diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 2ed5c58..8b73a7f 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -52,7 +52,9 @@ Auth: voicemail `pin` from `voicemail.conf`. No separate portal passwords.
 - Sudo requires password. Use `SUDO_ASKPASS=/home/jp/.hermes/askpass.sh` with `sudo -A <cmd>`.
 - `sudo bash <script>` is blocked (nested root shell). Run privileged steps as individual `sudo -A <cmd>` calls.
 - Deploy backend: `sudo -A cp /home/jp/asterisk-vm/vm_api.py /opt/vm-transcribe/vm_api.py && sudo -A systemctl restart vm-api`.
-- Deploy frontend: `sudo -A rsync -a --exclude 'node_modules' --exclude 'dist' /home/jp/Work/voicemail-ui/ /home/txt3/domains/vm.txt3.net/public_html/`.
+- Deploy frontend: build in the UI repo, then rsync the **`dist/`** output (not the repo root) to the web root:
+  `cd /home/jp/Work/voicemail-ui && npm install && npm run build && sudo rsync -a --delete dist/ /home/txt3/domains/vm.txt3.net/public_html/`.
+  NOTE: deploy `dist/`, never the repo root — the root `index.html` is the Vite *dev* entry (`<script src="/src/main.tsx">`) and will render a blank page in production.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/docs/INSTALL.md b/docs/INSTALL.md
index 011f5cd..4bb91d6 100644
--- a/docs/INSTALL.md
+++ b/docs/INSTALL.md
@@ -201,12 +201,12 @@ npm install
 npm run build                       # outputs dist/
 ```
 
-Deploy the static build to the web root (Apache serves it and proxies `/api/`
-to :8098 and `/audio/` to :8099):
+Deploy the **`dist/` output** (not the repo root) to the web root — the root
+`index.html` is the Vite *dev* entry (`<script src="/src/main.tsx">`) and would
+render a blank page in production:
 
 ```bash
-sudo -A rsync -a --exclude node_modules --exclude dist \
-     /home/jp/Work/voicemail-ui/ /home/txt3/domains/vm.txt3.net/public_html/
+sudo rsync -a --delete dist/ /home/txt3/domains/vm.txt3.net/public_html/
 ```
 
 Keep this repo's copy in sync for documentation/commit purposes: