diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy-dev.yaml b/.github/workflows/deploy-dev.yaml
index fa140756..32ce85b8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy-dev.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy-dev.yaml
@@ -102,28 +102,45 @@ jobs:
             ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_DEV_USER }}@${{ secrets.DEPLOY_DEV_HOST }} \
             "$DEPLOY_CMD"
 
-      # Post-deploy smoke test: hit the public endpoint until /api/info
-      # answers 200 or we give up. A green "Build and deploy to DEV"
-      # without this step was historically misleading — a runtime-bootstrap
-      # panic left the container Up-but-unresponsive while the workflow
-      # reported success. Failing this step blocks the auto-release PR
-      # from collecting a green check and surfaces the regression in CI.
+      # Post-deploy smoke test: hit the public endpoint until
+      # /health/ready reports `ready: true` (or we give up). A green
+      # "Build and deploy to DEV" without this step was historically
+      # misleading — a runtime-bootstrap panic left the container
+      # Up-but-unresponsive while the workflow reported success.
+      # Failing this step blocks the auto-release PR from collecting
+      # a green check and surfaces the regression in CI.
+      #
+      # `/health/ready` (not `/api/info`) is the load-bearing gate.
+      # Post-#154 the node binds the HTTP listener immediately and
+      # warms the Plonky2 prover in a background task; `/api/info`
+      # returns 200 within seconds, but `/health/ready` stays at
+      # `{"ready":false,"prover":"warming"}` for the 10-30 s warmup.
+      # Downstream jobs (E2E preflight, smoke tests against the
+      # publisher wallet) gated on `/health/ready` and were racing
+      # the warmup — observed empirically in
+      # https://github.com/zk-coins/node/actions/runs/26793933906/job/78986599030
+      # (Release PR #166, prover still warming at +4 s after the
+      # E2E job picked the runner up). Polling `/health/ready` here
+      # means the deploy job only reports success once the node is
+      # actually ready for traffic.
       - name: Smoke test public endpoint
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-          URL="https://dev-api.zkcoins.app/api/info"
+          URL="https://dev-api.zkcoins.app/health/ready"
           for i in $(seq 1 30); do
-            code=$(curl -sS -o /tmp/info.json -w '%{http_code}' --max-time 10 "$URL" || echo "000")
-            if [ "$code" = "200" ]; then
-              echo "DEV /api/info responded 200 after ${i} attempt(s):"
-              cat /tmp/info.json
+            body=$(curl -sS -o /tmp/ready.json -w '%{http_code}' --max-time 10 "$URL" || echo "000")
+            code="$body"
+            if [ "$code" = "200" ] && jq -e '.ready == true' /tmp/ready.json > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+              echo "DEV /health/ready reports ready=true after ${i} attempt(s):"
+              cat /tmp/ready.json
               echo
               exit 0
             fi
-            echo "[$i/30] $URL -> ${code} (waiting 10 s)"
+            ready_snap=$(jq -c '. // "(no body)"' /tmp/ready.json 2>/dev/null || echo "(non-json)")
+            echo "[$i/30] $URL -> ${code} ${ready_snap} (waiting 10 s)"
             sleep 10
           done
-          echo "::error::DEV /api/info never returned 200 within ~5 min after deploy"
+          echo "::error::DEV /health/ready never reported ready=true within ~5 min after deploy"
           exit 1
 
   # Functional verification of the deployed DEV node.