diff --git a/internal/adapter/deployer/deployer.go b/internal/adapter/deployer/deployer.go
index a49ac85..77b63d7 100644
--- a/internal/adapter/deployer/deployer.go
+++ b/internal/adapter/deployer/deployer.go
@@ -91,7 +91,10 @@ func (d *Deployer) Deploy(ctx context.Context, spec domain.DeploySpec) error {
 	if spec.Port == 0 {
 		spec.Port = 8080
 	}
-	if spec.Replicas == 0 {
+	switch {
+	case spec.Replicas < 0:
+		spec.Replicas = 0 // Explicitly zero: create deployment with no pods
+	case spec.Replicas == 0:
 		spec.Replicas = d.config.DefaultReplicas
 	}
 	if spec.Domain == "" {
diff --git a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-astro/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-astro/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
index 4e7bdd2..c7022cc 100644
--- a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-astro/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
+++ b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-astro/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ deploy-{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:
   image: bitnami/kubectl:latest
   commands:
     - kubectl set image deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} {{COMPONENT_NAME}}=registry.threesix.ai/{{PROJECT_NAME}}/{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:${CI_COMMIT_SHA:0:8} -n projects || echo "Deployment not found, skipping"
+    - kubectl scale deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} --replicas=1 -n projects 2>/dev/null || true
   when:
     branch: main
     event: push
diff --git a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-nextjs/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-nextjs/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
index 9c3b44c..1364629 100644
--- a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-nextjs/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
+++ b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-nextjs/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ deploy-{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:
   image: bitnami/kubectl:latest
   commands:
     - kubectl set image deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} {{COMPONENT_NAME}}=registry.threesix.ai/{{PROJECT_NAME}}/{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:${CI_COMMIT_SHA:0:8} -n projects || echo "Deployment not found, skipping"
+    - kubectl scale deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} --replicas=1 -n projects 2>/dev/null || true
   when:
     branch: main
     event: push
diff --git a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-react/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-react/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
index 5ae6355..d0c92b2 100644
--- a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-react/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
+++ b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/app-react/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ deploy-{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:
   image: bitnami/kubectl:latest
   commands:
     - kubectl set image deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} {{COMPONENT_NAME}}=registry.threesix.ai/{{PROJECT_NAME}}/{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:${CI_COMMIT_SHA:0:8} -n projects || echo "Deployment not found, skipping"
+    - kubectl scale deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} --replicas=1 -n projects 2>/dev/null || true
   when:
     branch: main
     event: push
diff --git a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/service/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/service/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
index d5afcd1..3471ab7 100644
--- a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/service/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
+++ b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/service/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ deploy-{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:
   image: bitnami/kubectl:latest
   commands:
     - kubectl set image deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} {{COMPONENT_NAME}}=registry.threesix.ai/{{PROJECT_NAME}}/{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:${CI_COMMIT_SHA:0:8} -n projects || echo "Deployment not found, skipping"
+    - kubectl scale deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} --replicas=1 -n projects 2>/dev/null || true
   when:
     branch: main
     event: push
diff --git a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/worker/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/worker/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
index d4057ca..1ce6f81 100644
--- a/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/worker/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
+++ b/internal/adapter/templates/templates/components/worker/.woodpecker.step.yml.tmpl
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ deploy-{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:
   image: bitnami/kubectl:latest
   commands:
     - kubectl set image deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} {{COMPONENT_NAME}}=registry.threesix.ai/{{PROJECT_NAME}}/{{COMPONENT_NAME}}:${CI_COMMIT_SHA:0:8} -n projects || echo "Deployment not found, skipping"
+    - kubectl scale deployment/{{PROJECT_NAME}}-{{COMPONENT_NAME}} --replicas=1 -n projects 2>/dev/null || true
   when:
     branch: main
     event: push
diff --git a/internal/service/component_deploy.go b/internal/service/component_deploy.go
index 6382130..7a8c7fe 100644
--- a/internal/service/component_deploy.go
+++ b/internal/service/component_deploy.go
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import (
 
 // createInitialComponentDeployment creates a K8s Deployment for a newly added component.
 // This ensures the deployment exists before CI runs, so kubectl set image succeeds.
+// Deployments start with 0 replicas to avoid ImagePullBackOff (image doesn't exist yet).
+// The CI deploy step scales to 1 after building and verifying the image.
 // For monorepo projects, updates the project's unified Ingress with path-based routing.
 // Failures are logged but don't fail the component creation.
 func (s *ComponentService) createInitialComponentDeployment(
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ func (s *ComponentService) createInitialComponentDeployment(
 		Image:           image,
 		Domain:          projectDomain,
 		Port:            component.Port,
-		Replicas:        1,
+		Replicas:        -1, // Negative = create with 0 replicas (no pods until CI builds the image)
 		BasePath:        basePath,
 		SiblingServices: siblingServices,
 		Secrets:         secrets,