diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
index 3aeddae2..027f4b8b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -193,7 +193,10 @@ jobs:
         # the default compose file (that would break the ci/docker job).
         run: |
           cd $PROJECT_DIR
-          docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.gpu.yml up -d --build
+          # --profile mcp brings up the remote MCP server (mcp-server) in prod.
+          # It's profile-gated so CI's bare `compose up` (docker/e2e jobs) never
+          # builds/runs it; prod opts in here. nginx /mcp is synced below.
+          docker compose --profile mcp -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.gpu.yml up -d --build
 
       - name: Sync nginx config
         run: |
@@ -228,6 +231,18 @@ jobs:
           curl -sf http://localhost:80 || exit 1
           echo "Frontend health check passed"
 
+      - name: Health check MCP server
+        run: |
+          # mcp-server is localhost-only on :8090; nginx fronts /mcp.
+          curl -sf http://localhost:8090/health || { echo "FAIL: mcp-server /health down"; exit 1; }
+          echo "mcp-server /health OK"
+          # MCP streamable endpoint through nginx (Host-routed, like a real client).
+          CODE=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' -X POST -H "Host: textstack.app" \
+            -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
+            -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"deploy-check","version":"1"}}}' \
+            http://localhost/mcp)
+          [ "$CODE" = "200" ] && echo "nginx /mcp → MCP initialize 200 OK" || { echo "FAIL: /mcp returned $CODE"; exit 1; }
+
       - name: Verify SEO setup
         run: |
           echo "=== SPA serves real users ==="
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 706d7bb1..3ea78605 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Phase 8 — enable remote MCP in the prod deploy (AI-049 follow-up) (2026-06-17)
+
+Makes the remote MCP endpoint actually go live. The `mcp-server` Docker service is profile-gated (`profiles:[mcp]`) so CI's bare `compose up` never builds/runs it — which also meant the prod deploy didn't bring it up. Fixed: `deploy.yml` now runs `docker compose --profile mcp ...` so prod opts the service in (CI still excludes it). The nginx `/mcp` block already syncs via the existing "Sync nginx config" step. Added a **Health check MCP server** deploy step (fail-loud): asserts `mcp-server` `/health` is up AND a real MCP `initialize` POST through nginx `/mcp` returns 200. After this merges + deploys, `https://textstack.app/mcp` is the remote streamable-HTTP MCP endpoint (for ChatGPT / Cursor / remote Claude), authenticated per-request via the device-flow JWT. Verified the http transport locally (`/health`→200, `POST /mcp` initialize→`text/event-stream` 200).
+
 ### Phase 8 — MCP bridge: preserve API path prefix on relative URLs (AI-049) (2026-06-16)
 
 - **Fix.** The MCP bridge dropped the API **path prefix** (e.g. `/api`) on every request when `TEXTSTACK_API_URL` carried one (`https://textstack.app/api`). `TextStackApiClient` built relative URLs with a LEADING slash (`/search`, `/me/highlights/{id}`, `/books/{id}/ask`) and `HttpClient.BaseAddress` had NO trailing slash, so .NET resolved the leading-slash relative URI from the HOST ROOT and dropped `/api` — the bridge hit the SPA (`https://textstack.app/search`, 301 → HTML → `JsonException` → "upstream unavailable") instead of the API. Silently green in unit tests (fake handler ignores `BaseAddress`) and in prod-internal (`http://api:8080`, no prefix); confirmed live against prod. Fixed two ways: `McpBridgeCore.BaseUri(...)` now trailing-slash-normalizes the base (idempotent — no double slash), and `TextStackApiClient` + `DeviceFlowTokenProvider` build relative URIs leading-slash-stripped (`auth/device/code`, `auth/device/token`, `auth/refresh-mobile`), so the prefix segment survives instead of being treated as a replaceable file.