diff --git a/services/gitea-actions-runner.nix b/services/gitea-actions-runner.nix
index 748d47b..d47e6ae 100644
--- a/services/gitea-actions-runner.nix
+++ b/services/gitea-actions-runner.nix
@@ -34,8 +34,12 @@
     };
   };
 
-  # Override DynamicUser to use our static gitea-runner user
+  # Override DynamicUser to use our static gitea-runner user, and ensure
+  # the runner doesn't start before the co-located gitea instance is ready
+  # (upstream can't assume locality, so this dependency is ours to add).
   systemd.services."gitea-runner-muffin" = {
+    requires = [ "gitea.service" ];
+    after = [ "gitea.service" ];
     serviceConfig = {
       DynamicUser = lib.mkForce false;
       User = "gitea-runner";