diff --git a/config/hwlab-node-control-plane.yaml b/config/hwlab-node-control-plane.yaml
index 135a7f6d..601d51d0 100644
--- a/config/hwlab-node-control-plane.yaml
+++ b/config/hwlab-node-control-plane.yaml
@@ -152,6 +152,8 @@ targets:
             - COPY --from=python-runtime /usr/local /usr/local
             - COPY --from=docker-cli-runtime /usr/local/bin/docker /usr/local/bin/docker
             - RUN ln -sf /usr/local/bin/bun /usr/local/bin/bunx
+            - ENV HWLAB_CI_NODE_DEPS=/opt/hwlab-ci-node-deps/node_modules
+            - RUN set -eu; mkdir -p /opt/hwlab-ci-node-deps; cd /opt/hwlab-ci-node-deps; npm init -y >/dev/null; if [ -n "${HTTP_PROXY:-}" ]; then npm config set proxy "$HTTP_PROXY"; fi; if [ -n "${HTTPS_PROXY:-}" ]; then npm config set https-proxy "$HTTPS_PROXY"; fi; npm install --omit=dev --ignore-scripts --no-audit --no-fund yaml@2.8.3; node --input-type=module -e 'import("yaml").then(() => console.log("yaml-ok"))'
             - RUN node --version && npm --version && bun --version && git --version && python3 --version && docker --version && ssh -V
         buildArgs:
           NODE_IMAGE: docker.io/library/node:22-bookworm-slim
diff --git a/scripts/src/hwlab-node-impl.ts b/scripts/src/hwlab-node-impl.ts
index 34864e62..912e4d29 100644
--- a/scripts/src/hwlab-node-impl.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/hwlab-node-impl.ts
@@ -5051,11 +5051,16 @@ function nodeRuntimePipelinePostprocessScript(): string[] {
     "}",
     "function stepEnvBootstrapScript() {",
     "  const entries = Object.entries(overlay.stepEnv || {}).filter(([, value]) => value !== undefined && value !== null && String(value).length > 0);",
-    "  if (entries.length === 0) return '';",
     "  const lines = ['# unidesk-step-env-bootstrap'];",
     "  for (const [name, value] of entries) lines.push(`export ${name}=${shellSingle(value)}`);",
     "  if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(overlay.stepEnv || {}, 'HOME')) lines.push('mkdir -p \"$HOME\"');",
     "  if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(overlay.stepEnv || {}, 'XDG_CONFIG_HOME')) lines.push('mkdir -p \"$XDG_CONFIG_HOME\"');",
+    "  lines.push('ci_node_deps=\"${HWLAB_CI_NODE_DEPS:-/opt/hwlab-ci-node-deps/node_modules}\"');",
+    "  lines.push('if [ -d \"$ci_node_deps\" ]; then');",
+    "  lines.push('  if [ -d /workspace/source/repo ]; then ci_node_deps_target=/workspace/source/repo/node_modules; else ci_node_deps_target=./node_modules; fi');",
+    "  lines.push('  mkdir -p \"$ci_node_deps_target\"');",
+    "  lines.push('  for ci_node_dep in yaml; do if [ -d \"$ci_node_deps/$ci_node_dep\" ] && [ ! -e \"$ci_node_deps_target/$ci_node_dep\" ]; then ln -s \"$ci_node_deps/$ci_node_dep\" \"$ci_node_deps_target/$ci_node_dep\"; fi; done');",
+    "  lines.push('fi');",
     "  return lines.join('\\n');",
     "}",
     "function runtimeGitopsPostprocessScript() {",
@@ -5609,6 +5614,8 @@ function nodeRuntimePipelinePostprocessScript(): string[] {
     "}",
     "function patchScript(script) {",
     "  let result = String(script || '');",
+    "  const bootstrap = stepEnvBootstrapScript();",
+    "  if (bootstrap && !result.includes('unidesk-step-env-bootstrap')) result = `${bootstrap}\\n${result}`;",
     "  const inlineDeployServiceIdParser = `const deployText = fs.readFileSync(deployPath, 'utf8');\\nconst deploy = { services: [...deployText.matchAll(/(?:^|\\\\n)\\\\s*serviceId:\\\\s*[\\\"']?([^\\\"'\\\\n#]+)[\\\"']?/g)].map((match) => ({ serviceId: match[1].trim() })) };`;",
     "  result = result.split('import { readStructuredFile } from \"./scripts/src/structured-config.mjs\";\\n').join('');",
     "  result = result.split('const deploy = await readStructuredFile(process.cwd(), deployPath);').join(inlineDeployServiceIdParser);",
@@ -5651,7 +5658,6 @@ function nodeRuntimePipelinePostprocessScript(): string[] {
     "    result = result.replace('rm -rf \"$runtime_path\" \"$catalog_path\"; else rm -rf deploy/gitops/node \"$catalog_path\"; fi', 'rm -rf \"$runtime_path\" \"$catalog_path\" \"$unidesk_legacy_runtime_path\"; else rm -rf deploy/gitops/node \"$catalog_path\"; fi');",
     "    result = result.replace('git add \"$catalog_path\" \"$runtime_path\"', 'git add \"$catalog_path\" \"$runtime_path\"\\n            if [ -n \"${unidesk_legacy_runtime_path:-}\" ]; then git add -A \"$unidesk_legacy_runtime_path\" || true; fi');",
     "  }",
-    "  const bootstrap = stepEnvBootstrapScript();",
     "  if (bootstrap && result.includes('git config --global') && !result.includes('unidesk-step-env-bootstrap')) {",
     "    result = result.replace(/\\n([ \\t]*)git config --global/g, (match, indent) => `\\n${indent}${bootstrap.split('\\n').join(`\\n${indent}`)}\\n${indent}git config --global`);",
     "  }",