diff --git a/.changeset/soften-hero-film-guard.md b/.changeset/soften-hero-film-guard.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2de27c630
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/soften-hero-film-guard.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"nostream-website": patch
+---
+
+Soften the hero-film NIP-count guard to a warning while the landing film awaits its GPU re-render (NIP-77 grew the supported list to 25; the film still shows 24).
diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy-website.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy-website.yml
index 7080bea33..f4eda8172 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy-website.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy-website.yml
@@ -1,25 +1,15 @@
 name: Deploy Website
 
-# The marketing site deploys after a release lands on main: the changesets
-# release PR bumps nostream-website, merging it is the deploy trigger. Version
-# the site with a changeset, merge the release PR — never deploy from a branch.
+# The marketing site deploys when a nostream-website release is published:
+# the changesets release PR bumps the site package, and merging that PR makes
+# the changesets workflow tag + publish nostream-website@X.Y.Z and create the
+# GitHub release — this workflow deploys that tagged build. Merges to main do
+# not deploy; version the site with a changeset and merge the release PR.
 
 on:
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - main
-    paths:
-      - "website/site/**"
-      - "pnpm-lock.yaml"
-      - "package.json"
-      - "README.md"
-      - "CLI.md"
-      - "CONFIGURATION.md"
-      - "CONTRIBUTING.md"
-      - "SECURITY.md"
-      - "CHANGELOG.md"
-      - "deploy/**"
-      - "docs/**"
+  release:
+    types:
+      - published
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 concurrency:
@@ -28,9 +18,9 @@ concurrency:
 
 jobs:
   deploy:
-    # workflow_dispatch ignores the push-branch filter; a manual run must not
-    # publish a non-main branch to production.
-    if: github.event_name != 'workflow_dispatch' || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
+    if: >-
+      ${{ startsWith(github.event.release.tag_name, 'nostream-website@') ||
+      github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' }}
     name: Build and deploy to Cloudflare Workers
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     # Deploy credentials live in this GitHub environment: CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN
diff --git a/website/site/scripts/check-hero-nips.mjs b/website/site/scripts/check-hero-nips.mjs
index f0c1ddd8f..39604b9bd 100644
--- a/website/site/scripts/check-hero-nips.mjs
+++ b/website/site/scripts/check-hero-nips.mjs
@@ -24,12 +24,18 @@ if (!existsSync(metaPath)) {
 
 const meta = JSON.parse(readFileSync(metaPath, 'utf8'))
 if (meta.nipCount !== expected) {
-  console.error(
-    `check-hero-nips: hero film shows ${meta.nipCount} NIPs but package.json has ${expected}.`,
+  // SOFTENED 2026-10-16 on Cameri's order: this guard hard-failed the site
+  // build (and with it, releases) because #830 added NIP-77 while the hero
+  // film still renders 24 — the re-render needs the GPU pipeline
+  // (cd website/hero-animation && pnpm run render, then cd ../site && pnpm
+  // run media) and no GPU is currently available. Restore `process.exit(1)`
+  // on this branch once the film is re-rendered.
+  console.warn(
+    `check-hero-nips: STALE FILM — hero film shows ${meta.nipCount} NIPs but package.json has ${expected}. Build continues; re-render before the next site copy refresh.`,
   )
-  console.error('Re-render: cd website/hero-animation && pnpm run render')
-  console.error('Then: cd ../site && pnpm run media')
-  process.exit(1)
+  console.warn('Re-render: cd website/hero-animation && pnpm run render')
+  console.warn('Then: cd ../site && pnpm run media')
+  process.exit(0)
 }
 
 console.log(`check-hero-nips: ok (${expected} NIPs)`)