diff --git a/deploy/deployment.yaml b/deploy/deployment.yaml
index 24124dc..4198172 100644
--- a/deploy/deployment.yaml
+++ b/deploy/deployment.yaml
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ spec:
                   key: jwt-secret
             - name: SERVER_PORT
               value: "8080"
+            # Theme-store catalog directory on the persistent volume.
+            # Scanned once at startup — after dropping new theme zips
+            # into /data/theme_store, restart the deployment.
+            - name: THEME_STORE_DIR
+              value: /data/theme_store
           volumeMounts:
             - name: db-data
               mountPath: /data