diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fa92a92..618af0c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 14
+- `install.sh`: no longer fails with `mv: cannot stat '.dpcli'` when `.dpcli` is recorded as a submodule without a `.gitmodules` entry (now registered and checked out) or when a vendored copy is tracked but deleted from disk (restored from the index first).
+
 ## 13
 - Process description (`workflow.md`) trimmed by ~110 tokens more: duplicated and decorative phrases removed, no rule changed.
 
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index d7578e8..15a1342 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -41,7 +41,19 @@ ask LANG_COMMITS "Language of commit messages" en
 if git config -f .gitmodules --get submodule..dpcli.path >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   git submodule update --init .dpcli
   say "submodule .dpcli present"
+elif git ls-files -s .dpcli | grep -q '^160000'; then
+  # recorded as a submodule but missing from .gitmodules (or never initialized): register it and check it out
+  git config -f .gitmodules submodule..dpcli.path .dpcli
+  git config -f .gitmodules submodule..dpcli.url "$REPO"
+  git add .gitmodules
+  if ! git submodule update --init .dpcli 2>/dev/null; then
+    git rm -q --cached .dpcli; rmdir .dpcli 2>/dev/null || true  # an empty uninitialized dir only
+    git submodule add -q --force "$REPO" .dpcli
+  fi
+  say "submodule .dpcli registered from $REPO"
 elif [ -n "$(git ls-files .dpcli | head -1)" ]; then
+  # vendored copy; deleted from disk — restore it from the index first so own agents can be carried over
+  [ -d .dpcli ] || git checkout -q -- .dpcli
   backup="$(git rev-parse --git-dir)/dpcli-vendored-$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
   mv .dpcli "$backup"
   git rm -r -q --cached .dpcli
diff --git a/lib/dpcli/__init__.py b/lib/dpcli/__init__.py
index 6cfd6af..d3d2ef5 100644
--- a/lib/dpcli/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/dpcli/__init__.py
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@
 else in the current copy. Exit codes: 0 ok, 1 error/check failed, 2 arguments.
 """
 
-VERSION = 13  # bump on every change: older copies re-exec from the main copy (reexec.maybe_reexec)
+VERSION = 14  # bump on every change: older copies re-exec from the main copy (reexec.maybe_reexec)
diff --git a/tests/test_install.py b/tests/test_install.py
index 68faebb..6c48a0b 100644
--- a/tests/test_install.py
+++ b/tests/test_install.py
@@ -66,6 +66,33 @@ def test_vendored_copy_migrates_own_agent_and_rerun_is_idempotent(self):
         again = self.install("--lang", "en", "--commit-lang", "en")
         self.assertIn("nothing changed", again)
 
+    def test_vendored_copy_deleted_from_disk(self):
+        shutil.rmtree(self.p.root / ".dpcli")  # tracked in git, gone from the working tree
+        out = self.install("--lang", "en", "--commit-lang", "ru")
+        self.assertIn("replaced by the submodule", out)
+        self.assertIn("160000", git("ls-files", "-s", ".dpcli", cwd=self.p.root))
+
+    def test_gitlink_without_gitmodules(self):
+        self.drop_vendored()
+        r = self.p.root
+        sha = git("rev-parse", "HEAD", cwd=self.p.tmp / "src")
+        git("update-index", "--add", "--cacheinfo", f"160000,{sha},.dpcli", cwd=r)  # a gitlink, no .gitmodules
+        git("commit", "-q", "-m", "broken submodule", cwd=r)
+        out = self.install("--lang", "en", "--commit-lang", "en")
+        self.assertIn("registered", out)
+        self.assertTrue((r / ".dpcli" / "dpcli").is_file())
+        self.assertIn(".dpcli", (r / ".gitmodules").read_text())
+
+    def test_gitlink_to_unknown_commit_is_re_added(self):
+        self.drop_vendored()
+        r = self.p.root
+        git("update-index", "--add", "--cacheinfo", f"160000,{'1' * 40},.dpcli", cwd=r)  # commit the hub doesn't have
+        git("commit", "-q", "-m", "stale submodule", cwd=r)
+        out = self.install("--lang", "en", "--commit-lang", "en")
+        self.assertIn("registered", out)
+        self.assertTrue((r / ".dpcli" / "dpcli").is_file())
+        self.assertNotIn("1" * 40, git("ls-files", "-s", ".dpcli", cwd=r))
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/tools/budgets.json b/tools/budgets.json
index 58b914e..882d74f 100644
--- a/tools/budgets.json
+++ b/tools/budgets.json
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   "duplicate_windows": 0,
   "risky": {
     "rm -rf": 0,
-    "force": 21,
+    "force": 22,
     "reset --hard": 0,
     "shell=True": 0,
     "push": 4