diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml
index dbbdb8c8..da049a40 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -177,10 +177,15 @@ jobs:
           cd "${LIVE}"
           echo "Hard reset live tree to origin/main (no nuclear src wipe)..."
           git reset --hard origin/main
-          # Keep env, uploads, and deps we are about to replace from stage.
+          # Keep env, uploads, runtime-imported furni assets, and deps we are
+          # about to replace from stage. The app can write furni files while it
+          # remains online during staging, so cleaning those paths races with
+          # active imports and can fail with "Directory not empty".
           git clean -fd \
             -e .env -e .env.local -e .env.production -e .env*.local \
             -e storage -e public/cache \
+            -e public/swf/dcr/hof_furni \
+            -e public/nitro-assets/bundled/furniture \
             -e node_modules -e node_modules.prev -e .next -e .next.prev
 
           if ! git diff --exit-code HEAD -- src >/dev/null; then
diff --git a/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts b/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts
index 005835b3..b2791d8d 100644
--- a/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,13 @@
-import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+import {
+	existsSync,
+	mkdirSync,
+	mkdtempSync,
+	readFileSync,
+	rmSync,
+	writeFileSync,
+} from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { resolve } from "node:path";
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
@@ -42,6 +51,47 @@ describe("production deploy workflow", () => {
 		expect(deployJob).toContain("pnpm install --frozen-lockfile");
 	});
 
+	it("preserves runtime furni assets when cleaning the live checkout", () => {
+		const cleanStart = deployJob.indexOf("git clean -fd \\");
+		const commandLines: string[] = [];
+		for (const line of deployJob.slice(cleanStart).split(/\r?\n/)) {
+			commandLines.push(line);
+			if (!line.trimEnd().endsWith("\\")) break;
+		}
+		const cleanLines = commandLines.join(" ");
+		const excludes = Array.from(
+			cleanLines.matchAll(/-e\s+([^\s\\]+)/g),
+		).flatMap(([, pattern]) => ["-e", pattern]);
+		const work = mkdtempSync(resolve(tmpdir(), "epicnext-deploy-clean-"));
+		const runtimeFiles = [
+			"public/swf/dcr/hof_furni/icons/runtime_icon.png",
+			"public/swf/dcr/hof_furni/swf/runtime.swf",
+			"public/nitro-assets/bundled/furniture/runtime.nitro",
+		];
+
+		try {
+			spawnSync("git", ["init", "--quiet"], { cwd: work });
+			for (const file of [...runtimeFiles, "remove-me.tmp"]) {
+				const absolute = resolve(work, file);
+				mkdirSync(resolve(absolute, ".."), { recursive: true });
+				writeFileSync(absolute, "runtime");
+			}
+
+			const clean = spawnSync("git", ["clean", "-fd", ...excludes], {
+				cwd: work,
+				encoding: "utf8",
+			});
+
+			expect(clean.status, clean.stderr).toBe(0);
+			for (const file of runtimeFiles) {
+				expect(existsSync(resolve(work, file)), file).toBe(true);
+			}
+			expect(existsSync(resolve(work, "remove-me.tmp"))).toBe(false);
+		} finally {
+			rmSync(work, { recursive: true, force: true });
+		}
+	});
+
 	it("reclaims ownership before git operations so www-data files can be overwritten", () => {
 		const chownCmd = `sudo chown -R "${userVar}:${groupVar}"`;
 		expect(toContainLiteral(workflow, chownCmd)).toBe(true);