so that upgrading the
+	// operator does not recreate every existing pod.
+	data, err := json.Marshal(pod.Spec)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	sum := sha256.Sum256(data)
+	got, err := PodSpecHash(pod)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if want := hex.EncodeToString(sum[:]); got != want {
+		t.Errorf("expected spec-only hash %s, got %s", want, got)
+	}
+}