diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 054eede5..d8000e00 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 .DS_Store
 npm-debug.log
 
-node_modules/
+# no trailing slash: the dir-only form let node_modules SYMLINKS get committed (#818, #867)
+node_modules
 
 .env
 
diff --git a/backend/node_modules b/backend/node_modules
deleted file mode 120000
index e8b72f38..00000000
--- a/backend/node_modules
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/Users/xcjsam/Documents/workspace/commonly/.claude/worktrees/sprint-2026-05-24-installable-projection/backend/node_modules
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/frontend/node_modules b/frontend/node_modules
deleted file mode 120000
index 65985ca7..00000000
--- a/frontend/node_modules
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/Users/xcjsam/Documents/workspace/commonly/.claude/worktrees/sprint-2026-05-24-installable-projection/frontend/node_modules
\ No newline at end of file