diff --git a/infra/k8s/gitea/values.yaml b/infra/k8s/gitea/values.yaml
index c5b371203..51c6e2d8d 100644
--- a/infra/k8s/gitea/values.yaml
+++ b/infra/k8s/gitea/values.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ replicaCount: 1
 image:
   rootless: true
 
+# RWO PVC (sbs-default-retain) → only one pod can mount it. RollingUpdate deadlocks (new pod can't
+# attach while old holds it). Recreate terminates old before starting new.
+strategy:
+  type: Recreate
+
 # Disable all bundled subcharts — reuse the existing in-cluster postgres, no redis/memcached.
 postgresql:
   enabled: false
@@ -25,8 +30,8 @@ persistence:
   storageClass: sbs-default-retain
 
 resources:
-  requests: { cpu: 100m, memory: 128Mi }
-  limits:   { cpu: "1",  memory: 512Mi }
+  requests: { cpu: 100m, memory: 256Mi }
+  limits:   { cpu: "1",  memory: 2Gi }   # 2Gi headroom: indexing the 876MB foxhunt pack OOMed at 512Mi
 
 service:
   http: { type: ClusterIP, port: 3000 }