diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 54f9dbc7..85bcb314 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 # Build the owpengram-server container image (stamping the current git state into
 # the binary - .containerignore excludes .git, so go build can't see the repo and
-# the values are passed in here), then recreate and start the pod containers.
+# the values are passed in here), then restart the owpengram-server and
+# owpengram-admin systemd services so they pick up the freshly built image.
+# Container creation/lifecycle beyond the pod itself is owned by those systemd
+# units, not this script.
 #
 # Usage:  ./build.sh [extra podman build args...]
 #   IMAGE=my/tag ./build.sh     override the image tag   (default: owpengram-server)
 #   POD=name ./build.sh         override the pod name    (default: owpengram)
-#   NO_DEPLOY=1 ./build.sh      build the image only, don't touch containers
+#   NO_DEPLOY=1 ./build.sh      build the image only, don't restart the services
 set -euo pipefail
 cd "$(dirname "$0")"
 
@@ -24,7 +27,7 @@ podman build \
   .
 
 if [ "${NO_DEPLOY:-0}" = "1" ]; then
-  echo "built $IMAGE (NO_DEPLOY=1, containers unchanged)"
+  echo "built $IMAGE (NO_DEPLOY=1, services unchanged)"
   exit 0
 fi
 
@@ -39,18 +42,6 @@ if ! podman pod exists "$POD"; then
     -p 12400:12400/udp \
     -p 12500-12999:12500-12999/udp
 fi
-if [ ! -f .env ]; then
-  echo "error: .env not found (containers are created with --env-file .env)" >&2
-  exit 1
-fi
 
-podman create --replace --pod "$POD" --name owpengram-server --restart unless-stopped \
-  --pull never --env-file .env -v owpengram_serverdata:/data \
-  "$IMAGE"
-
-podman create --replace --pod "$POD" --name owpengram-admin --restart unless-stopped \
-  --pull never --env-file .env --entrypoint /app/telesrv-admin \
-  "$IMAGE"
-
-podman start owpengram-server owpengram-admin
-podman ps --pod --filter "pod=$POD" --format 'table {{.Names}} {{.Status}} {{.Image}}'
+systemctl restart owpengram-server.service owpengram-admin.service
+systemctl --no-pager status owpengram-server.service owpengram-admin.service