diff --git a/templates/gitea/.felhom.yml b/templates/gitea/.felhom.yml
index 5cc826f..bd62e82 100644
--- a/templates/gitea/.felhom.yml
+++ b/templates/gitea/.felhom.yml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ healthcheck:
   checks:
     - type: api
       port: 3000
-      path: "/api/v1/version"
+      # /api/healthz is always available (200) once serving; /api/v1/version 404s pre-install-lock.
+      path: "/api/healthz"
       expect:
         status: 200
-        body_contains: "version"
diff --git a/templates/gitea/docker-compose.yml b/templates/gitea/docker-compose.yml
index 78995f1..0777078 100644
--- a/templates/gitea/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/templates/gitea/docker-compose.yml
@@ -24,12 +24,15 @@ services:
       resources:
         limits:
           memory: 512M
+    # /api/healthz is gitea's dedicated health endpoint (200 once serving); /api/v1/version returns
+    # 404 until the install wizard is completed (INSTALL_LOCK), so it falsely reported unhealthy on a
+    # fresh deploy. The gitea image ships curl (verified). 90s start_period covers first-boot DB migration.
     healthcheck:
-      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/api/v1/version"]
+      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:3000/api/healthz"]
       interval: 30s
       timeout: 5s
       retries: 3
-      start_period: 30s
+      start_period: 90s
     labels:
       - "traefik.enable=true"
       - "traefik.http.routers.gitea.rule=Host(`${SUBDOMAIN}.${DOMAIN}`)"