diff --git a/.woodpecker/deploy.yml b/.woodpecker/deploy.yml
index 18f4468..20559d6 100644
--- a/.woodpecker/deploy.yml
+++ b/.woodpecker/deploy.yml
@@ -17,14 +17,16 @@ steps:
         # Flat: any root-level *.yaml
         FLAT=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+\.ya?ml$' || true)
 
-        # Folder: any file under a subfolder (e.g. immich/immich.yml)
-        FOLDERS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
+        # Folder: any file under a subfolder (e.g. immich/immich.yml).
+        # Exclude dotfolders (.woodpecker, .git, .gitea, etc.) -- these are never
+        # deployable stacks and were previously matching as bogus "stack names".
+        FOLDERS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/.][^/]*/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
 
         [ -z "$FLAT" ] && [ -z "$FOLDERS" ] && echo "No stacks changed" && exit 0
 
         for f in $FLAT; do
           [ -f "$f" ] || continue
-          docker compose -f "$f" --no-interpolate config -q \
+          docker compose -f "$f" config --no-interpolate -q \
             && echo "  OK $f" || { echo "  FAIL $f"; exit 1; }
         done
 
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ steps:
             [ "$cf" = "$MAIN" ] && continue
             EXTRAS="$EXTRAS -f $cf"
           done
-          docker compose -f "$MAIN" $EXTRAS --no-interpolate config -q \
+          docker compose -f "$MAIN" $EXTRAS config --no-interpolate -q \
             && echo "  OK $d/" || { echo "  FAIL $d/"; exit 1; }
         done
 
@@ -115,18 +117,23 @@ steps:
       - mkdir -p ~/.ssh
       - echo "$SSH_KEY" | base64 -d > ~/.ssh/id_rsa
       - chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
+      - |
+        if [ -z "${SWARM_MANAGER_IP}" ]; then
+          echo "ERROR: SWARM_MANAGER_IP secret is empty. Check Woodpecker repo secrets."
+          exit 1
+        fi
       - ssh-keyscan -H ${SWARM_MANAGER_IP} >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts 2>/dev/null || true
       - |
         CHANGED_FILES=$(echo "${CI_PIPELINE_FILES}" | tr -d '[]"' | tr ',' '\n')
         FLAT_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+\.yaml$' | sed 's/\.yaml$//' || true)
-        FOLDER_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
+        FOLDER_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/.][^/]*/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
         ALL_STACKS=$(printf '%s\n%s' "$FLAT_STACKS" "$FOLDER_STACKS" | grep -v '^$' | sort -u)
         [ -z "$ALL_STACKS" ] && echo "No stacks changed, skipping" && exit 0
       - scp -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no deploy/create-secrets.sh root@${SWARM_MANAGER_IP}:/tmp/cs.sh
       - |
         CHANGED_FILES=$(echo "${CI_PIPELINE_FILES}" | tr -d '[]"' | tr ',' '\n')
         FLAT_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+\.yaml$' | sed 's/\.yaml$//' || true)
-        FOLDER_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
+        FOLDER_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/.][^/]*/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
         ALL_STACKS=$(printf '%s\n%s' "$FLAT_STACKS" "$FOLDER_STACKS" | grep -v '^$' | sort -u)
 
         for STACK in $ALL_STACKS; do
@@ -210,11 +217,16 @@ steps:
       - mkdir -p ~/.ssh
       - echo "$SSH_KEY" | base64 -d > ~/.ssh/id_rsa
       - chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
+      - |
+        if [ -z "${SWARM_MANAGER_IP}" ]; then
+          echo "ERROR: SWARM_MANAGER_IP secret is empty. Check Woodpecker repo secrets."
+          exit 1
+        fi
       - ssh-keyscan -H ${SWARM_MANAGER_IP} >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts 2>/dev/null || true
       - |
         CHANGED_FILES=$(echo "${CI_PIPELINE_FILES}" | tr -d '[]"' | tr ',' '\n')
         FLAT_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+\.yaml$' | sed 's/\.yaml$//' || true)
-        FOLDER_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
+        FOLDER_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/.][^/]*/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
         ALL_STACKS=$(printf '%s\n%s' "$FLAT_STACKS" "$FOLDER_STACKS" | grep -v '^$' | sort -u)
         [ -z "$ALL_STACKS" ] && echo "No stacks changed" && exit 0
 
@@ -259,11 +271,16 @@ steps:
       - mkdir -p ~/.ssh
       - echo "$SSH_KEY" | base64 -d > ~/.ssh/id_rsa
       - chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
+      - |
+        if [ -z "${SWARM_MANAGER_IP}" ]; then
+          echo "ERROR: SWARM_MANAGER_IP secret is empty. Check Woodpecker repo secrets."
+          exit 1
+        fi
       - ssh-keyscan -H ${SWARM_MANAGER_IP} >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts 2>/dev/null || true
       - |
         CHANGED_FILES=$(echo "${CI_PIPELINE_FILES}" | tr -d '[]"' | tr ',' '\n')
         FLAT_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+\.yaml$' | sed 's/\.yaml$//' || true)
-        FOLDER_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/]+/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
+        FOLDER_STACKS=$(echo "$CHANGED_FILES" | grep -E '^[^/.][^/]*/' | cut -d/ -f1 | sort -u || true)
         ALL_STACKS=$(printf '%s\n%s' "$FLAT_STACKS" "$FOLDER_STACKS" | grep -v '^$' | sort -u)
         [ -z "$ALL_STACKS" ] && exit 0
         sleep 5