diff --git a/scripts/deploy.sh b/scripts/deploy.sh
index cb32416..41d7538 100755
--- a/scripts/deploy.sh
+++ b/scripts/deploy.sh
@@ -219,7 +219,10 @@ fi
 
 echo '[4/5] Relinking LLM units and restarting LLM services...'
 for unit in ${LLM_UNITS[$TARGET]}; do
-  ${SUDO} ln -sf '${REMOTE_DIR[$TARGET]}/scripts/\${unit}.service' /etc/systemd/system/\${unit}.service
+  # No quotes around the path: ${unit} must expand on the remote (the path
+  # has no spaces). Quoting it would ship a literal ${unit} and create a
+  # dangling symlink (2026-08-22 bug).
+  ${SUDO} ln -sf ${REMOTE_DIR[$TARGET]}/scripts/\${unit}.service /etc/systemd/system/\${unit}.service
 done
 ${SUDO} systemctl daemon-reload
 for svc in ${LLM_SERVICES[$TARGET]}; do