diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/build-hello-app.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/build-hello-app.yml
index 14ccc5a..af2827b 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/build-hello-app.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/build-hello-app.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ jobs:
     container:
       image: gcr.io/kaniko-project/executor:debug
       options: --entrypoint ""
+    outputs:
+      tag: ${{ steps.build.outputs.tag }}
     steps:
       # actions/checkout@v4 needs a Node.js runtime, which this minimal
       # kaniko image doesn't have (no package manager to add it either) -
@@ -43,10 +45,40 @@ jobs:
           sed -i "s/__GIT_SHA__/$SHORT_SHA/; s/__BUILD_TIME__/$BUILD_TIME/" apps/hello-app/src/index.html
 
       - name: Build and push
+        id: build
         run: |
           TAG="main-${GITHUB_SHA::7}-$(date +%s)"
+          echo "tag=$TAG" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           /kaniko/executor \
             --context="${{ github.workspace }}/apps/hello-app/src" \
             --dockerfile="${{ github.workspace }}/apps/hello-app/src/Dockerfile" \
             --destination="git.boglabob.com/${{ vars.FORGEJO_ORG }}/hello-app:$TAG" \
             --destination="git.boglabob.com/${{ vars.FORGEJO_ORG }}/hello-app:latest"
+
+  # Flux's ImageUpdateAutomation (image-automation.yaml) should be doing this
+  # commit-back step instead - its $imagepolicy Setters marker in
+  # deployment.yaml is correctly formatted and verified against Flux's own
+  # docs, ImagePolicy correctly resolves each new tag, and every other part
+  # of the chain works, but it never actually commits (always reports
+  # "repository up-to-date" with nothing to change) for reasons that
+  # resisted a lengthy investigation - even a from-scratch Flux bootstrap
+  # against a fresh controller instance didn't change the behavior.
+  # ImageRepository/ImagePolicy are kept for visibility into what tag is
+  # available; this job does the actual commit as a working substitute.
+  update-deployment-tag:
+    needs: build-and-push
+    runs-on: docker
+    container:
+      image: alpine/git
+    steps:
+      - name: Commit new image tag to deployment.yaml
+        run: |
+          git config --global user.email "flux@boglabob.com"
+          git config --global user.name "fluxcdbot"
+          git clone "https://${{ vars.FORGEJO_USER }}:${{ secrets.FORGEJO_TOKEN }}@git.boglabob.com/${{ github.repository }}.git" repo
+          cd repo
+          TAG="${{ needs.build-and-push.outputs.tag }}"
+          sed -i "s|\(image: git.boglabob.com/${{ vars.FORGEJO_ORG }}/hello-app:\)[^ ]*|\1$TAG|" apps/hello-app/deployment.yaml
+          git add apps/hello-app/deployment.yaml
+          git diff --cached --quiet || git commit -m "chore(hello-app): auto-update image to $TAG"
+          git push