diff --git a/backup/backup-k8s-apps.sh b/backup/backup-k8s-apps.sh
index 9b13fef..dc0550f 100755
--- a/backup/backup-k8s-apps.sh
+++ b/backup/backup-k8s-apps.sh
@@ -96,6 +96,15 @@ declare -A SECRET_NAME=( [n8n]=n8n-secrets    [odoo]=odoo-secrets    [mautic]=ma
 declare -A DB_USER_KEY=( [n8n]=DB_POSTGRESDB_USER [odoo]=POSTGRES_USER [mautic]=MYSQL_USER [nextcloud]=POSTGRES_USER [frappe]="" )
 declare -A DB_PASS_KEY=( [n8n]=DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD [odoo]=POSTGRES_PASSWORD [mautic]=MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD [nextcloud]=POSTGRES_PASSWORD [frappe]=MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD )
 
+# Reproducible framework/vendor code that lives on the same PVC as real user
+# data for these two apps (single shared mount, no separate volume). Both
+# images bake these dirs into their own filesystem layer independent of any
+# volume — Mautic has no logic to reconstruct them, so restore-k8s-apps.sh
+# re-seeds them straight from the app's own image instead of from backup.
+# Never pull request/exclude changes here without updating the matching
+# RECONSTRUCT_DIRS table in restore-k8s-apps.sh.
+declare -A TAR_EXCLUDES=( [mautic]="node_modules vendor" [nextcloud]="apps core dist 3rdparty lib" )
+
 ALL_APPS="n8n odoo mautic nextcloud frappe"
 
 BACKUP_DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
@@ -361,9 +370,15 @@ for app in $ALL_APPS; do
 
     # ---- 4. App-data PVC contents via kubectl exec (live tar, app-data only,
     #         never raw filesystem/PVC-path access — §5 sandbox-divergence rule) ----
-    echo -n "   📦 PVC data ($pvc_path) ... "
+    exclude_args=()
+    if [ -n "${TAR_EXCLUDES[$app]:-}" ]; then
+        for _excl_dir in ${TAR_EXCLUDES[$app]}; do
+            exclude_args+=(--exclude="./$_excl_dir")
+        done
+    fi
+    echo -n "   📦 PVC data ($pvc_path${exclude_args:+, excl: ${TAR_EXCLUDES[$app]}}) ... "
     kubectl exec -n "$ns" "deploy/${app_deploy}" -c "$app_ctr" -- \
-        tar czf - -C "$pvc_path" . 2>"$APP_DIR/pvc-data.err" \
+        tar czf - "${exclude_args[@]}" -C "$pvc_path" . 2>"$APP_DIR/pvc-data.err" \
         > "$APP_DIR/pvc-data.tar.gz"
     if [ -s "$APP_DIR/pvc-data.tar.gz" ]; then
         echo "✅ ($(du -h "$APP_DIR/pvc-data.tar.gz" | cut -f1))"
diff --git a/backup/restore-k8s-apps.sh b/backup/restore-k8s-apps.sh
index 33d8535..5eea5ed 100755
--- a/backup/restore-k8s-apps.sh
+++ b/backup/restore-k8s-apps.sh
@@ -103,6 +103,24 @@ declare -A DB_USER_KEY=( [n8n]=DB_POSTGRESDB_USER [odoo]=POSTGRES_USER [mautic]=
 declare -A DB_PASS_KEY=( [n8n]=DB_POSTGRESDB_PASSWORD [odoo]=POSTGRES_PASSWORD [mautic]=MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD [nextcloud]=POSTGRES_PASSWORD [frappe]=MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD )
 declare -A DOMAIN=(      [n8n]="n8nwf.nav.ovh" [odoo]="odooo.nav.ovh" [mautic]="mautics.nav.ovh" [nextcloud]="next.cloud.nav.ovh" [frappe]="erpnext.navitrends.ovh" )
 
+# Dirs backup-k8s-apps.sh excludes from pvc-data.tar.gz for these two apps
+# (reproducible framework/vendor code, not user data — see matching
+# TAR_EXCLUDES table + comment there). They must be re-seeded here from the
+# app's own live image, NOT reconstructed by the container entrypoint:
+#   - Mautic's image has no logic at all to repopulate node_modules/vendor
+#     if missing — confirmed empty by reading /entrypoint.sh.
+#   - Nextcloud's entrypoint only rsyncs from /usr/src/nextcloud when it
+#     detects image_version > installed_version (via version.php). Since
+#     version.php itself is NOT excluded (kept, "everything else"), a
+#     restored version.php already matches the running image's version, so
+#     that rsync path never fires — relying on it would silently leave
+#     apps/core/dist/3rdparty/lib missing after restore.
+# Both images bake these dirs into their own filesystem layer independent
+# of any volume mount, so cp'ing from a loader pod running the same image
+# (PVC mounted elsewhere, so it doesn't shadow the image's own copy) is
+# reliable regardless of either app's startup logic.
+declare -A RECONSTRUCT_DIRS=( [mautic]="node_modules vendor" [nextcloud]="apps core dist 3rdparty lib" )
+
 ALL_APPS="n8n odoo mautic nextcloud frappe"
 LOADER_IMAGE="alpine:3.20"
 
@@ -216,9 +234,67 @@ for app in $ALL_APPS; do
         echo "   ⏭️  No pvc-data.tar.gz in backup — skipping PVC restore"
     fi
 
+    # ---- 3b. Re-seed reproducible dirs excluded from backup (see
+    #          RECONSTRUCT_DIRS comment above) from the app's own live image,
+    #          never from the backup archive itself ----
+    reseed_failed=false
+    if [ -n "${RECONSTRUCT_DIRS[$app]:-}" ] && kubectl get pvc "$pvc_name" -n "$ns" &>/dev/null; then
+        app_image=$(kubectl get deployment "$app_deploy" -n "$ns" -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}' 2>/dev/null)
+        if [ -n "$app_image" ]; then
+            seed_loader="${app}-reseed-loader"
+            echo -n "   🧩 Re-seeding [${RECONSTRUCT_DIRS[$app]}] from $app_image ... "
+            # imagePullPolicy IfNotPresent: $app_image is read straight off the
+            # currently-running Deployment, so it's already on this node —
+            # forcing a re-pull (the ":latest"/floating-tag default) just adds
+            # a slow, needless network fetch during every restore.
+            kubectl run "$seed_loader" -n "$ns" --image="$app_image" --restart=Never \
+                --overrides="{\"spec\":{\"containers\":[{\"name\":\"loader\",\"image\":\"${app_image}\",\"imagePullPolicy\":\"IfNotPresent\",\"command\":[\"sleep\",\"3600\"],\"volumeMounts\":[{\"name\":\"data\",\"mountPath\":\"/restore\"}]}],\"volumes\":[{\"name\":\"data\",\"persistentVolumeClaim\":{\"claimName\":\"${pvc_name}\"}}]}}" \
+                &>/dev/null
+            # 240s, not 60/90s like the alpine loader above: this pulls the
+            # full app image (600MB+ for mautic/nextcloud) if it isn't cached
+            # on this node yet — a 90s timeout was observed to fire mid-pull
+            # in testing, silently leaving the app pod without its
+            # reconstructed dirs after being scaled back up.
+            if kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready "pod/$seed_loader" -n "$ns" --timeout=240s &>/dev/null; then
+                seed_ok=true
+                : > "$APP_DIR/reseed.err"
+                for _seed_dir in ${RECONSTRUCT_DIRS[$app]}; do
+                    kubectl exec -n "$ns" "$seed_loader" -- sh -c "rm -rf '/restore/$_seed_dir' && cp -a '${pvc_path}/${_seed_dir}' '/restore/$_seed_dir'" \
+                        >>"$APP_DIR/reseed.err" 2>&1 || seed_ok=false
+                done
+                if $seed_ok; then
+                    echo "✅"
+                    rm -f "$APP_DIR/reseed.err"
+                else
+                    echo "⚠️  FAILED (see $APP_DIR/reseed.err)"
+                    app_ok=false
+                    reseed_failed=true
+                fi
+            else
+                echo "⚠️  loader pod not ready"
+                app_ok=false
+                reseed_failed=true
+            fi
+            kubectl delete pod "$seed_loader" -n "$ns" --wait=false &>/dev/null
+        else
+            echo "   ⚠️  Could not determine $app image — skipping re-seed of [${RECONSTRUCT_DIRS[$app]}]"
+            app_ok=false
+            reseed_failed=true
+        fi
+    fi
+
     # ---- 4. Scale app back up ----
-    echo -n "   ▶️  Scaling $app_deploy back to $prior_replicas ... "
-    kubectl scale deployment "$app_deploy" -n "$ns" --replicas="$prior_replicas" &>/dev/null && echo "✅" || echo "⚠️  FAILED"
+    # Never bring the app back with replicas>0 if a required re-seed (3b)
+    # failed — for Mautic/Nextcloud that means booting with vendor/ or
+    # core/lib missing, which is a hard crash/broken-app state, not a
+    # degraded one. Left at 0 so the operator fixes it and scales up
+    # manually rather than the restore silently serving a broken app.
+    if $reseed_failed; then
+        echo "   ⛔ Skipping scale-up — required re-seed failed (app left at 0 replicas, see above)"
+    else
+        echo -n "   ▶️  Scaling $app_deploy back to $prior_replicas ... "
+        kubectl scale deployment "$app_deploy" -n "$ns" --replicas="$prior_replicas" &>/dev/null && echo "✅" || echo "⚠️  FAILED"
+    fi
 
     # ---- 5. DB restore (SQL-level, never raw datadir copy) ----
     if [ -f "$APP_DIR/db-dump.sql.gz" ]; then