diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/build-iso.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/build-iso.yaml
index 25728bc..735e386 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/build-iso.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/build-iso.yaml
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ jobs:
           GITEA_SCHEME="${GITEA_BASE%%://*}"
           GITEA_HOST="${GITEA_BASE#*://}"
           CLONE_URL="${GITEA_SCHEME}://${RELEASES_OWNER}:${GITEA_TOKEN}@${GITEA_HOST}/${RELEASES_REPO}.git"
-          REPO_DIR=/tmp/alvinarch-releases
+          REPO_DIR="$PWD/.releases-repo"
           trap 'rm -rf "$REPO_DIR"' EXIT
 
           # Collect the ISOs produced by the build
@@ -197,6 +197,9 @@ jobs:
             exit 1
           fi
 
+          # Free disk space immediately — the clone + LFS objects are multi-GB
+          rm -rf "$REPO_DIR"
+
           # Verify each LFS object exists server-side (oid == the sha256 we recorded)
           for i in "${!zst_files[@]}"; do
             fname=$(basename "${zst_files[$i]}")
@@ -234,23 +237,18 @@ jobs:
 
           echo "  ✅ Released $TAG_NAME (ID: $RELEASE_ID) with download link + SHA-256 checksums"
 
-          # Mirror the release tag on the releases repo for redundancy/discovery
-          if ! git -C "$REPO_DIR" ls-remote --exit-code origin \
-              refs/tags/"$TAG_NAME" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-            git -C "$REPO_DIR" tag "$TAG_NAME"
-            if ! git -C "$REPO_DIR" push --quiet origin "$TAG_NAME" 2>/dev/null; then
-              echo "❌ Failed to push tag $TAG_NAME to $RELEASES_REPO." >&2
-              exit 1
-            fi
-          fi
+          # Mirror the release on the releases repo via API (creates tag + release)
           if ! curl -sf -o /dev/null -H "Authorization: token $GITEA_TOKEN" \
               "$GITEA_API/repos/$RELEASES_REPO/releases/tags/$TAG_NAME"; then
-            curl -sf -X POST \
-              -H "Authorization: token $GITEA_TOKEN" \
-              -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-              "$GITEA_API/repos/$RELEASES_REPO/releases" \
-              -d "$payload" > /dev/null
-            echo "  ✅ Mirrored $TAG_NAME release on $RELEASES_REPO"
+            if ! curl -sf -X POST \
+                -H "Authorization: token $GITEA_TOKEN" \
+                -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+                "$GITEA_API/repos/$RELEASES_REPO/releases" \
+                -d "$payload" > /dev/null; then
+              echo "⚠️  Failed to mirror release on $RELEASES_REPO (non-fatal)." >&2
+            else
+              echo "  ✅ Mirrored $TAG_NAME release on $RELEASES_REPO"
+            fi
           fi
 
       - name: Keep only latest 3 releases