diff --git a/deploy/install.sh b/deploy/install.sh
index 3bdc169..7e2bc3e 100755
--- a/deploy/install.sh
+++ b/deploy/install.sh
@@ -275,7 +275,16 @@ else
     # inside the container belong to it and not to root.
     # Supplied through --env-file; skipped silently when absent, so a first
     # install can happen before the Stripe account exists.
-    optional_env() { [[ -n "${2:-}" ]] && set_env "$1" "$2"; }
+    # An `if`, not `[[ … ]] && …`: the && form makes the function return 1 for
+    # every value that is absent, and under `set -e` that ends the install.
+    # Absent is the NORMAL case here — these are the optional ones — so the
+    # script killed itself on the first installation that did not happen to
+    # supply a Hetzner token.
+    optional_env() {
+        if [[ -n "${2:-}" ]]; then
+            set_env "$1" "$2"
+        fi
+    }
 
     optional_env HETZNER_DNS_TOKEN   "${HETZNER_DNS_TOKEN:-}"
     optional_env CLUPILOT_DNS_ZONE   "${CLUPILOT_DNS_ZONE:-}"
@@ -303,12 +312,23 @@ log "Building and starting the containers (this takes a few minutes)"
 compose build --quiet app
 compose up -d
 
-log "Waiting for the application container"
-for _ in $(seq 1 60); do
-    compose exec -T app php -v >/dev/null 2>&1 && break
+# Not `php -v`: PHP answers within seconds, while the entrypoint is still
+# running `composer install` on a fresh checkout — which takes minutes. The old
+# condition let the migration below run against a checkout with no vendor/ at
+# all, and artisan died on a missing autoload.php. Wait for what is actually
+# needed, exactly as the dependent containers already do.
+log "Waiting for the application container to install its dependencies"
+deps_ready=0
+for _ in $(seq 1 180); do
+    if compose exec -T app test -f vendor/autoload.php 2>/dev/null; then
+        deps_ready=1
+        break
+    fi
     sleep 5
 done
 
+[[ $deps_ready -eq 1 ]] || die "vendor/ never appeared. Look at: docker compose logs app"
+
 log "Running migrations"
 compose exec -T app php artisan migrate --force