diff --git a/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py b/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py
index 292eaa4c2e..3a2dae971f 100755
--- a/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/zulip_tools.py
@@ -696,6 +696,11 @@ def start_arg_parser(action: str, add_help: bool = False) -> argparse.ArgumentPa
         action="store_true",
         help=f"Only {action} Django (not Tornado or workers)",
     )
+    which_services.add_argument(
+        "--tornado-reshard",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Restart changed Tornado shards",
+    )
     if action == "restart":
         parser.add_argument(
             "--less-graceful",
diff --git a/scripts/refresh-sharding-and-restart b/scripts/refresh-sharding-and-restart
index 26c7e9af80..4d29c706a7 100755
--- a/scripts/refresh-sharding-and-restart
+++ b/scripts/refresh-sharding-and-restart
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@ if ! [ -e /etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf.tmp ] || ! [ -e /etc/zulip/sharding
     exit 1
 fi
 
-mv /etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf.tmp /etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf
-mv /etc/zulip/sharding.json.tmp /etc/zulip/sharding.json
-
 # In the ordering of operations below, the crucial detail is that
 # Django, Tornado, and workers need to be restarted before reloading
 # nginx. Django and Tornado have in-memory maps of which realm belongs
@@ -28,5 +25,5 @@ mv /etc/zulip/sharding.json.tmp /etc/zulip/sharding.json
 # clients getting into reload loops ending in crashing on 500 response
 # while Django is restarting.  For this reason it's important to
 # reload nginx only after Django and Tornado.
-"$(dirname "$0")/restart-server" --skip-client-reloads
+"$(dirname "$0")/restart-server" --skip-client-reloads --tornado-reshard
 service nginx reload
diff --git a/scripts/restart-server b/scripts/restart-server
index 45760e0763..f36dce046b 100755
--- a/scripts/restart-server
+++ b/scripts/restart-server
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 import contextlib
+import json
 import logging
 import os
 import pwd
@@ -51,11 +52,18 @@ elif username != "zulip":
     logging.error("Must be run as user 'zulip'.")
     sys.exit(1)
 
-
 if os.environ.get("RUNNING_UNDER_CRON") and os.path.exists(LOCK_DIR):
     logging.info("Skipping cron-triggered restart during deploy.")
     sys.exit(1)
 
+if args.tornado_reshard:
+    tornado_reshard_files = ["/etc/zulip/sharding.json", "/etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf"]
+    if not all(os.path.exists(f"{path}.tmp") for path in tornado_reshard_files):
+        logging.info(
+            "No resharding changes to apply!  Edit zulip.conf and run refresh-sharding-and-restart"
+        )
+        sys.exit(1)
+
 if not args.skip_checks:
     logging.info("Running syntax and database checks")
     subprocess.check_call(["./manage.py", "check", "--database", "default"])
@@ -174,6 +182,36 @@ def restart_or_start(service: str) -> None:
     subprocess.check_call(["supervisorctl", our_verb, service])
 
 
+def ports_as_set(val: int | list[int]) -> frozenset[int]:
+    return frozenset(val) if isinstance(val, list) else frozenset([val])
+
+
+def update_tornado_sharding() -> list[int]:
+    with open("/etc/zulip/sharding.json") as old_shard_fh:
+        old_sharding = json.load(old_shard_fh)
+    with open("/etc/zulip/sharding.json.tmp") as new_shard_fh:
+        new_sharding = json.load(new_shard_fh)
+    affected_tornados: set[int] = set()
+    for realm in set().union(old_sharding["shard_map"], new_sharding["shard_map"]):
+        old_ports = ports_as_set(old_sharding["shard_map"].get(realm, []))
+        new_ports = ports_as_set(new_sharding["shard_map"].get(realm, []))
+        affected_tornados |= old_ports ^ new_ports
+    old_regex_set = {
+        (regex, ports_as_set(ports)) for (regex, ports) in old_sharding["shard_regexes"]
+    }
+    new_regex_set = {
+        (regex, ports_as_set(ports)) for (regex, ports) in new_sharding["shard_regexes"]
+    }
+    for regex, ports in old_regex_set ^ new_regex_set:
+        affected_tornados |= ports
+
+    tornado_reshard_files = ["/etc/zulip/sharding.json", "/etc/zulip/nginx_sharding_map.conf"]
+    for path in tornado_reshard_files:
+        os.rename(f"{path}.tmp", path)
+
+    return list(affected_tornados)
+
+
 if action == "restart" and len(workers) > 0:
     if args.less_graceful:
         # The less graceful form stops every worker now; we start them
@@ -190,6 +228,11 @@ if action == "restart" and len(workers) > 0:
             restart_or_start(worker)
 
 if has_application_server():
+    if args.tornado_reshard:
+        affected_tornado_ports = update_tornado_sharding()
+        logging.info("Tornado ports affected by this resharding: %s", affected_tornado_ports)
+    else:
+        affected_tornado_ports = tornado_ports
     if not args.only_django:
         # Next, we restart the Tornado processes sequentially, in order to
         # minimize downtime of the tornado service caused by too many
@@ -200,7 +243,7 @@ if has_application_server():
         # this before restarting Django, in case there are new event types
         # which it will need to know how to deal with.
         if len(tornado_ports) > 1:
-            for p in tornado_ports:
+            for p in affected_tornado_ports:
                 # Restart Tornado processes individually for a better rate of
                 # restarts.  This also avoids behavior with restarting a whole
                 # supervisord group where if any individual process is slow to