diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 191b174..e58fa6d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -407,13 +407,16 @@ sow-toolkit deploy-wiki --dry-run --namespace spells --category spells=42
 
 When a deploy manifest is missing but matching wiki pages already exist in
 NodeBB, `deploy-wiki` checks the Westgate Wiki namespace directory API and
-adopts those topic/post mappings before planning updates. `--create` is still
-required for genuinely new pages that have no existing remote topic. If NodeBB
-rejects a create because the clean wiki URL already exists, `deploy-wiki`
-re-queries the namespace by page leaf, adopts the matching topic, and updates it
-instead. Updates and stale-page archives acquire a Westgate Wiki edit lock
-before saving, then send the returned `wikiEditLockToken` with the NodeBB post
-edit request. Stale generated pages are reported by default.
+adopts those topic/post mappings before planning updates. It does the same when
+a cached manifest mapping points to a post NodeBB no longer has. Generated
+public slugs are preferred during adoption before title-based compatibility
+matching. `--create` is still required for genuinely new pages that have no
+existing remote topic. If NodeBB rejects a create because the clean wiki URL
+already exists, `deploy-wiki` re-queries the namespace by page leaf, adopts the
+matching topic, and updates it instead. Updates and stale-page archives acquire
+a Westgate Wiki edit lock before saving, then send the returned
+`wikiEditLockToken` with the NodeBB post edit request. Stale generated pages are
+reported by default.
 `--stale-policy archive` rewrites stale generated pages in place as archived
 managed content. `--stale-policy purge` permanently removes only stale generated
 topics already tracked in the wiki deploy manifest. Dry-run that policy before
diff --git a/internal/topdata/wiki_deploy.go b/internal/topdata/wiki_deploy.go
index ba78495..8fde49f 100644
--- a/internal/topdata/wiki_deploy.go
+++ b/internal/topdata/wiki_deploy.go
@@ -64,11 +64,12 @@ type deployResult struct {
 }
 
 type wikiDeployPage struct {
-	PageID    string
-	Title     string
-	Namespace string
-	Content   string
-	Hash      string
+	PageID     string
+	Title      string
+	PublicSlug string
+	Namespace  string
+	Content    string
+	Hash       string
 }
 
 type wikiDeployManifest struct {
@@ -330,11 +331,12 @@ func collectLocalPages(sourceDir string, namespaces []string) (map[string]wikiDe
 			}
 			content := string(raw)
 			pages[pageID] = wikiDeployPage{
-				PageID:    pageID,
-				Title:     extractPageTitle(content, pageID),
-				Namespace: namespace,
-				Content:   content,
-				Hash:      computeManagedHash(content),
+				PageID:     pageID,
+				Title:      extractPageTitle(content, pageID),
+				PublicSlug: extractWikiPagePublicSlug(content),
+				Namespace:  namespace,
+				Content:    content,
+				Hash:       computeManagedHash(content),
 			}
 			return nil
 		}); err != nil {
@@ -415,7 +417,39 @@ func planNodeBBDeploy(pages map[string]wikiDeployPage, manifest wikiDeployManife
 		}
 		remote, err := client.getPost(entry.PID)
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, result, next, err
+			if !isNodeBBMissingResource(err) {
+				return nil, result, next, err
+			}
+			entry.TID = 0
+			entry.PID = 0
+			if entry.CID != 0 {
+				adopted, ok, adoptErr := adoptExistingNodeBBPage(page, entry.CID, remotePagesByCID, client)
+				if adoptErr != nil {
+					return nil, result, next, adoptErr
+				}
+				if ok {
+					entry.TID = adopted.TID
+					entry.PID = adopted.PID
+					entry.CID = adopted.CID
+				}
+			}
+			next.Pages[pageID] = entry
+			if entry.PID == 0 {
+				if !opts.AllowCreates {
+					return nil, result, next, fmt.Errorf("wiki page %q has no manifest post mapping; pass --create and --category %s=<cid> to create it", pageID, page.Namespace)
+				}
+				if entry.CID == 0 {
+					return nil, result, next, fmt.Errorf("wiki page %q requires --category %s=<cid> for creation", pageID, page.Namespace)
+				}
+				result.Created++
+				page.Title = entry.TopicTitle
+				plans = append(plans, wikiDeployPlan{Page: page, Entry: entry, Action: "create", Content: page.Content})
+				continue
+			}
+			remote, err = client.getPost(entry.PID)
+			if err != nil {
+				return nil, result, next, err
+			}
 		}
 		if entry.TID == 0 && remote.TID != 0 {
 			entry.TID = remote.TID
@@ -602,6 +636,15 @@ func fetchNodeBBWikiPageMapping(page wikiDeployPage, cid int, remotePage nodeBBW
 }
 
 func matchExistingNodeBBPage(page wikiDeployPage, remotePages []nodeBBWikiPage) (nodeBBWikiPage, bool) {
+	if page.PublicSlug != "" {
+		for _, candidate := range remotePages {
+			for _, slug := range []string{nodeBBPathLeaf(candidate.Slug), nodeBBPathLeaf(candidate.WikiPath)} {
+				if slugifyWikiTitle(slug) == page.PublicSlug {
+					return candidate, true
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
 	desiredTitles := map[string]struct{}{}
 	for _, title := range []string{page.Title, pageIDLeaf(page.PageID)} {
 		if normalized := normalizeWikiTitle(title); normalized != "" {
@@ -880,6 +923,32 @@ func renderArchivedWikiPage(pageID, title string) string {
 	}, "\n"))
 }
 
+func extractWikiPagePublicSlug(content string) string {
+	const pageMarker = "sow-topdata-wiki:page="
+	const slugField = "wiki_slug="
+	start := strings.Index(content, pageMarker)
+	if start < 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	end := strings.Index(content[start:], "-->")
+	if end < 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	marker := content[start : start+end]
+	fieldStart := strings.Index(marker, slugField)
+	if fieldStart < 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	value := marker[fieldStart+len(slugField):]
+	if fields := strings.Fields(value); len(fields) > 0 {
+		slug := strings.TrimSpace(fields[0])
+		if slug != "" && slug == slugifyWikiTitle(slug) {
+			return slug
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
 func extractPageTitle(content, fallback string) string {
 	if title := extractMarkdownTitle(content); title != "" {
 		return title
@@ -979,6 +1048,11 @@ func (e nodeBBHTTPError) Error() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("NodeBB %s %s failed: HTTP %d: %s", e.Method, e.Path, e.Status, e.Body)
 }
 
+func isNodeBBMissingResource(err error) bool {
+	var httpErr nodeBBHTTPError
+	return errors.As(err, &httpErr) && (httpErr.Status == http.StatusNotFound || httpErr.Status == http.StatusGone)
+}
+
 type nodeBBPost struct {
 	PID     int
 	TID     int
diff --git a/internal/topdata/wiki_deploy_test.go b/internal/topdata/wiki_deploy_test.go
index 0e39045..bcfeef1 100644
--- a/internal/topdata/wiki_deploy_test.go
+++ b/internal/topdata/wiki_deploy_test.go
@@ -76,6 +76,98 @@ func TestDeployWikiDryRunDoesNotWriteRemoteOrManifest(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestDeployWikiDryRunReadoptsMissingMappedPost(t *testing.T) {
+	root := t.TempDir()
+	sourceDir := filepath.Join(root, "pages")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(sourceDir, "classes"), 0755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("create source dir: %v", err)
+	}
+	generated := `<!-- sow-topdata-wiki:page=classes:acolyte -->
+<!-- sow-topdata-wiki:managed:start hash="sha256:local" -->
+<h1>Acolyte</h1>
+<p>Generated acolyte page</p>
+<!-- sow-topdata-wiki:managed:end -->
+`
+	if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(sourceDir, "classes", "acolyte.html"), []byte(generated), 0644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write source page: %v", err)
+	}
+	old := `<!-- sow-topdata-wiki:page=classes:acolyte -->
+<!-- sow-topdata-wiki:managed:start hash="sha256:old" -->
+<h1>Acolyte</h1>
+<p>Old acolyte page</p>
+<!-- sow-topdata-wiki:managed:end -->
+`
+	manifestPath := filepath.Join(root, "deploy-manifest.json")
+	if err := saveDeployManifest(manifestPath, wikiDeployManifest{
+		Version: "nodebb-v1",
+		Pages: map[string]wikiDeployManifestPage{
+			"classes:acolyte": {Hash: computeManagedHash(old), TID: 7, PID: 42, CID: 9},
+		},
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("write deploy manifest: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		switch {
+		case r.Method == http.MethodGet && r.URL.Path == "/api/v3/posts/42":
+			w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotFound)
+			_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{
+				"status":   map[string]any{"code": "not-found", "message": "Post does not exist"},
+				"response": map[string]any{},
+			})
+		case r.Method == http.MethodGet && r.URL.Path == "/api/v3/plugins/westgate-wiki/namespace/9/pages":
+			w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+			_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{
+				"response": map[string]any{
+					"pages": []map[string]any{
+						{"tid": 77, "title": "Acolyte", "titleLeaf": "Acolyte", "slug": "77/acolyte", "wikiPath": "/wiki/classes/acolyte"},
+					},
+					"hasMore": false,
+				},
+			})
+		case r.Method == http.MethodGet && r.URL.Path == "/api/v3/topics/77":
+			w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+			_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{"response": map[string]any{"tid": 77, "mainPid": 88}})
+		case r.Method == http.MethodGet && r.URL.Path == "/api/v3/posts/88":
+			w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+			_ = json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(map[string]any{"response": map[string]any{"pid": 88, "tid": 77, "content": old}})
+		default:
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected request %s %s", r.Method, r.URL.String())
+		}
+	}))
+	defer server.Close()
+
+	result, err := DeployWikiWithOptions(&project.Project{}, DeployWikiOptions{
+		SourceDir:    sourceDir,
+		Endpoint:     server.URL,
+		Token:        "nodebb-token",
+		ManifestPath: manifestPath,
+		DryRun:       true,
+	}, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("DeployWikiWithOptions dry-run re-adoption failed: %v", err)
+	}
+	if result.Updated != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected one planned update after re-adoption, got %#v", result)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestMatchExistingNodeBBPagePrefersGeneratedPublicSlug(t *testing.T) {
+	page := wikiDeployPage{
+		PageID:     "spells:pdk:fear",
+		Title:      "Fear",
+		PublicSlug: "pdk-fear",
+	}
+	matched, ok := matchExistingNodeBBPage(page, []nodeBBWikiPage{
+		{TID: 31, Title: "Fear", TitleLeaf: "Fear", WikiPath: "/wiki/spells/fear"},
+		{TID: 32, Title: "Fear", TitleLeaf: "Fear", WikiPath: "/wiki/spells/pdk-fear"},
+	})
+	if !ok || matched.TID != 32 {
+		t.Fatalf("expected generated public slug to select tid 32, got %#v ok=%t", matched, ok)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestDeployWikiCreatesNodeBBTopicAndWritesManifest(t *testing.T) {
 	root := t.TempDir()
 	sourceDir := filepath.Join(root, "pages")