diff --git a/deploy/README.md b/deploy/README.md
index e48b7276..ef2a5618 100644
--- a/deploy/README.md
+++ b/deploy/README.md
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ deploys are triggered by SSHing into the VPS and running this script.
 | `/opt/muzix/` | Git checkout of `kcolbchain/muzix` (the `main` branch is prod) |
 | `/opt/muzix/web/.next/standalone/` | Next.js standalone build (`server.js`) — what systemd runs |
 | `/opt/muzix/web/.next/standalone/public/` | **Hand-wired** — Next.js does not copy `public/` into standalone output |
-| `/opt/muzix/web/.next/standalone/web/.next/static/` | **Hand-wired** — Next.js does not copy `.next/static` into standalone output |
+| `/opt/muzix/web/.next/standalone/.next/static/` | **Hand-wired** — Next.js does not copy `.next/static` into standalone output. Note: this lives at `standalone/.next/static`, **not** `standalone/web/.next/static` — the source dir-layout is misleading. |
 | `/etc/systemd/system/muzix-web.service` | systemd unit — `node /opt/muzix/web/.next/standalone/server.js` on `127.0.0.1:3700` |
 | `/etc/caddy/conf.d/muzix.caddy` | Caddy reverse-proxy to `127.0.0.1:3700` |
 
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ The script:
 1. `git fetch && git reset --hard origin/main` in `/opt/muzix`
 2. `npm install` + `npm run build` in `/opt/muzix/web`
 3. Copies `web/public/` → `web/.next/standalone/public/`
-4. Copies `web/.next/static/` → `web/.next/standalone/web/.next/static/`
+4. Copies `web/.next/static/` → `web/.next/standalone/.next/static/`
 5. `systemctl restart muzix-web`
 6. Verifies the service is active; on failure prints the last 30 journal lines and exits non-zero
 
diff --git a/deploy/deploy.sh b/deploy/deploy.sh
index 1b2fc528..541fa4f7 100755
--- a/deploy/deploy.sh
+++ b/deploy/deploy.sh
@@ -34,14 +34,19 @@ npm run build > /dev/null
 # Next.js standalone output does NOT copy these by design — the docs
 # explicitly tell you to wire them in for production. See:
 # https://nextjs.org/docs/app/api-reference/config/next-config-js/output
+# Both destinations are RELATIVE TO THE STANDALONE ROOT — NOT under web/.
+# server.js does process.chdir(__dirname) where __dirname is the standalone
+# root, then looks for `./.next/static` and `./public`. Writing them under
+# `standalone/web/.next/static` (a mirror of the source layout) is wrong:
+# the homepage will render but every /_next/static/* request will 404,
+# silently breaking all styling.
 echo "==> wiring public/ and .next/static into standalone..."
 rm -rf "$STANDALONE/public"
 mkdir -p "$STANDALONE/public"
 cp -r "$REPO/web/public/." "$STANDALONE/public/"
 
-rm -rf "$STANDALONE/web/.next/static"
-mkdir -p "$STANDALONE/web/.next"
-cp -r "$REPO/web/.next/static" "$STANDALONE/web/.next/static"
+rm -rf "$STANDALONE/.next/static"
+cp -r "$REPO/web/.next/static" "$STANDALONE/.next/static"
 
 echo "==> systemctl restart ${SERVICE}..."
 sudo systemctl restart "$SERVICE"