diff --git a/scripts/add-instance.sh b/scripts/add-instance.sh
index 90b8e0e..8c456a7 100755
--- a/scripts/add-instance.sh
+++ b/scripts/add-instance.sh
@@ -68,7 +68,8 @@ command -v pm2 >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "PM2 not installed - run install-autostart
 # ── registry: create with the legacy entry, refuse duplicates, append ───────
 node - "$REGISTRY" "$PM2_NAME" "$PORT" "$DB_REL" <<'NODE'
 const { existsSync, readFileSync, writeFileSync } = require('node:fs');
-const [, file, name, port, db] = process.argv;
+// `node -` puts '-' in argv[1], so the arguments start at argv[2].
+const [file, name, port, db] = process.argv.slice(2);
 const entries = existsSync(file)
     ? JSON.parse(readFileSync(file, 'utf8'))
     : [{ name: 'autofirmer', port: 3000, db: 'autotrader.sqlite' }];
diff --git a/scripts/remove-instance.sh b/scripts/remove-instance.sh
index b8e62ae..34553ae 100755
--- a/scripts/remove-instance.sh
+++ b/scripts/remove-instance.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ PM2_NAME="autofirmer-$N"
 
 node - "$REGISTRY" "$PM2_NAME" <<'NODE'
 const { readFileSync, writeFileSync } = require('node:fs');
-const [, file, name] = process.argv;
+// `node -` puts '-' in argv[1], so the arguments start at argv[2].
+const [file, name] = process.argv.slice(2);
 const entries = JSON.parse(readFileSync(file, 'utf8'));
 if (!entries.some((e) => e.name === name)) { console.error(`  [X] ${name} is not registered`); process.exit(1); }
 writeFileSync(file, JSON.stringify(entries.filter((e) => e.name !== name), null, 4) + '\n');