diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
index b795a530..33805c4c 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
@@ -33,6 +33,14 @@ jobs:
           # 2. Navigate to your website directory
           cd /var/www/atom-nexst/
 
+          DEPLOY_USER="$(id -un)"
+          DEPLOY_GROUP="$(id -gn)"
+
+          # CRITICAL: last deploy chowns the tree to www-data. Reclaim ownership
+          # BEFORE git reset, otherwise stale sources (e.g. old nitro editor with
+          # a removed Json type) can survive and break typecheck.
+          sudo chown -R "${DEPLOY_USER}:${DEPLOY_GROUP}" /var/www/atom-nexst/
+
           # CRITICAL: Prevent Git permission blocks caused by the www-data ownership change
           git config --global --add safe.directory /var/www/atom-nexst
 
@@ -44,6 +52,8 @@ jobs:
           git reset --hard origin/main
           # Drop stray untracked sources left on the host (keep secrets/env).
           git clean -fd -e .env -e .env.local -e .env.production -e .env*.local -- src
+          # Force-refresh sources after reclaiming ownership (belt-and-suspenders).
+          git checkout -f HEAD -- src
 
           # Preserve .next/cache so Next.js can reuse its incremental build cache.
           rm -rf .output dist
@@ -53,6 +63,12 @@ jobs:
           export NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_VERSION="${APP_VERSION}"
           echo "APP_VERSION=${APP_VERSION}"
 
+          # Fail fast if a host-local stale copy still has the removed Json type.
+          if grep -nE ':\s*Json\b|Json\s*\|' src/app/admin/import/furni/nitro-editor-dialog.tsx; then
+            echo "ERROR: nitro-editor-dialog.tsx still contains a Json type after checkout" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
           # 4. Install — onlyBuiltDependencies comes from pnpm-workspace.yaml
           # (do not set a PNPM only-built-deps env override here).
           pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
diff --git a/src/app/admin/import/furni/nitro-editor-dialog.tsx b/src/app/admin/import/furni/nitro-editor-dialog.tsx
index 352b0fd7..c3068f93 100644
--- a/src/app/admin/import/furni/nitro-editor-dialog.tsx
+++ b/src/app/admin/import/furni/nitro-editor-dialog.tsx
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ interface NitroEditorDialogProps {
 	onOpenChange: (open: boolean) => void;
 }
 
+/** Nested metadata patch helpers (no ambient Json type — keep this file typecheck-clean). */
 function updateNested(
 	obj: Record<string, unknown>,
 	path: string,
diff --git a/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts b/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts
index 65c72c51..32593a96 100644
--- a/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/deploy-workflow-contract.test.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,16 @@ describe("production deploy workflow", () => {
 		expect(workflow).toContain("SKIP_ENV_VALIDATION=1");
 	});
 
+	it("reclaims ownership before git reset so www-data files can be overwritten", () => {
+		expect(workflow).toContain('sudo chown -R "${DEPLOY_USER}:${DEPLOY_GROUP}"');
+		const reclaimAt = workflow.indexOf(
+			'sudo chown -R "${DEPLOY_USER}:${DEPLOY_GROUP}"',
+		);
+		const resetAt = workflow.indexOf("git reset --hard origin/main");
+		expect(reclaimAt).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+		expect(resetAt).toBeGreaterThan(reclaimAt);
+	});
+
 	it("does not override onlyBuiltDependencies (uses pnpm-workspace.yaml)", () => {
 		expect(workflow).not.toContain("PNPM_CONFIG_ONLY_BUILT_DEPENDENCIES");
 	});