diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci-cd.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci-cd.yml
index e38c69a..b165ae0 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci-cd.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci-cd.yml
@@ -310,16 +310,20 @@ jobs:
           DOCKER_BUILDKIT: 1
           COMPOSE_DOCKER_CLI_BUILD: 1
 
-      - name: Deploy main app services
-        # Only cycle the app containers — postgres and redis are long-running
-        # infrastructure that must never be restarted by CI.
-        # --force-recreate: always swap in the freshly-built images.
-        # --no-deps: do NOT pull in postgres/redis as dependencies.
+      - name: Stop old app containers
+        # The existing containers were created before compose labels were added,
+        # so Compose can't claim them and hits a name conflict on 'up'.
+        # This step removes only meezi's own 6 app containers — never touches
+        # postgres, redis, or any other project's containers.
         run: |
-          docker compose up -d \
-            --no-deps \
-            --force-recreate \
-            api web website koja
+          for name in meezi-api meezi-web meezi-website meezi-koja meezi-admin-api meezi-admin-web; do
+            docker stop "$name" 2>/dev/null || true
+            docker rm   "$name" 2>/dev/null || true
+          done
+
+      - name: Deploy main app services
+        run: |
+          docker compose up -d --no-deps api web website koja
 
       - name: Deploy admin services
         run: |
@@ -328,7 +332,6 @@ jobs:
             -f docker-compose.admin.yml \
             up -d \
             --no-deps \
-            --force-recreate \
             admin-api admin-web
 
       - name: Wait for main API healthy