diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml
index 42cf2e4..bf72c6c 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -171,9 +171,12 @@ jobs:
             alpine:latest \
             sh -lc '
               test -d /app/frontend
+              mkdir -p /app/frontend/public
               printf "VITE_BUILD_VERSION=%s\nVITE_BUILD_DATE=%s\n" "$BUILD_VERSION" "$BUILD_DATE" > /app/frontend/.env.production
+              printf "{\n  \"version\": \"%s\",\n  \"buildDate\": \"%s\"\n}\n" "$BUILD_VERSION" "$BUILD_DATE" > /app/frontend/public/build-meta.json
               echo "Frontend build metadata:"
               cat /app/frontend/.env.production
+              cat /app/frontend/public/build-meta.json
             '
 
       - name: Prepare deploy host disk headroom
@@ -308,9 +311,11 @@ jobs:
           css_asset="$(printf "%s" "$index" | grep -Eo '/assets/index-[^"]+\.css' | head -n 1)"
           test -n "$js_asset"
           test -n "$css_asset"
-          js_body="$(curl -fsS --max-time 20 "${LIVE_URL}${js_asset}")"
-          printf "%s" "$js_body" | grep -Fq "${{ steps.meta.outputs.build_version }}"
+          curl -fsS --max-time 20 "${LIVE_URL}${js_asset}" >/dev/null
           curl -fsS --max-time 20 "${LIVE_URL}${css_asset}" >/dev/null
+          meta_body="$(curl -fsS --max-time 15 "${LIVE_URL}/build-meta.json")"
+          echo "$meta_body"
+          echo "$meta_body" | grep -Fq '"version": "${{ steps.meta.outputs.build_version }}"'
           echo "Frontend assets served: ${js_asset}, ${css_asset}"
           echo "Frontend version verified: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.build_version }}"