diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cli-impl.ts b/packages/cli/src/cli-impl.ts
index 9dfa5014..0df76610 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/cli-impl.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/cli-impl.ts
@@ -299,9 +299,11 @@ Commands:
                       persona-maker with the task as input, or exits non-zero
                       (non-TTY) with a hint.
                       Exit codes: 0 match, 2 no match, 3 picker unavailable.
-  deploy <persona-path> [flags]
-                      Deploy a persona as a managed agent. <persona-path> may
-                      be prebuilt persona.json or authored persona.ts/js.
+  deploy <persona-id|persona-path> [flags]
+                      Deploy a persona as a managed agent. A bare id resolves
+                      through the registry cascade (including agents kept in
+                      .agentworkforce/workforce/agents/<name>/); a path may be
+                      prebuilt persona.json or authored persona.ts/js.
                       Modes:
                         --mode dev          run the persona locally (default if
                                             no Daytona/workspace creds resolve)
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/deploy-command.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/deploy-command.test.ts
index 09105749..17402d39 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/deploy-command.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/deploy-command.test.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ import path from 'node:path';
 import {
   configureDeployCommandForTest,
   formatDeployFailure,
+  looksLikeDeployPath,
   parseDeployArgs,
+  resolveDeployPersonaSelector,
   runLogin,
   runLogout,
   withDefaultDeployMode
@@ -480,3 +482,74 @@ test('runLogin canonicalizes origin.agentrelay.cloud apiUrl before resolving the
     restoreDeps();
   }
 });
+
+// --- persona selector -------------------------------------------------------
+// `deploy` takes a persona id as well as a path, so an agent living in
+// `.agentworkforce/workforce/agents/<name>/` deploys by name.
+
+test('looksLikeDeployPath: path syntax and persona extensions are paths', () => {
+  for (const selector of [
+    './persona.json',
+    '../agents/x/persona.ts',
+    '/tmp/review/persona.ts',
+    '~/personas/thing.json',
+    'agents/proposal-agent/persona.json',
+    'persona.json',
+    'persona.ts'
+  ]) {
+    assert.equal(looksLikeDeployPath(selector), true, selector);
+  }
+});
+
+test('looksLikeDeployPath: a bare id is not a path', () => {
+  for (const selector of ['proposal-agent', 'customer-dev', 'persona-maker']) {
+    assert.equal(looksLikeDeployPath(selector), false, selector);
+  }
+});
+
+test('resolveDeployPersonaSelector: a path resolves without touching the registry', () => {
+  assert.equal(
+    resolveDeployPersonaSelector('./persona.json'),
+    path.resolve('./persona.json')
+  );
+});
+
+test('resolveDeployPersonaSelector: an id resolves to the declaring file', async () => {
+  const { mkdtempSync, mkdirSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } = await import('node:fs');
+  const { tmpdir } = await import('node:os');
+  const { join } = await import('node:path');
+
+  const root = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'aw-deploy-selector-'));
+  const agentDir = join(root, '.agentworkforce', 'workforce', 'agents', 'proposal-agent');
+  mkdirSync(agentDir, { recursive: true });
+  writeFileSync(
+    join(agentDir, 'persona.json'),
+    JSON.stringify({ id: 'proposal-agent', extends: 'persona-maker' })
+  );
+  const cwd = process.cwd();
+  try {
+    process.chdir(root);
+    // realpath: macOS tmpdirs are symlinks, and the registry resolves through them.
+    const { realpathSync } = await import('node:fs');
+    assert.equal(
+      realpathSync(resolveDeployPersonaSelector('proposal-agent')),
+      realpathSync(join(agentDir, 'persona.json'))
+    );
+  } finally {
+    process.chdir(cwd);
+    rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});
+
+test('resolveDeployPersonaSelector: a built-in id explains it has no file', () => {
+  const trap = trapExit();
+  try {
+    assert.throws(
+      () => resolveDeployPersonaSelector('persona-maker'),
+      /__exit_trap__/
+    );
+  } finally {
+    trap.restore();
+  }
+  assert.match(trap.stderr, /no file to deploy/);
+});
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/deploy-command.ts b/packages/cli/src/deploy-command.ts
index e05f0629..0c6c7d7d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/deploy-command.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/deploy-command.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ import {
   setWorkspaceKey,
   type StoredAuth
 } from '@agent-relay/cloud';
+import {
+  formatPersonaSourceLabel,
+  PersonaResolutionError,
+  resolvePersonaReference
+} from '@agentworkforce/persona-registry';
 import {
   canonicalizeCloudUrl,
   clearActiveWorkspace,
@@ -67,7 +72,7 @@ export function configureDeployCommandForTest(overrides: Partial<DeployCommandDe
 }
 
 /**
- * Argv parser + dispatcher for `agentworkforce deploy <persona-path> [flags]`.
+ * Argv parser + dispatcher for `agentworkforce deploy <persona-id|persona-path>`.
  * Keeps cli.ts itself slim — the file is already a large dispatcher and
  * each command lands in its own module when it grows past trivial.
  */
@@ -253,7 +258,11 @@ export async function runLogout(args: readonly string[]): Promise<void> {
   }
 }
 
-const DEPLOY_USAGE = `usage: agentworkforce deploy <persona-path> [flags]
+const DEPLOY_USAGE = `usage: agentworkforce deploy <persona-id|persona-path> [flags]
+
+A bare id resolves through the registry cascade — including agents kept in
+.agentworkforce/workforce/agents/<name>/. A path may be a prebuilt persona.json
+or an authored persona.ts/js.
 
 Flags:
   --mode dev|sandbox|cloud    Pick a run mode (prompts in an interactive terminal)
@@ -303,6 +312,49 @@ Flags:
 
 const ON_EXISTS_CHOICES = ['update', 'destroy', 'cancel'] as const;
 
+/**
+ * A selector is a path when it carries path syntax or a persona-source
+ * extension. Anything else is a persona id looked up through the registry
+ * cascade, so an agent that lives in `.agentworkforce/workforce/agents/<name>/`
+ * deploys by name from anywhere in the repo.
+ *
+ * Syntax decides, not the filesystem: a bare `proposal-agent` that happens to
+ * match a directory in cwd must still mean the persona, or the same command
+ * would deploy different things depending on where it ran.
+ */
+export function looksLikeDeployPath(selector: string): boolean {
+  return (
+    selector.startsWith('.') ||
+    selector.startsWith('/') ||
+    selector.startsWith('~') ||
+    selector.includes(path.sep) ||
+    selector.includes('/') ||
+    isPersonaSourcePath(selector) ||
+    selector.toLowerCase().endsWith('.json')
+  );
+}
+
+export function resolveDeployPersonaSelector(selector: string): string {
+  if (looksLikeDeployPath(selector)) return path.resolve(selector);
+
+  let resolved;
+  try {
+    resolved = resolvePersonaReference(selector);
+  } catch (err) {
+    if (err instanceof PersonaResolutionError) {
+      die(`deploy: ${err.message}`);
+    }
+    throw err;
+  }
+  if (!resolved.path) {
+    die(
+      `deploy: persona "${selector}" resolves to the ${formatPersonaSourceLabel(resolved.source)} catalog, which has no file to deploy. ` +
+        'Pass a path to a persona.json or persona.ts instead.'
+    );
+  }
+  return resolved.path;
+}
+
 export function parseDeployArgs(args: readonly string[]): DeployOptions {
   let personaPath: string | undefined;
   let mode: DeployMode | undefined;
@@ -373,14 +425,14 @@ export function parseDeployArgs(args: readonly string[]): DeployOptions {
     } else if (a.startsWith('--')) {
       die(`deploy: unknown flag "${a}"`);
     } else if (!personaPath) {
-      personaPath = path.resolve(a);
+      personaPath = resolveDeployPersonaSelector(a);
     } else {
       die(`deploy: unexpected positional argument "${a}"`);
     }
   }
 
   if (!personaPath) {
-    die('deploy: missing persona path. Usage: agentworkforce deploy <persona-path>');
+    die('deploy: missing persona. Usage: agentworkforce deploy <persona-id|persona-path>');
   }
 
   return {