diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 2948444..cc274e6 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -239,7 +239,17 @@ jobs:
             --env-file .tmp/community-smoke.env --profile local-db up -d --wait
           ui_address="$(docker compose -f deploy/community/docker-compose.images.yml \
             --env-file .tmp/community-smoke.env port ui 3000)"
-          printf 'http://%s\n' "$ui_address" > .tmp/community-smoke.url
+          ui_url="http://${ui_address}"
+          printf '%s\n' "$ui_url" > .tmp/community-smoke.url
+          for attempt in $(seq 1 30); do
+            if curl --fail --silent --show-error --output /dev/null "$ui_url/"; then
+              exit 0
+            fi
+            echo "Community UI is not reachable through the published port ($attempt/30)"
+            sleep 1
+          done
+          echo "Community UI did not become reachable at $ui_url" >&2
+          exit 1
 
       - name: Run authenticated Community image smoke
         env: