diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy-ci.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy-ci.yaml
index a109a56..75c3d1e 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy-ci.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy-ci.yaml
@@ -139,17 +139,18 @@ jobs:
             owner="${repo_full%%/*}"
             repo="${repo_full##*/}"
             api="$GITEA_API/repos/$owner/$repo"
-            echo "🔧 Syncing CI and .gitattributes to: $owner/$repo"
+            echo "🔧 Syncing .gitattributes and CI to: $owner/$repo"
 
             default_branch=$(curl -sSL -H "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.TOKEN }}" "$api" | jq -r '.default_branch')
 
-            for file in "$TEMPLATE_PATH" ".gitattributes"; do
-              if [[ "$file" == "$TEMPLATE_PATH" ]]; then
-                content="${{ needs.fetch-template.outputs.template_b64 }}"
-                msg="Update CI from skins-template"
-              else
+            # process .gitattributes first, then CI template
+            for file in ".gitattributes" "$TEMPLATE_PATH"; do
+              if [[ "$file" == ".gitattributes" ]]; then
                 content="${{ needs.fetch-template.outputs.gitattributes_b64 }}"
                 msg="Update .gitattributes from skins-template"
+              else
+                content="${{ needs.fetch-template.outputs.template_b64 }}"
+                msg="Update CI from skins-template"
               fi
 
               url="$api/contents/$file"