diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 92dd9804..68cc5ed6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ jobs:
           # Node 18: contentlayer (unmaintained) crashes on exit under Node 20+
           # (ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE in clipanion) even though it generates docs
           # fine. The old deploy workflow pinned 18 for the same reason.
-          node-version: 18
+          node-version-file: .nvmrc
           cache: npm
           cache-dependency-path: frontend/package-lock.json
 
diff --git a/.nvmrc b/.nvmrc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3c032078
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.nvmrc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+18