diff --git a/pipeline/06_frontend/deploy.sh b/pipeline/06_frontend/deploy.sh
index 0f78ede..750db9a 100755
--- a/pipeline/06_frontend/deploy.sh
+++ b/pipeline/06_frontend/deploy.sh
@@ -90,25 +90,20 @@ echo "Uploaded 4 files"
 rm -rf "$TMPDIR"
 
 # Clean up stale bundles from previous runs
-echo "Cleaning stale bundles above $TOTAL_BUNDLES..."
-STALE=$(aws s3api list-objects-v2 --bucket "$SITE_BUCKET" --prefix "tabs/" --query "Contents[].Key" --output text \
-    | tr '\t' '\n' \
-    | while read -r key; do
-        num=$(echo "$key" | grep -oP '\d+' || true)
-        if [ -n "$num" ] && [ "$((10#$num))" -ge "$TOTAL_BUNDLES" ]; then
-            echo "$key"
-        fi
-    done)
+# Read old TOTAL_BUNDLES from the live index.html before we overwrite it
+OLD_TOTAL=$(aws s3 cp "s3://$SITE_BUCKET/index.html" - 2>/dev/null \
+    | grep -oP 'TOTAL_BUNDLES = \K[0-9]+' || echo "0")
 
-if [ -n "$STALE" ]; then
-    STALE_COUNT=$(echo "$STALE" | wc -l)
-    echo "Deleting $STALE_COUNT stale bundles..."
-    echo "$STALE" | while read -r key; do
-        aws s3 rm "s3://$SITE_BUCKET/$key" --quiet
+if [ "$OLD_TOTAL" -gt "$TOTAL_BUNDLES" ]; then
+    STALE_COUNT=$((OLD_TOTAL - TOTAL_BUNDLES))
+    echo "Deleting $STALE_COUNT stale bundles ($TOTAL_BUNDLES to $((OLD_TOTAL - 1)))..."
+    for i in $(seq "$TOTAL_BUNDLES" "$((OLD_TOTAL - 1))"); do
+        PADDED=$(printf "%04d" "$i")
+        aws s3 rm "s3://$SITE_BUCKET/tabs/${PADDED}.json" --quiet
     done
     echo "Deleted $STALE_COUNT stale bundles"
 else
-    echo "No stale bundles found"
+    echo "No stale bundles to clean (old=$OLD_TOTAL, new=$TOTAL_BUNDLES)"
 fi
 
 # Invalidate CloudFront