diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
index 9baf0b4..cffd8b4 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/deploy.yaml
@@ -84,15 +84,14 @@ jobs:
             # ── Migrations (runs inside the container) ──
             docker compose exec -T waitlist alembic upgrade head
 
-            # ── Health check (curl with correct Host header for Caddy) ──
+            # ── Health check (directly inside the waitlist container) ──
             echo "Waiting for app to start..."
             for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do
-              HTTP_CODE=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" -H "Host: adiuvai.com" http://localhost:80/health)
-              if [ "$HTTP_CODE" -eq 200 ]; then
-                echo "✅ Waitlist service is healthy (HTTP ${HTTP_CODE})"
+              if docker compose exec -T waitlist python -c "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen('http://localhost:8001/health', timeout=5)" 2>/dev/null; then
+                echo "✅ Waitlist service is healthy"
                 exit 0
               fi
-              echo "  Attempt $i: HTTP ${HTTP_CODE}, retrying..."
+              echo "  Attempt $i: not ready, retrying..."
               sleep 3
             done
             echo "❌ Health check failed after 5 attempts"