diff --git a/artifacts/api-server/.replit-artifact/artifact.toml b/artifacts/api-server/.replit-artifact/artifact.toml
index c3c7e43..c1d6896 100644
--- a/artifacts/api-server/.replit-artifact/artifact.toml
+++ b/artifacts/api-server/.replit-artifact/artifact.toml
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ previewPath = "/"
 title = "API Server"
 version = "1.0.0"
 id = "3B4_FFSkEVBkAeYMFRJ2e"
+deploymentTarget = "vm"
 
 [[services]]
 localPort = 8080
diff --git a/artifacts/api-server/src/app.ts b/artifacts/api-server/src/app.ts
index 4eec1c6..d415685 100644
--- a/artifacts/api-server/src/app.ts
+++ b/artifacts/api-server/src/app.ts
@@ -61,12 +61,23 @@ app.use(adminRelayPanelRouter);
 // ── Tower (Matrix 3D frontend) ───────────────────────────────────────────────
 // Serve the pre-built Three.js world at /tower. WS client auto-connects to
 // /api/ws on the same host.
-// Use import.meta.url so the path is correct whether the server is started from
-// artifacts/api-server (dev) or the workspace root (production build).
-// From src/ or dist/ (both 3 levels inside workspace), three "../" steps reach
-// the workspace root where the-matrix/ lives.
-const __dirname_app = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
-const towerDist = path.resolve(__dirname_app, "../../..", "the-matrix", "dist");
+//
+// Path resolution strategy:
+//   ESM dev (tsx ./src/index.ts): import.meta.url is a file:// URL; resolve 3
+//     levels up from src/ to reach the workspace root.
+//   CJS prod bundle (node dist/index.cjs): import.meta is {} (empty), so fall
+//     back to process.cwd(). The run command is issued from the workspace root,
+//     so process.cwd() == workspace root.
+const towerDist = (() => {
+  try {
+    const metaUrl: string | undefined = (import.meta as { url?: string }).url;
+    if (metaUrl && metaUrl.startsWith("file:")) {
+      return path.resolve(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(metaUrl)), "../../..", "the-matrix", "dist");
+    }
+  } catch {}
+  // CJS bundle: run command is `node artifacts/api-server/dist/index.cjs` from workspace root
+  return path.join(process.cwd(), "the-matrix", "dist");
+})();
 app.use("/tower", express.static(towerDist));
 app.get("/tower/*splat", (_req, res) => res.sendFile(path.join(towerDist, "index.html")));