diff --git a/internal/app/db.go b/internal/app/db.go
index c1951e7..379c3b1 100644
--- a/internal/app/db.go
+++ b/internal/app/db.go
@@ -61,9 +61,24 @@ func (a *App) migrate(ctx context.Context) error {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
-	if _, err := a.db.ExecContext(ctx, `ALTER TABLE projects DROP COLUMN IF EXISTS target_port;`); err != nil {
+	if _, err := a.db.ExecContext(ctx, `CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS schema_migrations (
+		key TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
+		applied_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW()
+	);`); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	var dropDone bool
+	if err := a.db.QueryRowContext(ctx, `SELECT EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM schema_migrations WHERE key='drop_projects_target_port')`).Scan(&dropDone); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if !dropDone {
+		if _, err := a.db.ExecContext(ctx, `ALTER TABLE projects DROP COLUMN IF EXISTS target_port;`); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if _, err := a.db.ExecContext(ctx, `INSERT INTO schema_migrations(key) VALUES ('drop_projects_target_port') ON CONFLICT (key) DO NOTHING`); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
 	rows, err := a.db.QueryContext(ctx, `SELECT id FROM projects WHERE deploy_token=''`)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/internal/app/deploy_service.go b/internal/app/deploy_service.go
index e4db077..6431ccf 100644
--- a/internal/app/deploy_service.go
+++ b/internal/app/deploy_service.go
@@ -81,7 +81,8 @@ func (a *App) deployProjectFromMain(_ context.Context, p Project) error {
 	if err := a.syncProjectRepoFromMain(p, projectDir); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := a.buildProjectBinary(p); err != nil {
+	repoDir := filepath.Join(projectDir, "repo")
+	if err := a.buildProjectBinaryFromRepoDir(p, repoDir); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	return runSystemctlUser(p.UnixUser, "restart", p.ServiceName)
@@ -99,6 +100,14 @@ func (a *App) buildProjectBinary(p Project) error {
 		return err
 	}
 	repoDir := filepath.Join(projectDir, "repo")
+	return a.buildProjectBinaryFromRepoDir(p, repoDir)
+}
+
+func (a *App) buildProjectBinaryFromRepoDir(p Project, repoDir string) error {
+	projectDir, err := a.projectDirFor(p)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	binDir := filepath.Join(projectDir, "bin")
 	if err := os.MkdirAll(binDir, 0o755); err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -121,20 +130,30 @@ func (a *App) buildProjectBinary(p Project) error {
 
 func (a *App) syncProjectRepoFromMain(p Project, projectDir string) error {
 	repoDir := filepath.Join(projectDir, "repo")
+	plainRepoURL := strings.TrimSpace(p.RepoURL)
 	repoCloneURL := a.repoURLForGitAuth(p.RepoURL)
 	if _, err := os.Stat(repoDir); os.IsNotExist(err) {
-		if err := runCmd("git", "clone", "--branch", "main", "--single-branch", repoCloneURL, repoDir); err != nil {
+		if err := os.MkdirAll(repoDir, 0o755); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := runCmd("git", "-C", repoDir, "init"); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := runCmd("git", "-C", repoDir, "remote", "add", "origin", plainRepoURL); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := runCmd("git", "-C", repoDir, "fetch", repoCloneURL, "main", "--prune"); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err := runCmd("git", "-C", repoDir, "reset", "--hard", "FETCH_HEAD"); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 		return nil
 	}
-	if err := runCmd("git", "-C", repoDir, "remote", "set-url", "origin", repoCloneURL); err != nil {
+	if err := runCmd("git", "-C", repoDir, "fetch", repoCloneURL, "main", "--prune"); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := runCmd("git", "-C", repoDir, "fetch", "origin", "main", "--prune"); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	if err := runCmd("git", "-C", repoDir, "reset", "--hard", "origin/main"); err != nil {
+	if err := runCmd("git", "-C", repoDir, "reset", "--hard", "FETCH_HEAD"); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	return nil
diff --git a/internal/app/integrations.go b/internal/app/integrations.go
index 57aba5d..e21a0fa 100644
--- a/internal/app/integrations.go
+++ b/internal/app/integrations.go
@@ -44,7 +44,10 @@ func (a *App) createForgejoRepo(ctx context.Context, name, description string, p
 		HTMLURL string `json:"html_url"`
 	}
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(respBody, &parsed); err != nil {
-		return "", nil
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("forgejo create repo parse failed: %w", err)
+	}
+	if strings.TrimSpace(parsed.HTMLURL) == "" {
+		return "", errors.New("forgejo create repo response missing html_url")
 	}
 	return parsed.HTMLURL, nil
 }
diff --git a/internal/app/routes_handlers.go b/internal/app/routes_handlers.go
index d3877f4..9f816c2 100644
--- a/internal/app/routes_handlers.go
+++ b/internal/app/routes_handlers.go
@@ -271,6 +271,13 @@ func (a *App) handleCaddyConfig(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request, _ User)
 	if a.cfg.CaddyRouteEnabled && strings.TrimSpace(a.cfg.CaddyFragmentPath) != "" {
 		content, err := os.ReadFile(a.cfg.CaddyFragmentPath)
 		if err != nil {
+			if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+				writeJSON(w, http.StatusOK, map[string]any{
+					"format":  "caddyfile",
+					"content": "# Managed by project-manager. No routes provisioned yet.\n",
+				})
+				return
+			}
 			http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusBadGateway)
 			return
 		}
diff --git a/internal/app/systemd_service.go b/internal/app/systemd_service.go
index 4c3fd9b..7773f8a 100644
--- a/internal/app/systemd_service.go
+++ b/internal/app/systemd_service.go
@@ -107,8 +107,12 @@ WantedBy=default.target
 	if err := ensureOwnedByUnixUser(servicePath, p.UnixUser, 0o644); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	_ = runSystemctlUser(p.UnixUser, "daemon-reload")
-	_ = runSystemctlUser(p.UnixUser, "enable", "--now", p.ServiceName)
+	if err := runSystemctlUser(p.UnixUser, "daemon-reload"); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := runSystemctlUser(p.UnixUser, "enable", "--now", p.ServiceName); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	return nil
 }