diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
index c370d363..6274da50 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
@@ -28,12 +28,13 @@ jobs:
           git fetch origin --prune
           git reset --hard origin/main
           
-          # REMOVE OLD CACHE AND BUILDS
-          rm -rf .next .output dist
+          # Preserve .next/cache so Next.js can reuse its incremental build cache.
+          # next build safely refreshes stale server/static output itself.
+          rm -rf .output dist
           
           # 4. Configure trusted dependencies globally and install cleanly
           export PNPM_CONFIG_ONLY_BUILT_DEPENDENCIES="@parcel/watcher,@swc/core,sharp"
-          pnpm install
+          pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
           
           # 5. Apply versioned CMS migrations and generate the Prisma client safely
           pnpm db:migrate
@@ -57,4 +58,4 @@ jobs:
             exit 1
           fi
           
-          echo "--- Deployment successfully completed ---"
\ No newline at end of file
+          echo "--- Deployment successfully completed ---"
diff --git a/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts b/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dd50b4a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { resolve } from "node:path";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+describe("production deploy workflow", () => {
+  const workflow = readFileSync(resolve(process.cwd(), ".gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml"), "utf8");
+
+  it("preserves the Next.js incremental build cache", () => {
+    expect(workflow).not.toMatch(/rm\s+-rf[^\n]*\.next/);
+    expect(workflow).toContain("pnpm install --frozen-lockfile");
+  });
+});