diff --git a/ci-operator/config/stolostron/policy-collection/stolostron-policy-collection-main__ocp4.22.yaml b/ci-operator/config/stolostron/policy-collection/stolostron-policy-collection-main__ocp4.22.yaml
index c3a92c8259122..a0e8de8d517ff 100644
--- a/ci-operator/config/stolostron/policy-collection/stolostron-policy-collection-main__ocp4.22.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/config/stolostron/policy-collection/stolostron-policy-collection-main__ocp4.22.yaml
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ tests:
     - chain: cucushift-installer-check-cluster-health
     - ref: stackrox-opp-readiness
     - ref: stackrox-opp-smoke
-    - ref: acm-tests-clc-create
+    - ref: acm-tests-clc-smoke
     - ref: acm-fetch-managed-clusters
     - ref: acm-opp-app
     - ref: interop-opp-odf-health
diff --git a/ci-operator/config/stolostron/policy-collection/stolostron-policy-collection-main__ocp5.0.yaml b/ci-operator/config/stolostron/policy-collection/stolostron-policy-collection-main__ocp5.0.yaml
index e31b7716529a3..decdf2d896ba8 100644
--- a/ci-operator/config/stolostron/policy-collection/stolostron-policy-collection-main__ocp5.0.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/config/stolostron/policy-collection/stolostron-policy-collection-main__ocp5.0.yaml
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ tests:
     - ref: acm-policies-openshift-plus-setup
     - ref: acm-policies-openshift-plus
     - chain: cucushift-installer-check-cluster-health
-    - ref: acm-tests-clc-create
+    - ref: acm-tests-clc-smoke
     - ref: acm-fetch-managed-clusters
     - ref: acm-opp-app
     - ref: interop-opp-odf-health
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/OWNERS b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/OWNERS
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..76364ea3076e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/OWNERS
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+approvers:
+- cspi-qe-ocp-lp
+- dtthuynh
+- vboulos
+options: {}
+reviewers:
+- cspi-qe-ocp-lp
+- dtthuynh
+- vboulos
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/README.md b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..192fbd4eecca1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref<!-- omit from toc -->
+
+## Table of Contents<!-- omit from toc -->
+- [Purpose](#purpose)
+- [Process](#process)
+- [Requirements](#requirements)
+  - [Infrastructure](#infrastructure)
+  - [Environment Variables](#environment-variables)
+
+## Purpose
+
+Smoke-scoped variant of [acm-tests-clc-create](../clc-create/README.md) with a right-sized timeout and strict failure handling for OPP interop.
+
+The full `acm-tests-clc-create` step already creates only 1 AWS managed cluster (~50 min actual runtime) but carries a 28800s (8h) timeout and suppresses failures with `|| :`. This step:
+- Reduces the timeout to 5400s (90 min), giving ~80% headroom over the observed average.
+- Runs with `best_effort: true` so independent downstream validations (ODF health, Quay smoke, observability) continue regardless of CLC outcome. The script still exits with the CLC status code for JUnit reporting and failure visibility.
+
+> **IMPORTANT**
+> You must use the [acm-tests-clc-destroy-ref](../clc-destroy/README.md) as a post step when using this step. If you do not and succeed in running this step then you will leave clusters running on the ACM QE team's cloud.
+
+## Process
+
+- Copies secret options file needed for test execution.
+- Injects AWS credentials from the cluster profile into options.yaml.
+- Sets dynamic variables based on the provisioned hub cluster.
+- Runs `execute_clc_interop_commands.sh` which invokes Cypress with tag filter `@create+aws+-sno+-@clusterpool` (controlled by `TEST_STAGE=OCPInterop-create` inside the image).
+
+## Requirements
+
+### Infrastructure
+
+- An existing OpenShift cluster to act as the target Hub.
+- "advanced-cluster-management" operator installed (see [`install-operators`](../../../install-operators/README.md)).
+- MCH custom resource installed (see [acm-mch step](../mch/README.md)).
+
+### Environment Variables
+
+- Please see [acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref.yaml](acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref.yaml) env section.
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-commands.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000..90a03212f85a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-commands.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -euxo pipefail; shopt -s inherit_errexit
+
+typeset secretsDir="/tmp/secrets"
+typeset optionFile="./options.yaml"
+typeset awsCredFile="${CLUSTER_PROFILE_DIR}/.awscred"
+
+if [[ "${SKIP_OCP_DEPLOY:-false}" == "true" ]]; then
+    cp "${secretsDir}/ci/kubeconfig" "${SHARED_DIR}/kubeconfig"
+    cp "${secretsDir}/ci/kubeadmin-password" "${SHARED_DIR}/kubeadmin-password"
+fi
+
+cp "${secretsDir}/clc-interop/secret-options-yaml" "${optionFile}"
+
+if [[ -f "${awsCredFile}" ]]; then
+    typeset awsAccKeyID=
+    typeset awsAccKeyToken=
+
+    # tracing off: AWS credentials
+    set +x
+    awsAccKeyID="$(sed -nE 's/^\s*aws_access_key_id\s*=\s*//p;T;q' "${awsCredFile}")"
+    awsAccKeyToken="$(sed -nE 's/^\s*aws_secret_access_key\s*=\s*//p;T;q' "${awsCredFile}")"
+
+    if [[ -z "${awsAccKeyID}" ]] || [[ -z "${awsAccKeyToken}" ]]; then
+        echo "ERROR: Failed to extract AWS credentials from ${awsCredFile}" 1>&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+
+    yq -o json eval . "${optionFile}" |
+    jq -c \
+          --arg awsAccKeyID "${awsAccKeyID}" \
+          --rawfile awsAccKeyToken <(printf '%s' "${awsAccKeyToken}") \
+        '
+          .options.connections.apiKeys.aws|=(
+                .awsAccessKeyID=$awsAccKeyID |
+                .awsSecretAccessKeyID=($awsAccKeyToken | rtrimstr("\n"))
+            )
+        ' |
+    yq -p json -o yaml eval . > "${optionFile}.tmp"
+    mv -f "${optionFile}.tmp" "${optionFile}"
+    set -x
+
+    unset awsAccKeyID awsAccKeyToken
+fi
+
+# tracing off: kubeadmin password
+set +x
+export CYPRESS_OPTIONS_HUB_PASSWORD=
+CYPRESS_OPTIONS_HUB_PASSWORD="$(cat "${SHARED_DIR}/kubeadmin-password")"
+
+typeset cypress_base_url cypress_hub_api_url cypress_ocp_version cloud_providers
+cypress_base_url="$(oc whoami --show-console)"
+cypress_hub_api_url="$(oc whoami --show-server)"
+cypress_ocp_version="$(cat "${secretsDir}/clc/ocp_image_version")"
+cloud_providers="$(cat "${secretsDir}/clc/ocp_cloud_providers")"
+
+if [[ -z "${cypress_base_url}" ]] || [[ -z "${cypress_hub_api_url}" ]]; then
+    echo "ERROR: Console URL or API URL is empty; oc whoami returned no usable value" 1>&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+typeset clcStatus=0
+
+CYPRESS_BASE_URL="${cypress_base_url}" \
+CYPRESS_HUB_API_URL="${cypress_hub_api_url}" \
+CYPRESS_CLC_OCP_IMAGE_VERSION="${cypress_ocp_version}" \
+CLOUD_PROVIDERS="${cloud_providers}" \
+bash +x ./execute_clc_interop_commands.sh || clcStatus=$?
+set -x
+
+unset CYPRESS_OPTIONS_HUB_PASSWORD
+
+typeset reportStatus=0
+cp -r reports "${ARTIFACT_DIR}/" || reportStatus=$?
+if (( clcStatus != 0 )); then
+    exit "${clcStatus}"
+fi
+exit "${reportStatus}"
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref.metadata.json b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref.metadata.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..bfcc856a27d44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref.metadata.json
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+	"path": "acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref.yaml",
+	"owners": {
+		"approvers": [
+			"cspi-qe-ocp-lp",
+			"dtthuynh",
+			"vboulos"
+		],
+		"reviewers": [
+			"cspi-qe-ocp-lp",
+			"dtthuynh",
+			"vboulos"
+		]
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..775b3cda884ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/acm/tests/clc-smoke/acm-tests-clc-smoke-ref.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+ref:
+  as: acm-tests-clc-smoke
+  from: clc-ui-e2e
+  commands: acm-tests-clc-smoke-commands.sh
+  timeout: 5400s
+  best_effort: true
+  resources:
+    requests:
+      cpu: '2'
+      memory: 6Gi
+  credentials:
+    - namespace: test-credentials
+      name: opp-acm-clc-credentials
+      mount_path: /tmp/secrets/clc-interop
+    - namespace: test-credentials
+      name: acm-clc-credentials
+      mount_path: /tmp/secrets/clc
+    - namespace: test-credentials
+      name: acm-ci-credentials
+      mount_path: /tmp/secrets/ci
+  env:
+  - name: CYPRESS_OC_IDP
+    default: "kube:admin"
+    documentation: |-
+      Identity
+  - name: CYPRESS_OPTIONS_HUB_USER
+    default: "kubeadmin"
+    documentation: |-
+      Hub cluster username
+  - name: CYPRESS_SPOKE_CLUSTER
+    default: ""
+    documentation: |-
+      Identify spoke clusters
+  - name: BROWSER
+    default: "chrome"
+    documentation: |-
+      Set browser for cypress
+  - name: CUSTOMER_TAGS
+    default: ""
+    documentation: |-
+      Cypress grep tag filter (passed through to test execution)
+  - name: CYPRESS_CLC_OC_IDP
+    default: "clc-e2e-htpasswd"
+    documentation: |-
+      Serves tests RBAC settings
+  - name: CYPRESS_CLC_RBAC_PASS
+    default: "test-RBAC-4-e2e"
+    documentation: |-
+      Serves tests RBAC settings
+  - name: CYPRESS_CLC_OCP_IMAGE_REGISTRY
+    default: "quay.io/openshift-release-dev/ocp-release"
+    documentation: |-
+      Image registry
+  - name: CYPRESS_ACM_NAMESPACE
+    default: "ocm"
+    documentation: |-
+      Acm namespace
+  - name: CYPRESS_MCE_NAMESPACE
+    default: "multicluster-engine"
+    documentation: |-
+      Mce namespace
+  - name: IMPORT_KUBERNETES_CLUSTERS
+    default: ""
+    documentation: |-
+      Comma separated list of imports
+  - name: SKIP_OCP_DEPLOY
+    default: "false"
+    documentation: |-
+      When true, copies kubeconfig from CI secrets instead of using cluster profile
+  documentation: |-
+    Smoke-scoped ACM cluster lifecycle step that creates a single managed
+    cluster on AWS (~50 min). Runs with best_effort so that CLC failures
+    do not block independent downstream validations (ODF health, Quay smoke,
+    observability). JUnit results are still reported for failure visibility.
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/stackrox/opp-smoke/stackrox-opp-smoke-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/stackrox/opp-smoke/stackrox-opp-smoke-ref.yaml
index 74d11f0815aa9..329a34c9d7a71 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/stackrox/opp-smoke/stackrox-opp-smoke-ref.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/stackrox/opp-smoke/stackrox-opp-smoke-ref.yaml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ ref:
       memory: 4Gi
   from: acs-smoke-runner
   timeout: 1h0m0s
+  best_effort: true
   documentation: |-
     Run the ACS qa-tests-backend SMOKE suite against a live ACS
     instance.  Reads connection credentials from SHARED_DIR