diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/pipeline.yml b/.gitea/workflows/pipeline.yml
index f1e6590..e99049b 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/pipeline.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/pipeline.yml
@@ -64,11 +64,14 @@ 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.
         options: >-
           --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping"
           --health-interval=10s
           --health-timeout=5s
-          --health-retries=5
+          --health-start-period=60s
+          --health-retries=20
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - uses: https://git.protopeer.com/peptide-repo/peptide-e2e/.gitea/actions/ci-phpunit@main