diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index bc66c81..fb723ad 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -107,6 +107,24 @@ jobs:
             exit 1
           fi
 
+      # A fresh named volume inherits the ownership of the image directory it
+      # is mounted over. Every /data/… path the api image defaults to must
+      # therefore be pre-created AND chowned to `node`, or the non-root user
+      # cannot write to it — found on a real deploy in #303, where the env
+      # entry was added but the mkdir/chown line was not.
+      - name: api image pre-creates its data directories node-owned
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          dirs=$(grep -oE '[A-Z_]+_DIR=/data/[a-z]+' apps/api/Dockerfile | cut -d= -f2 | sort -u)
+          bad=0
+          for d in $dirs; do
+            grep -q "mkdir -p .*$d" apps/api/Dockerfile || {
+              echo "$d is not pre-created in apps/api/Dockerfile"; bad=1; }
+            grep -q "chown -R node:node .*$d" apps/api/Dockerfile || {
+              echo "$d is not chowned to node in apps/api/Dockerfile"; bad=1; }
+          done
+          exit "$bad"
+
       - name: Set up pnpm
         uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
 
diff --git a/apps/api/Dockerfile b/apps/api/Dockerfile
index 880538e..a04e0c6 100644
--- a/apps/api/Dockerfile
+++ b/apps/api/Dockerfile
@@ -34,13 +34,14 @@ WORKDIR /app
 COPY --from=build --chown=node:node /out /app
 # Generate the Prisma client for this image's platform.
 RUN node node_modules/prisma/build/index.js generate
-# A fresh named volume mounted at /data/uploads or /data/plugins is created
+# A fresh named volume mounted at /data/uploads, /data/plugins or /data/fonts
+# is created
 # root-owned; pre-creating them here (Docker copies an image directory's
 # ownership into a new volume on first mount) lets the non-root `node` user
 # write to them. /data/backups is mounted read-only here, but pre-creating it
 # node-owned keeps the shared `backups` volume writable for the backup
 # sidecar even when the api container is the one that initializes it.
-RUN mkdir -p /data/uploads /data/plugins /data/secrets /data/backups && chown -R node:node /data/uploads /data/plugins /data/secrets /data/backups
+RUN mkdir -p /data/uploads /data/plugins /data/fonts /data/secrets /data/backups && chown -R node:node /data/uploads /data/plugins /data/fonts /data/secrets /data/backups
 USER node
 EXPOSE 3000
 HEALTHCHECK --interval=30s --timeout=3s --retries=3 \