diff --git a/deploy/install.sh b/deploy/install.sh
index a80805b..5fbc65e 100644
--- a/deploy/install.sh
+++ b/deploy/install.sh
@@ -71,14 +71,21 @@ else
 fi
 
 # ---- virtualenv + python deps ---------------------------------------------
-if [[ ! -x "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv/bin/python" ]]; then
+# Venv: rebuild if python OR pip missing (Debian 13 / Python 3.13 sometimes
+# creates a venv without pip — we fall back to `ensurepip` in that case).
+if [[ ! -x "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv/bin/python" ]] || [[ ! -x "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv/bin/pip" ]]; then
     log "Creating Python venv..."
+    rm -rf "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv"
     sudo -u "$SVC_USER" python3 -m venv "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv"
+    if [[ ! -x "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv/bin/pip" ]]; then
+        log "pip not found in venv — running ensurepip..."
+        sudo -u "$SVC_USER" "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv/bin/python" -m ensurepip --upgrade
+    fi
 fi
 
 log "Installing Python dependencies (build123d pulls OpenCASCADE — may take a few minutes)..."
-sudo -u "$SVC_USER" "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv/bin/pip" install --quiet --upgrade pip
-sudo -u "$SVC_USER" "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv/bin/pip" install --quiet \
+sudo -u "$SVC_USER" "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv/bin/pip" install --upgrade pip
+sudo -u "$SVC_USER" "$INSTALL_DIR/.venv/bin/pip" install \
     -r "$INSTALL_DIR/requirements.txt" gunicorn
 
 # ---- data dir (for SQLite) -------------------------------------------------