diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/seed-compat.yml b/.gitea/workflows/seed-compat.yml
index 01b6d6f..8962c2e 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/seed-compat.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/seed-compat.yml
@@ -111,12 +111,21 @@ jobs:
           git config user.email "compat-seeder@odoosky.cloud"
           git config user.name  "compat-seeder"
 
-          if git diff --quiet -- compat-bootstrap/seeded-ci.json; then
+          if [ ! -f compat-bootstrap/seeded-ci.json ]; then
+            echo "ERROR: seeded-ci.json was not produced; aborting"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          # Stage first, then diff against index — this catches both
+          # "tracked file changed" and "new file appeared" cases. The
+          # bare `git diff --quiet` form silently passes for untracked
+          # files (no diff = exit 0), which masked the very-first run.
+          git add compat-bootstrap/seeded-ci.json
+          if git diff --cached --quiet -- compat-bootstrap/seeded-ci.json; then
             echo "no content change in seeded-ci.json; nothing to commit"
             exit 0
           fi
 
-          git add compat-bootstrap/seeded-ci.json
           stamp=$(python3 -c "import json,sys; print(json.load(open('compat-bootstrap/seeded-ci.json'))['stampId'])")
           git commit -m "chore(compat): refresh cold-start seed (${stamp})"