diff --git a/deploy/stack-deploy.sh b/deploy/stack-deploy.sh
index 4eea86d..3879d79 100755
--- a/deploy/stack-deploy.sh
+++ b/deploy/stack-deploy.sh
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ DIR="/volume1/docker/compose-files"
 PY="$DIR/deploy/envparse.py"
 GLOBAL_ENV="$DIR/deploy/global.env"
 
+# ── Pre-flight: ensure local checkout is in sync with Gitea ─────────────────
+# Prevents deploying from a stale/diverged local tree (see incident 2026-08-26).
+"$DIR/deploy/git-guard.sh" || { echo "ERROR: git-guard check failed. Deploy aborted."; exit 1; }
+
 # ── Locate compose file(s) ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 FOLDER="$DIR/$STACK"