diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/botserver.yaml b/.forgejo/workflows/botserver.yaml
index 1da23b91..058469c8 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/botserver.yaml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/botserver.yaml
@@ -26,12 +26,17 @@ jobs:
           git clean -fd
           git pull
           git submodule update --init --recursive
-      - name: Build with embedded UI
+      - name: Build botui (to embed UI files)
         run: |
-          CARGO_BUILD_JOBS=4 cargo build -p botserver --bin botserver --features embed-ui
+          cargo build -p botui --bin botui --release
+      - name: Build botserver with embedded UI
+        run: |
+          # Copy botui/ui to botserver/ui so rust-embed can find it
+          cp -r botui/ui botserver/ui
+          CARGO_BUILD_JOBS=4 cargo build -p botserver --bin botserver --features embed-ui --release
       - name: Deploy to Stage
         run: |
-          BINARY=/opt/gbo/work/target/debug/botserver
+          BINARY=/opt/gbo/work/target/release/botserver
           ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no ${SYSTEM_USER}@${SYSTEM_HOST} "sudo systemctl stop botserver 2>/dev/null; sudo pkill -x botserver 2>/dev/null; sleep 1"
           scp -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no "$BINARY" ${SYSTEM_USER}@${SYSTEM_HOST}:/opt/gbo/bin/botserver-new
           ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no ${SYSTEM_USER}@${SYSTEM_HOST} "sudo mv /opt/gbo/bin/botserver-new /opt/gbo/bin/botserver && sudo chmod +x /opt/gbo/bin/botserver && sudo systemctl enable botserver && sudo systemctl start botserver"