diff --git a/tools/gitea-pipeline/render.py b/tools/gitea-pipeline/render.py
index 1734f94..8a490f1 100644
--- a/tools/gitea-pipeline/render.py
+++ b/tools/gitea-pipeline/render.py
@@ -158,14 +158,16 @@ jobs:
         env:
           MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: root
           MYSQL_DATABASE: wp_tests
-        # First-boot init is slow on the CPU-limited shared runner; GitHub's
-        # 5 x 10s health window was not enough here.
+        # First-boot init took 3.5 min on the CPU-limited shared runner under load
+        # (GitHub's 5 x 10s window is far too short here). Data dir on tmpfs: the
+        # test DB is throwaway and disk I/O dominated the init time.
         options: >-
+          --tmpfs /var/lib/mysql:rw
           --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping"
           --health-interval=10s
           --health-timeout=5s
-          --health-start-period=60s
-          --health-retries=20
+          --health-start-period=120s
+          --health-retries=30
 """
         out.append(f"""
   phpunit: