diff --git a/internal/config/deployconfig_test.go b/internal/config/deployconfig_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..443be09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/config/deployconfig_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+package config
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// TestDeployConfigLoads parses the file the box actually runs on.
+//
+// Every other test in this package builds its own JSON, so a key renamed in one
+// place and not the other would go unnoticed until the daemon refused to start.
+// This one reads deploy/mavend.json through the same Load the daemon calls, so
+// a config change and a code change have to agree here or the suite is red.
+//
+// The ${VAR} expansions come from a gitignored deploy/telegram.env that is not
+// present in CI. An unset var expands to the empty string, which is exactly the
+// "not configured" state every block already has to handle, so the parse is
+// still meaningful without the secrets.
+func TestDeployConfigLoads(t *testing.T) {
+	path := filepath.Join("..", "..", "deploy", "mavend.json")
+	if _, err := os.Stat(path); err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("no deploy config at %s: %v", path, err)
+	}
+	cfg, err := Load(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Load(%s): %v", path, err)
+	}
+
+	// Spot-check the settings whose absence would be a silent behaviour change
+	// rather than a startup error.
+	if cfg.Phraser == nil {
+		t.Fatal("deploy config has no phraser block")
+	}
+	if cfg.Phraser.NGpuLayers == 0 {
+		t.Error("phraser.n_gpu_layers is 0 — llama-server would run CPU-only, " +
+			"because nothing in this package defaults that field")
+	}
+	if cfg.Voice == nil || !cfg.Voice.Enabled {
+		t.Fatal("deploy config does not enable voice")
+	}
+	if !cfg.Voice.UseLLMRouter() {
+		t.Error("deploy config turned the LLM router off")
+	}
+	if cfg.Voice.RouterThreshold <= 0 {
+		t.Error("router threshold did not get its default")
+	}
+}