diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/production.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/production.yaml
index e128d93..0563e1c 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/production.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/production.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 # MotoVaultPro Production Deployment Workflow
 # Manual trigger only - run after verifying staging
 # Blue-green deployment with auto-rollback
+#
+# Optimization: Uses sparse checkout (scripts/ only) + shallow clone
+# since all scripts run from $DEPLOY_PATH on the production server
 
 name: Deploy to Production
 run-name: Production Deploy - ${{ inputs.image_tag || 'latest' }}
@@ -81,8 +84,12 @@ jobs:
       BACKEND_IMAGE: ${{ needs.validate.outputs.backend_image }}
       FRONTEND_IMAGE: ${{ needs.validate.outputs.frontend_image }}
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
+      - name: Checkout scripts only
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          sparse-checkout: scripts/
+          sparse-checkout-cone-mode: true
+          fetch-depth: 1
 
       - name: Login to registry
         run: |
@@ -200,8 +207,12 @@ jobs:
     needs: [validate, deploy-prod, verify-prod]
     if: failure()
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
+      - name: Checkout scripts only
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          sparse-checkout: scripts/
+          sparse-checkout-cone-mode: true
+          fetch-depth: 1
 
       - name: Execute rollback
         run: |
@@ -226,8 +237,12 @@ jobs:
     needs: [validate, verify-prod]
     if: success()
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
+      - name: Checkout scripts only
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          sparse-checkout: scripts/
+          sparse-checkout-cone-mode: true
+          fetch-depth: 1
 
       - name: Send success notification
         run: |
@@ -247,8 +262,12 @@ jobs:
     needs: [validate, deploy-prod, verify-prod, rollback]
     if: failure()
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
+      - name: Checkout scripts only
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          sparse-checkout: scripts/
+          sparse-checkout-cone-mode: true
+          fetch-depth: 1
 
       - name: Send failure notification
         run: |
diff --git a/scripts/ci/ansible/config.yaml.j2 b/ansible/config.yaml.j2
similarity index 100%
rename from scripts/ci/ansible/config.yaml.j2
rename to ansible/config.yaml.j2
diff --git a/scripts/ci/ansible/deploy-production-runner.yml b/ansible/deploy-production-runner.yml
similarity index 99%
rename from scripts/ci/ansible/deploy-production-runner.yml
rename to ansible/deploy-production-runner.yml
index f9dd5aa..484a695 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/ansible/deploy-production-runner.yml
+++ b/ansible/deploy-production-runner.yml
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
           - ca-certificates
           - gnupg
           - jq
+          - nodejs
         state: present
 
     # ============================================
diff --git a/scripts/ci/ansible/deploy-staging-runner.yml b/ansible/deploy-staging-runner.yml
similarity index 99%
rename from scripts/ci/ansible/deploy-staging-runner.yml
rename to ansible/deploy-staging-runner.yml
index 08554eb..b6b366d 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/ansible/deploy-staging-runner.yml
+++ b/ansible/deploy-staging-runner.yml
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
           - ca-certificates
           - gnupg
           - jq
+          - nodejs
         state: present
 
     # ============================================
diff --git a/scripts/ci/ansible/inventory.yml b/ansible/inventory.yml
similarity index 100%
rename from scripts/ci/ansible/inventory.yml
rename to ansible/inventory.yml
diff --git a/scripts/ci/ansible/inventory.yml.example b/ansible/inventory.yml.example
similarity index 100%
rename from scripts/ci/ansible/inventory.yml.example
rename to ansible/inventory.yml.example