diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 729856587..174deb371 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -32,7 +32,21 @@ jobs:
           node-version-file: '.node-version'
           cache: npm
 
+      # Cache the installed tree keyed on the lockfile + Node version. On a hit
+      # (lockfile unchanged) `npm ci` — extraction + the postinstall folds patch —
+      # is skipped entirely and node_modules is just restored (the patch is baked
+      # into the cached tree). setup-node's `cache: npm` still warms the download
+      # cache for the miss path. Save runs only on a miss AND only if install
+      # succeeded (`success()`), so a failed `npm ci` can never poison the cache.
+      - name: Restore node_modules
+        id: node-modules
+        uses: actions/cache/restore@v4
+        with:
+          path: node_modules
+          key: node-modules-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json', '.node-version') }}
+
       - name: Install dependencies
+        if: steps.node-modules.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
         # Harden against transient registry network failures (ECONNRESET etc.):
         # raise npm's built-in fetch retries/timeouts and retry `npm ci` up to
         # 3 times with backoff before failing the build.
@@ -52,37 +66,43 @@ jobs:
             sleep $((attempt * 15))
           done
 
-      # ── Critical gate — if this fails, nothing deploys ──────────────────
+      - name: Save node_modules
+        if: steps.node-modules.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' && success()
+        uses: actions/cache/save@v4
+        with:
+          path: node_modules
+          key: node-modules-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json', '.node-version') }}
+
+      # ── Quality gates run BEFORE the slow build so a format/lint/type/test
+      # error fails in seconds instead of after the ~minutes-long build. All are
+      # hard gates — any failure fails the job and blocks the deploy. The tree is
+      # held clean (prettier formatted, eslint 0 errors, typecheck 0), so these
+      # gate real regressions. NOTE: the lotus-build.sh upstream-merge path can
+      # deploy without CI; a later normal push surfaces any introduced issue here
+      # — fix forward (or briefly re-soften a gate) rather than deploy broken.
+      # eslint gates on errors only (existing no-explicit-any warnings stay
+      # informational — check:eslint has no --max-warnings).
+      - name: Prettier
+        run: npm run check:prettier
+
+      - name: ESLint
+        run: npm run check:eslint
+
+      - name: TypeScript
+        run: npm run typecheck
+
+      # Deterministic pure-logic tests on Node's built-in runner via tsx (no
+      # vitest — Vite 8 is ahead of vitest's range). A failure blocks the deploy.
+      - name: Unit tests
+        run: npm test
+
+      # ── Critical gate — if this fails, nothing deploys. Produces dist/. ──
       - name: Build
         run: npm run build
         env:
           NODE_OPTIONS: '--max_old_space_size=4096'
           VITE_APP_VERSION: ${{ github.sha }}
 
-      # Unit tests are a hard gate too — deterministic pure-logic tests on Node's
-      # built-in runner via tsx (no vitest — Vite 8 is ahead of vitest's range).
-      # A failure blocks the deploy.
-      - name: Unit tests
-        run: npm test
-
-      # ── Quality gates (hard — a failure fails the job and blocks deploy) ──
-      # The tree is held clean (typecheck 0, eslint 0 errors, prettier
-      # formatted), so these gate real regressions instead of relying on local
-      # runs. NOTE: an upstream-stable merge (the lotus-build.sh path) could
-      # introduce upstream type/lint/format issues; that path deploys without
-      # CI, but a subsequent normal push would surface the failure here — fix
-      # forward (or briefly re-soften a gate) rather than let it deploy broken.
-      # eslint gates on errors only (existing `no-explicit-any` warnings stay
-      # informational — `check:eslint` has no --max-warnings).
-      - name: TypeScript
-        run: npm run typecheck
-
-      - name: ESLint
-        run: npm run check:eslint
-
-      - name: Prettier
-        run: npm run check:prettier
-
       # ── Security (informational — findings shouldn't block a deploy) ─────
       - name: Audit (high/critical)
         run: npm audit --audit-level=high --omit=dev
diff --git a/.husky/pre-commit b/.husky/pre-commit
index 7aea7a8da..2312dc587 100644
--- a/.husky/pre-commit
+++ b/.husky/pre-commit
@@ -1,3 +1 @@
-# These are commented until we enable lint and typecheck
-# npx tsc -p tsconfig.json --noEmit
-# npx lint-staged
\ No newline at end of file
+npx lint-staged