diff --git a/gitea/docker-compose.yml b/gitea/docker-compose.yml
index 3fd6af3..5efab21 100644
--- a/gitea/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/gitea/docker-compose.yml
@@ -48,3 +48,17 @@ services:
       - gitea
     volumes:
       - ./postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
+
+  runner:
+    image: cerc/act-runner:local
+    restart: always
+    environment:
+      - GITEA_INSTANCE_INSECURE=1
+      - GITEA_RUNNER_REGISTRATION_TOKEN=eMdEwIzSo87nBh0UFWZlbp308j6TNWr3WhWxQqIc
+      - GITEA_INSTANCE_URL=http://host.docker.internal:3000
+      - GITEA_RUNNER_LABELS=ubuntu-latest:docker://cerc/act_runner-task-executor:local,ubuntu-22.04:docker://cerc/act_runner-task-executor:local
+    networks:
+      - gitea
+    volumes:
+      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
+      - ./act_runner:/data
diff --git a/gitea/initialize-gitea.sh b/gitea/initialize-gitea.sh
index 20c552b..b78309a 100755
--- a/gitea/initialize-gitea.sh
+++ b/gitea/initialize-gitea.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ GITEA_USER_EMAIL=${GITEA_USER}@example.com
 GITEA_NEW_ORGANIZATION=cerc-io
 GITEA_URL_PREFIX=http://localhost:3000
 CERC_GITEA_TOKEN_NAME=laconic-so-publication-token
+CERC_GITEA_RUNNER_REGISTRATION_TOKEN=eMdEwIzSo87nBh0UFWZlbp308j6TNWr3WhWxQqIc
 if [[ -n "$CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG" ]]; then
     set -x
 fi
@@ -17,8 +18,7 @@ if [[ -z ${CERC_SO_COMPOSE_PROJECT} ]] ; then
 else
     compose_command="docker compose -p ${CERC_SO_COMPOSE_PROJECT}"
 fi
-# HACK: sleep a bit because gitea may not be up yet (container reports it has started before service is available)
-sleep 5
+sleep 15
 ${compose_command} exec --user git server gitea admin user list --admin | grep -v -e "^ID" | awk '{ print $2 }' | grep ${GITEA_USER} > /dev/null
 if [[ $? == 1 ]] ; then
     # Then create if it wasn't found
@@ -76,5 +76,10 @@ if [[ $? != 0 ]] ; then
       -d '{"username": "'${GITEA_NEW_ORGANIZATION}'"}' > /dev/null
     echo "Created the organization ${GITEA_NEW_ORGANIZATION}"
 fi
+
+
+# Seed a token for act_runner registration.
+docker compose -p ${CERC_SO_COMPOSE_PROJECT} exec db psql -U gitea -d gitea -c "INSERT INTO public.action_runner_token(token, owner_id, repo_id, is_active, created, updated, deleted) VALUES('${CERC_GITEA_RUNNER_REGISTRATION_TOKEN}', 0, 0, 'f', 1679000000, 1679000000, NULL);" >/dev/null
+
 echo "Gitea was configured to use host name: gitea.local, ensure that this resolves to localhost, e.g. with sudo vi /etc/hosts"
 echo "Success, gitea is properly initialized"
diff --git a/gitea/run-this-first.sh b/gitea/run-this-first.sh
index 8eb3071..9fdad31 100755
--- a/gitea/run-this-first.sh
+++ b/gitea/run-this-first.sh
@@ -4,3 +4,4 @@ if [[ -n "$CERC_SCRIPT_DEBUG" ]]; then
 fi
 mkdir -p ./gitea
 mkdir -p ./gitea/ssh
+mkdir -p ./act_runner