diff --git a/ops/AGENT-SOP.md b/ops/AGENT-SOP.md
index 4a6a3cdf4..3f17e9670 100644
--- a/ops/AGENT-SOP.md
+++ b/ops/AGENT-SOP.md
@@ -68,9 +68,11 @@ Check auto-deploy status: `journalctl -u teleo-auto-deploy -n 20`
 ## Shell and Python Safety
 
 - Run `bash -n script.sh` after modifying any shell script.
+- Never suppress stderr on critical git commands (`2>/dev/null || true`). Log errors, fail hard.
 - Never interpolate shell variables into Python strings via `'$var'`.
   Pass values via `os.environ` or `sys.argv`.
 - Never write credentials to `.git/config`. Use per-command `git -c http.extraHeader`.
+- Tunable constants live in `ops/pipeline-v2/lib/config.py`. Don't hardcode numbers in module files.
 
 ## Schema Changes
 
diff --git a/ops/auto-deploy.sh b/ops/auto-deploy.sh
index 893883445..0117285f5 100755
--- a/ops/auto-deploy.sh
+++ b/ops/auto-deploy.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,13 @@
 # Exits silently when nothing has changed.
 set -euo pipefail
 
+LOCK_FILE="/tmp/teleo-auto-deploy.lock"
+exec 9>"$LOCK_FILE"
+if ! flock -n 9; then
+  logger -t "auto-deploy" "Another deploy is already running. Skipping."
+  exit 0
+fi
+
 DEPLOY_CHECKOUT="/opt/teleo-eval/workspaces/deploy"
 PIPELINE_DIR="/opt/teleo-eval/pipeline"
 DIAGNOSTICS_DIR="/opt/teleo-eval/diagnostics"
@@ -33,7 +40,10 @@ fi
 
 log "New commits: ${OLD_SHA:0:8} -> ${NEW_SHA:0:8}"
 
-git checkout main --quiet 2>/dev/null || true
+if ! git checkout main --quiet 2>&1; then
+  log "ERROR: git checkout main failed — dirty tree or corrupted index"
+  exit 1
+fi
 if ! git pull --ff-only --quiet 2>&1; then
   log "ERROR: git pull --ff-only failed. Manual intervention needed."
   exit 1
@@ -43,7 +53,7 @@ fi
 ERRORS=0
 for f in ops/pipeline-v2/lib/*.py ops/pipeline-v2/*.py ops/diagnostics/*.py; do
   [ -f "$f" ] || continue
-  if ! python3 -c "import ast, sys; ast.parse(open(sys.argv[1]).read())" "$f" 2>/dev/null; then
+  if ! python3 -c "import ast, sys; ast.parse(open(sys.argv[1]).read())" "$f" 2>&1; then
     log "SYNTAX ERROR: $f"
     ERRORS=$((ERRORS + 1))
   fi
@@ -55,7 +65,7 @@ fi
 log "Syntax check passed"
 
 # Sync to working directories (mirrors deploy.sh logic)
-RSYNC_FLAGS="-az --exclude=__pycache__ --exclude=*.pyc --exclude=*.bak*"
+RSYNC_FLAGS="-az --exclude='__pycache__' --exclude='*.pyc' --exclude='*.bak*'"
 
 rsync $RSYNC_FLAGS ops/pipeline-v2/lib/ "$PIPELINE_DIR/lib/"
 
@@ -63,6 +73,7 @@ for f in teleo-pipeline.py reweave.py batch-extract-50.sh; do
   [ -f "ops/pipeline-v2/$f" ] && rsync $RSYNC_FLAGS "ops/pipeline-v2/$f" "$PIPELINE_DIR/$f"
 done
 
+rsync $RSYNC_FLAGS ops/pipeline-v2/telegram/ "$PIPELINE_DIR/telegram/"
 rsync $RSYNC_FLAGS ops/diagnostics/ "$DIAGNOSTICS_DIR/"
 rsync $RSYNC_FLAGS ops/agent-state/ "$AGENT_STATE_DIR/"
 [ -f ops/research-session.sh ] && rsync $RSYNC_FLAGS ops/research-session.sh /opt/teleo-eval/research-session.sh
@@ -117,7 +128,8 @@ if [ -n "$RESTART" ]; then
   fi
 
   if [ "$FAIL" -gt 0 ]; then
-    log "WARNING: Smoke test failures. NOT updating stamp. Will retry next cycle."
+    # Code is already synced — push a fix, don't wait for next cycle
+    log "WARNING: Smoke test failures. NOT updating stamp. Will retry next cycle. Push a fix."
     exit 1
   fi
 else
diff --git a/ops/deploy.sh b/ops/deploy.sh
index c571e9fca..861ec9bfe 100755
--- a/ops/deploy.sh
+++ b/ops/deploy.sh
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ echo "=== Pre-deploy syntax check ==="
 ERRORS=0
 for f in "$REPO_ROOT/ops/pipeline-v2/lib/"*.py "$REPO_ROOT/ops/pipeline-v2/"*.py "$REPO_ROOT/ops/diagnostics/"*.py; do
   [ -f "$f" ] || continue
-  if ! python3 -c "import ast, sys; ast.parse(open(sys.argv[1]).read())" "$f" 2>/dev/null; then
+  if ! python3 -c "import ast, sys; ast.parse(open(sys.argv[1]).read())" "$f" 2>&1; then
     echo "SYNTAX ERROR: $f"
     ERRORS=$((ERRORS + 1))
   fi
@@ -76,6 +76,10 @@ echo "=== Diagnostics ==="
 rsync $RSYNC_FLAGS "$REPO_ROOT/ops/diagnostics/" "$VPS_HOST:$VPS_DIAGNOSTICS/"
 echo ""
 
+echo "=== Telegram bot ==="
+rsync $RSYNC_FLAGS "$REPO_ROOT/ops/pipeline-v2/telegram/" "$VPS_HOST:$VPS_PIPELINE/telegram/"
+echo ""
+
 echo "=== Agent state ==="
 rsync $RSYNC_FLAGS "$REPO_ROOT/ops/agent-state/" "$VPS_HOST:$VPS_AGENT_STATE/"
 echo ""
diff --git a/ops/evaluate-trigger.sh b/ops/evaluate-trigger.sh
index aa865cb68..078fae861 100755
--- a/ops/evaluate-trigger.sh
+++ b/ops/evaluate-trigger.sh
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ detect_code_pr() {
 
   files=$(gh pr view "$pr_number" --json files --jq '.files[].path' 2>/dev/null || echo "")
 
-  if echo "$files" | grep -qE "^ops/|^diagnostics/|\.py$|\.sh$|\.js$|\.html$|\.css$|\.json$"; then
+  if echo "$files" | grep -qE "^ops/|\.py$|\.sh$|\.js$|\.html$|\.css$|\.json$"; then
     echo "true"
   else
     echo "false"
diff --git a/ops/prune-branches.sh b/ops/prune-branches.sh
index d563278df..5409af063 100755
--- a/ops/prune-branches.sh
+++ b/ops/prune-branches.sh
@@ -41,9 +41,13 @@ while IFS= read -r branch; do
   COUNT=$((COUNT + 1))
 
   if [[ "$last_date" < "$CUTOFF" ]]; then
+    if ! git merge-base --is-ancestor "$branch" "$REMOTE/main" 2>/dev/null; then
+      echo "  SKIP (unmerged): $short ($last_date)"
+      continue
+    fi
     if $EXECUTE; then
       echo "  DELETE: $short ($last_date)"
-      git push "$REMOTE" --delete "$short" 2>/dev/null && DELETE_COUNT=$((DELETE_COUNT + 1)) || echo "    FAILED: $short"
+      git push "$REMOTE" --delete "$short" 2>&1 && DELETE_COUNT=$((DELETE_COUNT + 1)) || echo "    FAILED: $short"
     else
       echo "  WOULD DELETE: $short ($last_date)"
       DELETE_COUNT=$((DELETE_COUNT + 1))