diff --git a/deploy/build.sh b/deploy/build.sh
index e12992c..b65f7ff 100755
--- a/deploy/build.sh
+++ b/deploy/build.sh
@@ -91,8 +91,10 @@ podman run --rm --network="$BUILD_NETNS" --memory=1g \
     }
     sync_clone repo    "$CODE_URL"    "$CODE_SHA"
     sync_clone content "$CONTENT_URL" "$CONTENT_SHA"
-    # Overlay content onto code (these paths are gitignored in the code repo)
+    # Overlay content onto code (these paths are gitignored in the code repo).
+    # mkdir -p: checkout prunes the emptied parent dirs, cp needs them back.
     rm -rf repo/src/content/news repo/src/content/pages repo/public/uploads
+    mkdir -p repo/src/content repo/public
     cp -a content/news    repo/src/content/news
     cp -a content/pages   repo/src/content/pages
     cp -a content/uploads repo/public/uploads