diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml
index b4b6d19..7cf5dd4 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -115,27 +115,14 @@ jobs:
           # Update compose files + mosquitto config
           git pull origin main
 
-          # server-26#51: Firestore rules + composite indexes had no deploy
-          # path and regressed silently after every fix (the alert_events and
-          # calls(org_id,started_at) indexes among them). The VM runs as the
-          # project service account, so firebase-tools authenticates via ADC
-          # with no key file, and infra/firestore/firebase.json pins database
-          # c2-server. Indexes go on additively -- no --force -- so a stray
-          # edit to firestore.indexes.json can never delete a live index;
-          # rules are a full replace, which is the intent. --non-interactive
-          # means the FIRST run after a drift still needs a one-time manual
-          # `firebase deploy` on the VM to clear pending deletions (it aborts
-          # rather than guess). A failure here warns but does NOT fail the
-          # deploy: a transient Firebase API error must not roll back a good
-          # app build.
-          if command -v firebase >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-            ( cd /opt/drb/infra/firestore \
-              && firebase deploy --only firestore:rules,firestore:indexes \
-                   --project ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID }} --non-interactive ) \
-              || echo "WARNING: firestore deploy failed (server-26#51) -- rules/indexes may be stale"
-          else
-            echo "WARNING: firebase CLI not on the VM -- skipped firestore deploy (server-26#51); install once with: npm i -g firebase-tools"
-          fi
+          # server-26#51: Firestore rules/indexes deploy used to be attempted
+          # HERE, over SSH, gated on the VM having firebase-tools installed.
+          # It never did (no node on the VM), so this silently warned and
+          # skipped on every deploy for weeks -- PR #124 even auto-closed
+          # #13/#51 as if it were fixed. Moved to a standalone
+          # deploy-firestore-rules job below that runs on the Gitea runner
+          # itself (which always has node), so it no longer depends on
+          # anything being pre-installed on this VM.
 
           # server-26#65: capture what is actually live BEFORE switching, so
           # a bad deploy has something concrete to fall back to. This reads
@@ -291,9 +278,48 @@ jobs:
           echo "status=success" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "rolled_back_to=$PREV_TAG" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
+  deploy-firestore-rules:
+    name: Deploy Firestore rules & indexes
+    needs: build
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    # Deliberately independent of the `deploy` job (app containers) and its
+    # health-check/rollback chain above: a rules/indexes deploy failure has
+    # nothing to roll back (there is no previous "build" of a ruleset to
+    # revert to via this pipeline) and must never be conflated with an app
+    # deploy failure by triggering that job's rollback logic. This job
+    # failing is its own, separate red run -- picked up by notify-failure
+    # below -- not a signal to touch the running containers.
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Deploy firestore rules and indexes
+        env:
+          FIREBASE_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          set -e
+          # server-26#51: this used to run over SSH on the deploy VM, gated
+          # on the VM having firebase-tools installed. It never did, so it
+          # silently warned-and-skipped on every single deploy for weeks.
+          # Running it here instead means the only prerequisite is a secret
+          # -- FIREBASE_TOKEN, from `firebase login:ci` -- rather than
+          # something installed by hand on a machine this pipeline doesn't
+          # otherwise touch. A missing token now fails this job LOUDLY
+          # (picked up by notify-failure) instead of a buried warning line
+          # nobody reads in the app deploy's logs.
+          if [ -z "$FIREBASE_TOKEN" ]; then
+            echo "FIREBASE_TOKEN secret is not set -- cannot deploy Firestore rules/indexes." >&2
+            echo "Generate one with 'firebase login:ci' and add it as a Gitea Actions secret." >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          npm install -g firebase-tools
+          cd infra/firestore
+          firebase deploy --only firestore:rules,firestore:indexes \
+            --project ${{ secrets.FIREBASE_PROJECT_ID }} \
+            --token "$FIREBASE_TOKEN" --non-interactive
+
   notify-failure:
     name: Report a failed deploy
-    needs: [build, deploy]
+    needs: [build, deploy, deploy-firestore-rules]
     if: failure()
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
@@ -310,6 +336,8 @@ jobs:
           SHA: ${{ gitea.sha }}
           ROLLBACK_STATUS: ${{ needs.deploy.outputs.rollback_status }}
           ROLLBACK_SHA: ${{ needs.deploy.outputs.rollback_sha }}
+          DEPLOY_RESULT: ${{ needs.deploy.result }}
+          RULES_RESULT: ${{ needs.deploy-firestore-rules.result }}
         run: |
           if [ -z "$WEBHOOK" ]; then
             echo "DEPLOY_ALERT_WEBHOOK is not set - skipping notification."
@@ -321,6 +349,16 @@ jobs:
           run_url = os.environ["RUN_URL"]
           status = os.environ.get("ROLLBACK_STATUS", "")
           rollback_sha = os.environ.get("ROLLBACK_SHA", "")
+          deploy_result = os.environ.get("DEPLOY_RESULT", "")
+          rules_result = os.environ.get("RULES_RESULT", "")
+
+          # deploy-firestore-rules runs independent of the app deploy/rollback
+          # chain (see its own job comment), so its failure needs its own
+          # branch here -- otherwise this fell through to the generic "Build
+          # failed before any deploy was attempted" text even when the app
+          # deployed fine and only the Firestore rules/indexes push failed.
+          if deploy_result != "failure" and rules_result == "failure":
+              detail = "App deploy succeeded; Firestore rules/indexes deploy FAILED (server-26#51). Rules may be stale — check FIREBASE_TOKEN and the job log."
 
           # server-26#65: the old text here unconditionally claimed
           # "production is still running the previous build" -- true only
@@ -329,7 +367,7 @@ jobs:
           # class of bug the correlator instrumentation exists to catch), or
           # once the deploy job's own rollback path has run. Say what
           # actually happened instead.
-          if status == "success":
+          elif status == "success":
               detail = "Automatic rollback to `%s` succeeded. Production is back on the previous good build." % rollback_sha[:8]
           elif status == "failed":
               detail = ("Automatic rollback to `%s` FAILED. Production state is UNKNOWN -- "