diff --git a/deploy.sh b/deploy.sh
index d5adfd69..8dcb7c5f 100644
--- a/deploy.sh
+++ b/deploy.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,20 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -ex # Exit immediately if a command exits with a non-zero status and print commands.
+
 echo "Running composer"
-composer install --no-dev --working-dir=/var/www/html
+# Attempt to clear composer cache first, then install
+composer clear-cache --working-dir=/var/www/html || echo "Failed to clear composer cache, continuing..."
+composer install --no-dev --no-interaction --no-progress --optimize-autoloader --working-dir=/var/www/html
+
+echo "Checking for vendor/autoload.php..."
+if [ -f "/var/www/html/vendor/autoload.php" ]; then
+    echo "vendor/autoload.php found."
+else
+    echo "ERROR: vendor/autoload.php NOT found after composer install!"
+    echo "Listing contents of /var/www/html/vendor/ if it exists:"
+    ls -la /var/www/html/vendor/ || echo "/var/www/html/vendor/ directory does not exist."
+    exit 1 # Exit if autoload is missing
+fi
 
 echo "Caching config..."
 php artisan config:cache
@@ -9,4 +23,6 @@ echo "Caching routes..."
 php artisan route:cache
 
 echo "Running migrations..."
-php artisan migrate --force
\ No newline at end of file
+php artisan migrate --force
+
+echo "Deployment script finished successfully."