diff --git a/lib/copy.sh b/lib/copy.sh
index 6446400..2a17b58 100644
--- a/lib/copy.sh
+++ b/lib/copy.sh
@@ -331,10 +331,15 @@ copy_directories() {
     # Find directories matching the pattern
     # Use -path for patterns with slashes (e.g., vendor/bundle), -name for basenames
     # Note: case inside $() inside heredocs breaks Bash 3.2, so compute first
+    # Use -maxdepth 1 for simple basenames to avoid scanning entire repo (e.g., node_modules)
+    # Falls back to recursive search if shallow search finds nothing
     local find_results
     case "$pattern" in
-      */*) find_results=$(find . -type d -path "./$pattern" 2>/dev/null) ;;
-      *)   find_results=$(find . -type d -name "$pattern" 2>/dev/null) ;;
+      */*) find_results=$(find . -type d -path "./$pattern" 2>/dev/null || true) ;;
+      *)   find_results=$(find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "$pattern" 2>/dev/null || true)
+           if [ -z "$find_results" ]; then
+             find_results=$(find . -type d -name "$pattern" 2>/dev/null || true)
+           fi ;;
     esac
 
     while IFS= read -r dir_path; do