diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 17173af..15bc601 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -70,7 +70,10 @@ started earlier pulls whatever image the registry held before, which is stale.
 2. Pulls the engine image and copies `docker-compose.yml` and
    `docker-compose.registry.yml` out of it into `~/netork/`.
 3. Pulls the netOrk images, then force-recreates the API, the workers, `netork-beat`,
-   `flower` and, on UI servers, `netork-ui`.
+   `flower` and, on UI servers, `netork-ui`. If the recreate fails, it is tried once
+   more after 5 s (`DEPLOY_RECREATE_RETRY_DELAY`). Compose's parallel recreate can lose
+   a container it just renamed and leave the rest stopped. If the second attempt fails
+   too, the container states are printed and the deploy fails.
 4. Reconciles `registry`, `apt-cacher-ng` and `signal-api`: each is recreated only if its
    definition changed. It never touches `postgres` or `redis`.
 5. Verifies that the containers run exactly the image that was pulled. If they don't, the
diff --git a/deploy.sh b/deploy.sh
index 52a0911..dddd34e 100644
--- a/deploy.sh
+++ b/deploy.sh
@@ -194,12 +194,31 @@ deploy_server() {
   # observed on netork-ui, which kept serving a stale image after its tag had
   # already advanced. Recreating unconditionally costs a restart per deploy,
   # which a deliberate rollout wants anyway. See NetOrk/netork#90.
+  #
+  # Tried twice. compose recreates the services in parallel, and on 2026-10-05 it
+  # lost a container it had just renamed ("No such container") and stopped with
+  # every engine container Created and none running: the old API was gone, so
+  # netOrk was down until someone ran the deploy again, which then went through
+  # (NetOrk/netork#586). The second attempt is that rerun. Should it fail as well,
+  # the container states go to the log and the deploy fails as before.
   echo "[${SERVER}] Starting containers..."
-  run_remote "$SERVER" "recreating ${SERVICES}" "" \
-    "cd ~/netork && \
+  local RECREATE="cd ~/netork && \
     REGISTRY_HOST='${REGISTRY_HOST}' NETORK_VERSION='${SERVER_VERSION}' \
     docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.registry.yml \
       up -d --no-deps --force-recreate ${SERVICES}"
+  if ! run_remote "$SERVER" "recreating ${SERVICES}" "" "$RECREATE"; then
+    local delay="${DEPLOY_RECREATE_RETRY_DELAY:-5}"
+    echo "[${SERVER}] Recreating failed; trying once more in ${delay}s..." >&2
+    sleep "$delay"
+    if ! run_remote "$SERVER" "recreating ${SERVICES} (second attempt)" "" "$RECREATE"; then
+      echo "[${SERVER}] Containers after two failed attempts:" >&2
+      ssh -n "$SERVER" "cd ~/netork && \
+        REGISTRY_HOST='${REGISTRY_HOST}' NETORK_VERSION='${SERVER_VERSION}' \
+        docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.registry.yml ps -a" 2>&1 \
+        | sed "s/^/[${SERVER}] /" >&2 || true
+      return 1
+    fi
+  fi
 
   # Infrastructure containers, deliberately left out of the force-recreate
   # above. Plain `up -d`: compose compares each service definition against the
diff --git a/tests/test_deploy_recreate_retry.py b/tests/test_deploy_recreate_retry.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2cc68d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_deploy_recreate_retry.py
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+"""A failed container recreate is tried once more before the deploy gives up.
+
+On 2026-10-05 a deploy to 172.22.8.50 failed in "Starting containers":
+`docker compose up -d --force-recreate` recreates the services in parallel, lost
+a container it had just renamed ("No such container: 02586df7…"), and stopped
+with every engine container `Created` and none running. The old API was already
+gone, so netOrk was down until somebody ran the same deploy again, which then
+went through cleanly (NetOrk/netork#586).
+
+So the script runs that step a second time on its own. Should the second attempt
+fail too, it shows what the containers look like and fails loudly, as before.
+
+The remote side is a fake `ssh` that answers each step and can fail the recreate
+a given number of times.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+import subprocess
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+DEPLOY = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent / "deploy.sh"
+
+_FAKE_SSH = """#!/bin/sh
+# Swallow stdin (docker login, the .env heredoc), then answer by command.
+cat > /dev/null
+for arg in "$@"; do cmd="$arg"; done
+case "$cmd" in
+  *--force-recreate*)
+    n=$(cat "{state}/recreates" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+    n=$((n + 1))
+    echo "$n" > "{state}/recreates"
+    if [ "$n" -le "{failures}" ]; then
+      echo "Error response from daemon: No such container: 02586df7e659"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    echo " Container netork-netork-api-1 Started"
+    ;;
+  *" ps -a"*)
+    echo "netork-netork-api-1 Created"
+    ;;
+esac
+exit 0
+"""
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def deploy(tmp_path: Path):
+    """Run a deploy against the fake ssh; *failures* recreates fail before one works."""
+
+    def _deploy(failures: int) -> tuple[subprocess.CompletedProcess[str], int]:
+        bin_dir = tmp_path / "bin"
+        bin_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
+        fake = bin_dir / "ssh"
+        fake.write_text(
+            _FAKE_SSH.replace("{state}", str(tmp_path)).replace("{failures}", str(failures))
+        )
+        fake.chmod(0o755)
+        result = subprocess.run(
+            ["bash", str(DEPLOY), "testhost"],
+            env={
+                "PATH": f"{bin_dir}:{os.environ['PATH']}",
+                "HOME": str(tmp_path),
+                "DEPLOY_ENV_FILE": "/dev/null",
+                "REGISTRY_HOST": "registry.example",
+                "NETORK_VERSION": "latest-dev",
+                "DEPLOY_RECREATE_RETRY_DELAY": "0",
+            },
+            stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL,
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+            timeout=60,
+            check=False,
+        )
+        recreates = tmp_path / "recreates"
+        return result, int(recreates.read_text()) if recreates.exists() else 0
+
+    return _deploy
+
+
+def test_a_recreate_that_works_runs_once(deploy) -> None:
+    result, recreates = deploy(failures=0)
+
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+    assert recreates == 1
+
+
+def test_a_recreate_that_fails_once_is_tried_again(deploy) -> None:
+    result, recreates = deploy(failures=1)
+
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+    assert recreates == 2
+    assert "trying once more" in result.stderr
+    assert "All servers deployed successfully." in result.stdout
+
+
+def test_two_failed_recreates_fail_the_deploy_and_show_the_containers(deploy) -> None:
+    result, recreates = deploy(failures=2)
+
+    assert result.returncode != 0
+    assert recreates == 2
+    assert "netork-netork-api-1 Created" in result.stderr
+    assert "FAILED on: testhost" in result.stderr