diff --git a/scripts/deploy-stack.sh b/scripts/deploy-stack.sh
index bc5200e..f638880 100755
--- a/scripts/deploy-stack.sh
+++ b/scripts/deploy-stack.sh
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ for entry in "${PAIRS[@]}"; do
   # Pre-create the remote dir. Without this, rsync against a nonexistent
   # destination can fail in ways the dry-run doesn't surface cleanly.
   remote_path="/opt/docker/$kind/$STACK/"
-  if ! ssh -o BatchMode=yes -o ConnectTimeout=10 "$TARGET" \
+  if ! ssh -n -o BatchMode=yes -o ConnectTimeout=10 "$TARGET" \
        "mkdir -p '$remote_path'" 2>/dev/null; then
     echo "error: could not create $remote_path on $TARGET (check perms / ssh)" >&2
     exit 2
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ if [ "$any_change" -eq 0 ]; then
     IFS='|' read -r kind _ _ <<<"$entry"
     raw=${RAW_RSYNC_OUT_BY_KIND[$kind]:-}
     remote_path="/opt/docker/$kind/$STACK/"
-    remote_count=$(ssh -o BatchMode=yes "$TARGET" \
+    remote_count=$(ssh -n -o BatchMode=yes "$TARGET" \
       "find '$remote_path' -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 2>/dev/null | wc -l" \
       2>/dev/null || echo "?")
     printf '  %s: remote has %s entries, rsync itemize output:\n' "$kind" "$remote_count"
@@ -216,15 +216,18 @@ for entry in "${PAIRS[@]}"; do
 
   printf '\n=== %s → %s ===\n' "$src" "$dest"
 
+  # ssh below runs with -n: without it, ssh slurps the loop's heredoc
+  # stdin ($changed / $deleted) and eats the remaining iterations,
+  # silently truncating the diff output to the first file only.
   while IFS= read -r rel; do
     [ -z "$rel" ] && continue
     local_file="$src$rel"
     remote_file="$remote_base/$rel"
     divider
-    if ssh -o BatchMode=yes "$TARGET" "[ -f '$remote_file' ]" 2>/dev/null; then
+    if ssh -n -o BatchMode=yes "$TARGET" "[ -f '$remote_file' ]" 2>/dev/null; then
       printf 'MODIFY  %s\n' "$rel"
       diff -u --label "a/$rel (remote)" --label "b/$rel (local)" \
-        <(ssh -o BatchMode=yes "$TARGET" "cat '$remote_file'" 2>/dev/null) \
+        <(ssh -n -o BatchMode=yes "$TARGET" "cat '$remote_file'" 2>/dev/null) \
         "$local_file" || true
     else
       printf 'ADD     %s\n' "$rel"
@@ -239,7 +242,7 @@ for entry in "${PAIRS[@]}"; do
     divider
     printf 'DELETE  %s\n' "$rel"
     diff -u --label "a/$rel (remote)" --label /dev/null \
-      <(ssh -o BatchMode=yes "$TARGET" "cat '$remote_file'" 2>/dev/null) \
+      <(ssh -n -o BatchMode=yes "$TARGET" "cat '$remote_file'" 2>/dev/null) \
       /dev/null || true
   done <<<"$deleted"
 done