diff --git a/.tsforge/scaffold-manifest.json b/.tsforge/scaffold-manifest.json
index 3ed69fb4..d3916cf6 100644
--- a/.tsforge/scaffold-manifest.json
+++ b/.tsforge/scaffold-manifest.json
@@ -255,7 +255,8 @@
       "healthUrls": [
         "http://localhost:7331/",
         "http://localhost:7330/swagger/json"
-      ]
+      ],
+      "strip": ["apps/docs"]
     },
     "astro": {
       "subPath": "apps/docs",
diff --git a/apps/api/.gitignore b/apps/api/.gitignore
index 7404e834..76fdfedc 100644
--- a/apps/api/.gitignore
+++ b/apps/api/.gitignore
@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@
 /dist
 /build
 
+# ESLint persistent cache — warm lint goes ~23s → ~2s (content-based
+# invalidation, zero rule loss). Mirrors apps/ui.
+.eslintcache
+
+# Incremental TypeScript build info (fast typecheck cache).
+*.tsbuildinfo
+
 # misc
 .DS_Store
 *.pem
diff --git a/apps/api/package.json b/apps/api/package.json
index 7b742f04..d28bf64b 100644
--- a/apps/api/package.json
+++ b/apps/api/package.json
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@
     "preview:templates": "bun run src/templates/email/preview.ts",
     "build": "bun run build:templates && bun build src/index.ts --outdir dist --target bun",
     "start": "bun run dist/index.js",
-    "lint": "eslint \"src/**/*.ts\" \"tests/**/*.ts\" \"scripts/**/*.ts\"",
-    "lint:fix": "eslint \"src/**/*.ts\" \"tests/**/*.ts\" \"scripts/**/*.ts\" --fix",
+    "lint": "eslint --cache \"src/**/*.ts\" \"tests/**/*.ts\" \"scripts/**/*.ts\"",
+    "lint:fix": "eslint --cache \"src/**/*.ts\" \"tests/**/*.ts\" \"scripts/**/*.ts\" --fix",
     "format": "prettier --write \"src/**/*.ts\" \"tests/**/*.ts\"",
     "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit",
     "knip": "knip",
diff --git a/scripts/stack-check.sh b/scripts/stack-check.sh
index 42c60d66..6cf66039 100755
--- a/scripts/stack-check.sh
+++ b/scripts/stack-check.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,15 @@ run_check() {
 
 require_dir "api" "$BORINGSTACK_API_DIR"
 require_dir "ui" "$BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR"
-require_dir "docs" "$BORINGSTACK_DOCS_DIR"
+
+# `docs` is TEMPLATE-ONLY. The boringstack repo ships apps/docs (its own docs site)
+# and checks it here; a product scaffolded FROM boringstack strips apps/docs (see
+# .tsforge/scaffold-manifest.json `strip`), so its docs checks are skipped rather
+# than hard-failing. Present ⇒ run them (the template); absent ⇒ this is a product.
+HAS_DOCS=0
+if [[ -d "$BORINGSTACK_DOCS_DIR" ]]; then
+  HAS_DOCS=1
+fi
 
 run_check "ACL drift" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_API_DIR\" && bun run generate:acl-types:check"
 run_check "api lint-meta docs" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_API_DIR\" && bun run check:lint-meta-docs"
@@ -36,12 +44,16 @@ fi
 run_check "ui lint-meta docs" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR\" && bun run check:lint-meta-docs"
 run_check "ui scripts docs" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR\" && bun run check:scripts-docs"
 
-run_check "docs data" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_DOCS_DIR\" && BORINGSTACK_API_DIR=\"$BORINGSTACK_API_DIR\" BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR=\"$BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR\" bun run check:docs-data"
+if [[ "$HAS_DOCS" == "1" ]]; then
+  run_check "docs data" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_DOCS_DIR\" && BORINGSTACK_API_DIR=\"$BORINGSTACK_API_DIR\" BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR=\"$BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR\" bun run check:docs-data"
+fi
 
 if [[ "$FULL" == "--full" ]]; then
   run_check "api validate" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_API_DIR\" && bun run validate"
   run_check "ui validate" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR\" && bun run validate"
-  run_check "docs build:ci" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_DOCS_DIR\" && BORINGSTACK_API_DIR=\"$BORINGSTACK_API_DIR\" BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR=\"$BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR\" bun run build:ci"
+  if [[ "$HAS_DOCS" == "1" ]]; then
+    run_check "docs build:ci" bash -c "cd \"$BORINGSTACK_DOCS_DIR\" && BORINGSTACK_API_DIR=\"$BORINGSTACK_API_DIR\" BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR=\"$BORINGSTACK_UI_DIR\" bun run build:ci"
+  fi
 fi
 
 printf '\n'