diff --git a/cmd/svc.go b/cmd/svc.go
index cc8d6bb54..7fec708ff 100644
--- a/cmd/svc.go
+++ b/cmd/svc.go
@@ -232,22 +232,21 @@ func buildExecuteCmd() *cobra.Command {
 }
 
 const systemdScript = `[Unit]
-Description={{.Description}}
-ConditionFileIsExecutable={{.Path|cmdEscape}}
-{{range $i, $dep := .Dependencies}} 
-{{$dep}} {{end}}
-
+Description={{Description}}
+ConditionFileIsExecutable={{Path | cmdEscape}}
+{{range Dependencies}}{{.}}
+{{end}}
 [Service]
 StartLimitInterval=5
 StartLimitBurst=10
-ExecStart={{.Path|cmdEscape}}{{range .Arguments}} {{.|cmd}}{{end}}
-{{if .WorkingDirectory}}WorkingDirectory={{.WorkingDirectory|cmdEscape}}{{end}}
-{{if .UserName}}User={{.UserName}}{{end}}
-{{if .Restart}}Restart={{.Restart}}{{end}}
-{{if .SuccessExitStatus}}SuccessExitStatus={{.SuccessExitStatus}}{{end}}
+ExecStart={{Path | cmdEscape}}{{range Arguments}} {{. | cmd}}{{end}}
+{{if WorkingDirectory}}WorkingDirectory={{WorkingDirectory | cmdEscape}}{{end}}
+{{if UserName}}User={{UserName}}{{end}}
+{{if Restart}}Restart={{Restart}}{{end}}
+{{if SuccessExitStatus}}SuccessExitStatus={{SuccessExitStatus}}{{end}}
 TimeoutStopSec=20
 RestartSec=120
-EnvironmentFile=-/etc/sysconfig/{{.Name}}
+EnvironmentFile=-/etc/sysconfig/{{Name}}
 Environment="ND_SYSTEMD_PRIORITY_LOGGING=1"
 
 DevicePolicy=closed
@@ -260,7 +259,7 @@ RestrictAddressFamilies=AF_UNIX AF_INET AF_INET6
 RestrictNamespaces=yes
 RestrictRealtime=yes
 SystemCallFilter=~@clock @debug @module @mount @obsolete @reboot @setuid @swap
-{{if .WorkingDirectory}}ReadWritePaths={{.WorkingDirectory|cmdEscape}}{{end}}
+{{if WorkingDirectory}}ReadWritePaths={{WorkingDirectory | cmdEscape}}{{end}}
 ProtectSystem=full
 
 [Install]
diff --git a/cmd/svc_test.go b/cmd/svc_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7c34563b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/svc_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+
+	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+)
+
+var _ = Describe("systemdScript template", func() {
+	systemdKeys := map[string]bool{
+		"Description": true, "Path": true, "Name": true, "Dependencies": true,
+		"Arguments": true, "ChRoot": true, "WorkingDirectory": true,
+		"UserName": true, "ReloadSignal": true, "PIDFile": true,
+		"LogDirectory": true, "OutputFileSupport": true, "LimitNOFILE": true,
+		"Restart": true, "SuccessExitStatus": true, "EnvVars": true,
+	}
+	systemdFuncs := map[string]bool{"cmd": true, "cmdEscape": true}
+
+	actionRe := regexp.MustCompile(`\{\{(.*?)\}\}`)
+
+	parseAction := func(action string) (key string, funcs []string) {
+		action = strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimSuffix(strings.TrimPrefix(action, "-"), "-"))
+		kw, rest, _ := strings.Cut(action, " ")
+		switch kw {
+		case "end", "else":
+			return "", nil
+		case "if", "range":
+			return strings.TrimSpace(rest), nil
+		}
+		parts := strings.Split(action, "|")
+		for _, p := range parts[1:] {
+			funcs = append(funcs, strings.TrimSpace(p))
+		}
+		return strings.TrimSpace(parts[0]), funcs
+	}
+
+	It("only references keys and functions the service library provides", func() {
+		matches := actionRe.FindAllStringSubmatch(systemdScript, -1)
+		Expect(matches).ToNot(BeEmpty())
+
+		for _, m := range matches {
+			key, funcs := parseAction(m[1])
+			if key != "" && key != "." {
+				Expect(systemdKeys).To(HaveKey(key),
+					"template action %q uses a key unknown to kardianos/service", m[0])
+			}
+			for _, fn := range funcs {
+				Expect(systemdFuncs).To(HaveKey(fn),
+					"template action %q uses an unknown pipeline function", m[0])
+			}
+		}
+	})
+})