diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/sync-github-mirror.yml b/.gitea/workflows/sync-github-mirror.yml
index 41185c7..f0a9cba 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/sync-github-mirror.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/sync-github-mirror.yml
@@ -53,14 +53,16 @@ jobs:
           # Mirror this checkout's tree into gh-mirror/ with the exclusions.
           # --delete drops files removed on the source; --exclude='.git' protects
           # both repos' .git dirs from rsync touching them.
-          # belt-and-suspenders exclude of the clone dir name in case anyone re-uses ./gh-mirror.
+          # NOTE: do NOT add an --exclude for the clone target dir name; rsync's --exclude also
+          # protects the matching path at the DESTINATION from --delete, which would prevent
+          # any stray copy of that dir from ever being cleaned up. The clone living in
+          # $RUNNER_TEMP (outside ./) already prevents the recursive self-include.
           rsync -a --delete \
             --exclude='.git' \
             --exclude='.gitea/' \
             --exclude='.claude/' \
             --exclude='blog/' \
             --exclude='handoff.md' \
-            --exclude='gh-mirror/' \
             --exclude='__pycache__/' \
             --exclude='*.pyc' \
             --exclude='tasks.json' \