diff --git a/stacks/hrafn/ci/README.md b/stacks/hrafn/ci/README.md
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+# hrafn CI deploy — authored here, lands in `vh/hrafn`
+
+These two files replace hrafn's hand-rsync deploy. They are **authored and
+version-controlled here** because infra-ops owns hrafn's uptime, but they
+**belong in the `vh/hrafn` repo** — infra-ops has no write access to it
+(claude-bot is not a collaborator), so they are handed to the repo holder
+rather than committed directly.
+
+| file here | destination in `vh/hrafn` |
+|---|---|
+| `playbooks-deploy.yaml` | `playbooks/deploy.yaml` |
+| `gitea-workflows-deploy.yaml` | `.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml` |
+
+Keep this copy in sync if the deployed version changes, or delete it once
+infra-ops has write access to `vh/hrafn` and the repo copy is canonical.
+
+## What the change buys
+
+The pre-CI shape was: rsync a working tree into `/opt/docker/compose/hrafn/`,
+then `docker compose build && up`. Two problems, both fixed here.
+
+1. **No provenance.** The image was always `local/hrafn:v1`, so nothing on
+   the box could answer "what commit is running". The image is now tagged
+   with the commit SHA, and `/opt/docker/compose/hrafn/.deployed` records
+   the SHA and timestamp. Rollback becomes a retag.
+2. **The whole repo lived in the compose directory** — `tests/`, `docs/`,
+   `ROADMAP.md`, `persistent-memory.md`, `CLAUDE.md`. Only the build context
+   ships now (`Dockerfile`, `compose.yaml`, `pyproject.toml`, `README.md`,
+   `src/`).
+
+## Two design calls worth knowing
+
+- **Tarball, not per-file upload steps.** nevermore's playbook enumerates
+  every source file as its own `upload:` step. That is explicit, but it
+  fails *open*: add `src/hrafn/newthing.py`, forget the matching step, and
+  the deploy silently ships without it. hrafn's build context travels as one
+  archive so it cannot go partial.
+- **`.env` is never deployed.** It is host-owned, `0600`, and holds the
+  bearer token. The playbook *refuses to run* if it is missing or not `0600`
+  — a guard added because the file arrived at `0644` on handoff.
+
+## Validation
+
+The playbook parses and interpolates clean under elway's own parser:
+
+```bash
+scripts/elway ana-docker --playbook stacks/hrafn/ci/playbooks-deploy.yaml \
+  --var hrafn_sha=abc123def456 --dry-run
+```
+
+That dry-run is worth running after any edit — it caught a real bug during
+authoring, where a comment containing a literal `{{ ... }}` identifier was
+picked up by elway's variable substitution and failed the run.
+
+No new Actions secrets are required: `DEPLOY_SSH_KEY` and `MGMT_REPO_TOKEN`
+already exist at user scope on `vh` from the nevermore/task-board wiring.
diff --git a/stacks/hrafn/ci/gitea-workflows-deploy.yaml b/stacks/hrafn/ci/gitea-workflows-deploy.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2e2020b
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+++ b/stacks/hrafn/ci/gitea-workflows-deploy.yaml
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+# Gitea Actions workflow for hrafn.
+#
+# Runs on every push to main (and on manual workflow_dispatch). Drives
+# the in-repo elway playbook (playbooks/deploy.yaml) — that file is the
+# single source of truth for "how hrafn is deployed", manual or automated.
+#
+# Replaces the hand-rsync deploy. Two things change as a result:
+#   - the image is tagged with the commit SHA rather than a fixed `v1`,
+#     so the host can answer "what is running" and a rollback is a retag
+#   - only the build context ships (Dockerfile, compose.yaml,
+#     pyproject.toml, README.md, src/) instead of the whole working tree,
+#     so tests/, docs/, persistent-memory.md and friends stop living in
+#     /opt/docker/compose/hrafn on the server
+#
+# Required Actions secrets — both already exist at user scope on vh from
+# the nevermore/task-board wiring, so there is nothing new to provision:
+#
+#   DEPLOY_SSH_KEY    Private SSH key authorized for lkraven@ana-docker.
+#   MGMT_REPO_TOKEN   Gitea PAT (read:repository) on vh/esh-pfi-infrastructure.
+#                     Needed to clone elway from the management repo.
+#
+# NOT handled here: .env. It is host-owned, 0600, holds the bearer token,
+# and is provisioned once from vault item ana-docker/hrafn/bearer-token.
+# The playbook refuses to deploy if it is missing or not 0600.
+
+name: Deploy hrafn
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+jobs:
+  deploy:
+    runs-on: pfi-fleet
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Install playbook prerequisites
+        run: |
+          apt-get update -qq
+          apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+            python3 python3-yaml openssh-client tar
+          rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
+      - name: Checkout hrafn (triggering repo)
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Checkout management repo (for elway)
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          repository: vh/esh-pfi-infrastructure
+          token: ${{ secrets.MGMT_REPO_TOKEN }}
+          path: _mgmt
+
+      - name: Configure SSH to ana-docker
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p ~/.ssh
+          printf '%s\n' "${{ secrets.DEPLOY_SSH_KEY }}" > ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
+          chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
+          cat > ~/.ssh/config <<'EOF'
+          Host ana-docker
+            HostName 10.250.50.70
+            User lkraven
+            IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
+            StrictHostKeyChecking accept-new
+          EOF
+          chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config
+
+      - name: Build the deploy context
+        # Only what the Dockerfile actually consumes, plus compose.yaml.
+        # Deliberately excludes tests/, docs/, persistent-memory.md,
+        # ROADMAP.md, CLAUDE.md, LICENSE and .env — none of them belong
+        # in a production compose directory.
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p dist
+          tar czf dist/hrafn-context.tgz \
+            Dockerfile compose.yaml pyproject.toml README.md src
+          echo "context contents:"
+          tar tzf dist/hrafn-context.tgz
+
+      - name: Deploy hrafn (in-repo elway playbook)
+        # hrafn_sha becomes the image tag and is written to
+        # /opt/docker/compose/hrafn/.deployed on the host.
+        run: |
+          _mgmt/scripts/elway ana-docker \
+            --playbook playbooks/deploy.yaml \
+            --var hrafn_sha=${GITHUB_SHA::12}
diff --git a/stacks/hrafn/ci/playbooks-deploy.yaml b/stacks/hrafn/ci/playbooks-deploy.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a8cbd2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stacks/hrafn/ci/playbooks-deploy.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+# Deploy hrafn (fleet browser-fetch service) to a Docker host.
+#
+# Single source of truth for "how hrafn is deployed" — CI and manual runs
+# take the same path. Modelled on nevermore's playbook, with two deliberate
+# differences noted below.
+#
+# Usage (from this repo's root):
+#   elway <host> --playbook playbooks/deploy.yaml
+#
+# Requires a build-context tarball at dist/hrafn-context.tgz. The CI
+# workflow builds it; for a manual run, build it the same way:
+#   mkdir -p dist && tar czf dist/hrafn-context.tgz \
+#     Dockerfile compose.yaml pyproject.toml README.md src
+#
+# DIFFERENCE 1 — tarball instead of per-file upload steps. nevermore
+# enumerates every source file as its own upload step. That is explicit,
+# but it fails OPEN: add a new src/hrafn/*.py and forget the matching
+# step, and the deploy silently ships without it. hrafn's build context
+# is a whole package, so it travels as one archive and cannot go partial.
+#
+# DIFFERENCE 2 — the image is tagged with the commit SHA, not a fixed
+# `v1`. Before this, nothing on the host could answer "what is running";
+# now the image tag IS the answer, and rolling back is retagging.
+#
+# NOT DEPLOYED BY THIS PLAYBOOK: .env. It is host-owned, 0600, and holds
+# the bearer token. Uploading it would either clobber the live token or
+# leak it into the repo. It is provisioned once by hand from the vault
+# item `ana-docker/hrafn/bearer-token`.
+
+vars:
+  compose_dir: /opt/docker/compose/hrafn
+  # Overridden by CI with the triggering commit. `manual` marks a
+  # hand-run deploy so an un-provenanced image is obvious on the host.
+  hrafn_sha: manual
+
+steps:
+  # ── preconditions ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+  - name: Verify compose dir exists + writable
+    shell: test -w {{ compose_dir }}
+    changed_when: "false"
+
+  - name: Verify .env is present and 0600 (deploy must not create it)
+    shell: |
+      test -f {{ compose_dir }}/.env || { echo "MISSING .env — provision it from vault item ana-docker/hrafn/bearer-token"; exit 1; }
+      perms=$(stat -c %a {{ compose_dir }}/.env)
+      test "$perms" = "600" || { echo "REFUSING: .env is $perms, expected 600 (it holds the bearer token)"; exit 1; }
+    changed_when: "false"
+
+  - name: Verify traefik-net exists (consumers reach hrafn on it)
+    shell: docker network inspect traefik-net >/dev/null 2>&1
+    changed_when: "false"
+
+  # ── ship the build context ──────────────────────────────────────────
+
+  - name: Upload build context
+    upload:
+      src: dist/hrafn-context.tgz
+      dest: "{{ compose_dir }}/.hrafn-context.tgz"
+      mode: "0600"
+
+  - name: Unpack build context
+    # Overwrites tracked files in place; leaves .env and any host-only
+    # state alone because the archive does not contain them.
+    shell: tar xzf {{ compose_dir }}/.hrafn-context.tgz -C {{ compose_dir }} && rm -f {{ compose_dir }}/.hrafn-context.tgz
+
+  # ── build + start ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+  - name: Build image tagged with the commit
+    shell: cd {{ compose_dir }} && HRAFN_TAG={{ hrafn_sha }} docker compose build
+
+  - name: Start/replace the container on the new image
+    shell: cd {{ compose_dir }} && HRAFN_TAG={{ hrafn_sha }} docker compose up -d
+
+  - name: Record what is deployed
+    # The provenance fix. Anyone on the box can now answer "what commit
+    # is this" without asking the person who last rsync'd.
+    shell: |
+      printf 'sha=%s\ndeployed_at=%s\n' "{{ hrafn_sha }}" "$(date -Is)" > {{ compose_dir }}/.deployed
+      chmod 644 {{ compose_dir }}/.deployed
+
+verify:
+  - name: Container reports healthy
+    # start_period is 20s and the interval is 30s, so allow two cycles
+    # before calling it a failure rather than a slow start.
+    shell: |
+      # elway's variable regex only matches an identifier starting with a
+      # letter or underscore, so docker's .State Go template below passes
+      # through untouched and needs no escaping.
+      for i in $(seq 1 20); do
+        s=$(docker inspect hrafn --format '{{.State.Health.Status}}' 2>/dev/null || echo missing)
+        [ "$s" = "healthy" ] && { echo "healthy after ${i}0s"; exit 0; }
+        sleep 10
+      done
+      echo "still $s after 200s"; docker logs --tail 40 hrafn; exit 1
+    changed_when: "false"
+
+  - name: Readiness endpoint answers on the shared network
+    # Proves consumers can actually reach it, not just that the process
+    # is up — hrafn has no published host port, so this has to run from
+    # inside traefik-net.
+    shell: >
+      docker run --rm --network traefik-net curlimages/curl:latest
+      -sf -m 10 -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' http://hrafn:8080/readyz
+    changed_when: "false"
+
+  - name: Deployed SHA matches what we just shipped
+    shell: grep -q "^sha={{ hrafn_sha }}$" {{ compose_dir }}/.deployed
+    changed_when: "false"