diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/dev.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/dev.yaml
index 672de70..8a932a5 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/dev.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/dev.yaml
@@ -34,20 +34,20 @@ jobs:
         with:
           fetch-depth: 2
 
-      - name: Set up El SDK from release
+      - name: Set up El SDK from source
         env:
           CHECKOUT_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CHECKOUT_TOKEN }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-          EL_HOME="${{ github.workspace }}/../foundation-el"
-          mkdir -p "$EL_HOME/dist/platform" "$EL_HOME/el-compiler/runtime"
-          BASE_URL="https://git.neuralplatform.ai/neuron-technologies/el/releases/download/v1.2.1"
-          curl -fL -H "Authorization: token ${CHECKOUT_TOKEN}" -o "$EL_HOME/dist/platform/elc" "$BASE_URL/elc-linux-amd64"
-          curl -fL -H "Authorization: token ${CHECKOUT_TOKEN}" -o "$EL_HOME/el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.c" "$BASE_URL/el_runtime.c"
-          curl -fL -H "Authorization: token ${CHECKOUT_TOKEN}" -o "$EL_HOME/el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.h" "$BASE_URL/el_runtime.h"
-          curl -fL -H "Authorization: token ${CHECKOUT_TOKEN}" -o "$EL_HOME/el-compiler/runtime/el_runtime.js" "$BASE_URL/el_runtime.js"
-          chmod +x "$EL_HOME/dist/platform/elc"
-          echo "EL_HOME=$EL_HOME" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+          DEST="${{ github.workspace }}/../foundation-el"
+          # Clone El repo — native HTML template syntax requires latest elc,
+          # not the v1.2.1 release binary (282KB vs 486KB, different feature set).
+          git -c "http.extraheader=Authorization: token ${CHECKOUT_TOKEN}" clone \
+            --depth=1 \
+            "https://git.neuralplatform.ai/neuron-technologies/el.git" \
+            "$DEST"
+          chmod +x "$DEST/lang/dist/platform/elc"
+          echo "EL_HOME=$DEST/lang" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
       - name: Authenticate to GCP
         uses: google-github-actions/auth@v2
@@ -105,4 +105,3 @@ jobs:
           docker stop dev-smoke && docker rm dev-smoke || true
           echo "Dev smoke test FAILED"
           exit 1
-