diff --git a/ansible/deploy.yaml b/ansible/deploy.yaml
index 9f1da05..e8fc193 100644
--- a/ansible/deploy.yaml
+++ b/ansible/deploy.yaml
@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@
         cmd: pkill -f "streamlit run Home.py" || true
       ignore_errors: yes
 
+    - name: ensure data directory exists on server
+      ansible.builtin.file:
+        path: /home/webapps/motief/data
+        state: directory
+        mode: '0755'
+
     - name: sync motions.db to server
       ansible.builtin.synchronize:
         src: ../data/motions.db