diff --git a/k8s/deployment.yaml b/k8s/deployment.yaml
index cde7f81e..ac510baf 100644
--- a/k8s/deployment.yaml
+++ b/k8s/deployment.yaml
@@ -4,15 +4,20 @@ metadata:
   name: prop
   namespace: prop
 spec:
-  # replicas is owned by the HPA in hpa.yaml (min 2 / max 5).
-  # Leaving it out here so Flux's periodic reconcile doesn't overwrite
+  # replicas is owned by the HPA in hpa.yaml (currently pinned at 1).
+  # Leaving it out here so the GitOps reconciler doesn't overwrite
   # whatever replica count the autoscaler has settled on.
   minReadySeconds: 5
   strategy:
     type: RollingUpdate
     rollingUpdate:
+      # Zero-downtime rollout with a single replica: surge to 2 first,
+      # wait for the new pod to pass its readinessProbe, THEN tear down
+      # the old one. maxUnavailable: 1 (the K8s default) was killing the
+      # only pod before the replacement was ready, taking the site down
+      # for the entire image pull + boot window on every deploy.
       maxSurge: 1
-      maxUnavailable: 1
+      maxUnavailable: 0
   selector:
     matchLabels:
       app: prop