diff --git a/template/{% if layout == 'parts' %}Makefile{% endif %} b/template/{% if layout == 'parts' %}Makefile{% endif %}
index 80af3a9..59a9fb0 100644
--- a/template/{% if layout == 'parts' %}Makefile{% endif %}	
+++ b/template/{% if layout == 'parts' %}Makefile{% endif %}	
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 PARTS := $(patsubst %/Makefile,%,$(wildcard */Makefile))
 
-.PHONY: env recreate rebuild restart logs down fmt check build
+.PHONY: env recreate rebuild restart logs down deploy fmt check build pre-deploy post-deploy
 
 env:
 	@test -f .env || awk 'FNR == 1 && NR > 1 { print "" } 1' .env.example $(addsuffix /.env.example,$(PARTS)) > .env
@@ -21,5 +21,9 @@ logs:
 down:
 	docker compose down
 
-fmt check build:
+deploy: pre-deploy
+	docker compose up -d
+	$(MAKE) post-deploy
+
+fmt check build pre-deploy post-deploy:
 	@for part in $(PARTS); do $(MAKE) -C $$part $@ || exit 1; done
diff --git a/template/{% if layout == 'parts' %}README.md{% endif %}.jinja b/template/{% if layout == 'parts' %}README.md{% endif %}.jinja
index df0f873..b7b3b45 100644
--- a/template/{% if layout == 'parts' %}README.md{% endif %}.jinja	
+++ b/template/{% if layout == 'parts' %}README.md{% endif %}.jinja	
@@ -11,4 +11,6 @@ make recreate
 
 `make env` creates `.env` from the examples of every part and copies each `docker-compose.override.yml.example`. `make recreate` starts the selected profiles, `make rebuild` builds the images first, `make logs`, `make restart` and `make down` do what they say.
 
+To deploy, `git pull && make deploy`. It runs `make pre-deploy` in every part, which builds images only when their inputs changed and applies migrations, then `docker compose up -d`, then `make post-deploy`, which restarts the services whose mounted code changed. A deploy system with its own `up` step calls the two hooks around it. What was built and started is remembered as `refs/deploy/*` in the clone.
+
 `make fmt`, `make check` and `make build` run in every part. Part-specific targets live in the part's own Makefile: `make -C {{ parts[0] }} ...`.