diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 5063db6..de26ad3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@ env:
   # CPU wheels keep CI light; mirrors the Dockerfile TORCH_INDEX_URL flow.
   TORCH_INDEX_URL: https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
 
+# Dependency caches are off on these runners. actions/setup-python and
+# actions/setup-node resolve their cache globs against the checkout, and the
+# self-hosted runner's `_work` is a symlink onto another drive, so the action
+# cannot follow the dependency files and fails the job before any step runs
+# ("No file ... matched to [**/pyproject.toml]", "Some specified paths were
+# not resolved"). The desktop workflow carries the same note for its pip cache.
 jobs:
   lint:
     # Static checks are interpreter-version agnostic; run them once.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy-hetzner.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy-hetzner.yml
index 9d06482..8a9f5db 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy-hetzner.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy-hetzner.yml
@@ -42,10 +42,14 @@ jobs:
           ssh -i ~/.ssh/deploy_key -o StrictHostKeyChecking=yes \
             "$HETZNER_USER@$HETZNER_HOST" \
             'mkdir -p /opt/spikeforge'
+          # `build/` is generated documentation output — megabytes of it,
+          # gigabytes with its datasets — and the image never reads it.
+          # Shipping it filled this host's disk and failed the sync halfway.
           rsync -rl --delete \
             --exclude='.git' \
             --exclude='.env' \
             --exclude='venv' \
+            --exclude='build' \
             --exclude='client/node_modules' \
             --exclude='client/dist' \
             --exclude='**/__pycache__' \
diff --git a/scripts/deploy_dashboard_local.sh b/scripts/deploy_dashboard_local.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..81559a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/deploy_dashboard_local.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Deploy the dashboard to dash.spikeforge.net over SSH, without waiting on CI.
+#
+# `.github/workflows/deploy-hetzner.yml` does the same three things, but a push
+# to main also starts the seventeen-job CI suite (Python matrices, extras
+# builds that pull Torch), and the deploy queues behind it on the same three
+# runners. For a client-only change that is minutes of work behind hours of
+# queue — the mirror refresh took about two hours that way and about fifteen
+# minutes this way.
+#
+# The steps are the workflow's own, so it needs the same access: an SSH host
+# that can reach the deployment machine as a user in the docker group, or root.
+# Point it with HETZNER_HOST (default: the `hetzner-airunner` ssh alias).
+#
+#   scripts/deploy_dashboard_local.sh
+#
+set -euo pipefail
+
+HOST="${HETZNER_HOST:-hetzner-airunner}"
+REMOTE_DIR="${SPIKEFORGE_REMOTE_DIR:-/opt/spikeforge}"
+COMPOSE="docker compose -p spikeforge --env-file .env -f docker-compose.hetzner.yml"
+
+cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
+
+# `build/` is generated documentation output: megabytes of it, gigabytes with
+# its datasets, and the deployment never reads it. Shipping it once filled the
+# deployment host's disk and failed the sync halfway.
+echo "==> syncing to ${HOST}:${REMOTE_DIR}"
+rsync -rl --delete \
+  --exclude='.git' \
+  --exclude='.env' \
+  --exclude='venv' \
+  --exclude='build' \
+  --exclude='client/node_modules' \
+  --exclude='client/dist' \
+  --exclude='**/__pycache__' \
+  --exclude='*.egg-info' \
+  -e "ssh -o BatchMode=yes" \
+  ./ "${HOST}:${REMOTE_DIR}/"
+
+# The image build writes several gigabytes of layers, and the host runs other
+# services, so the disk is the thing that fails first. Reclaim only what no
+# container uses.
+echo "==> reclaiming unused images and build cache"
+ssh -o BatchMode=yes "$HOST" \
+  "docker image prune -a -f >/dev/null; docker builder prune -a -f >/dev/null; df -h / | tail -1"
+
+echo "==> building and restarting"
+ssh -o BatchMode=yes "$HOST" \
+  "cd ${REMOTE_DIR} && ${COMPOSE} up -d --build --remove-orphans"
+
+echo "==> health"
+ssh -o BatchMode=yes "$HOST" \
+  "docker inspect --format '{{.State.Health.Status}}' spikeforge-dashboard"