diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 7e779f02..6ce2f1db 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -535,13 +535,9 @@ jobs:
     #     hourly if this list diverges from status_check_contexts or from
     #     audit-force-merge.yml's REQUIRED_CHECKS env (RFC §4 + §6).
     #
-    # mc#923 fix: canvas-deploy-reminder added to needs: above.
-    # The job's `if:` gate (push-to-main only) means it is legitimately
-    # skipped on PRs — the drift detector's F1 should exclude it (it uses
-    # ci_job_names() which skips github.event_name-gated jobs), but
-    # to be safe and consistent with main, include it in needs:. The
-    # all-required sentinel will see it as 'skipped' on PRs and handle
-    # that per its Phase-3 exclusion logic.
+    # canvas-deploy-reminder is intentionally excluded from all-required.needs:
+    # it needs canvas-build, which is skipped on CI-only PRs (canvas=false).
+    # Including it in all-required.needs causes all-required to hang on every CI-only PR.
     #
     # Phase 3 (RFC #219 §1) safety: underlying build jobs carry
     # continue-on-error: true so their failures are masked to null (2026-05-12: re-enabled mc#774 interim)
@@ -559,7 +555,7 @@ jobs:
       - changes
       - platform-build
       - canvas-build
-      - canvas-deploy-reminder
+      # - canvas-deploy-reminder  ← intentionally excluded — see deadlock rationale above
       - shellcheck
       - python-lint
     if: always()