diff --git a/.tangled/workflows/deploy-docs.yml b/.tangled/workflows/deploy-docs.yml
index 9ce35a7..66d09d1 100644
--- a/.tangled/workflows/deploy-docs.yml
+++ b/.tangled/workflows/deploy-docs.yml
@@ -34,12 +34,22 @@ steps:
       if [ -n "$INTERP" ]; then
         patchelf --set-interpreter "$INTERP" --set-rpath "$(dirname "$INTERP")" wisp-cli
       fi
-      # run to completion so wisp-cli's output flushes to the log, then fail
-      # loudly on its exit code — `set -e` here would abort mid-step and the
-      # error (e.g. auth failure) would never reach the log.
-      ./wisp-cli deploy "$WISP_HANDLE" --path ./site-out --site "$WISP_SITE_NAME" --password "$ATPROTO_PASSWORD"
-      rc=$?
+      # pds.zat.dev can transiently return InternalServerError while creating a
+      # session. Retry the idempotent/incremental deploy before failing the job.
+      rc=1
+      for attempt in 1 2 3 4 5; do
+        ./wisp-cli deploy "$WISP_HANDLE" --path ./site-out --site "$WISP_SITE_NAME" --password "$ATPROTO_PASSWORD"
+        rc=$?
+        if [ "$rc" -eq 0 ]; then
+          break
+        fi
+        if [ "$attempt" -lt 5 ]; then
+          delay=$((attempt * 10))
+          echo "wisp docs deploy attempt $attempt failed; retrying in ${delay}s" >&2
+          sleep "$delay"
+        fi
+      done
       if [ "$rc" -ne 0 ]; then
-        echo "wisp docs deploy failed (wisp-cli exit $rc)" >&2
+        echo "wisp docs deploy failed after 5 attempts (wisp-cli exit $rc)" >&2
         exit "$rc"
       fi