diff --git a/services/forgejo-nsc/internal/app/service.go b/services/forgejo-nsc/internal/app/service.go
index 45b66eb..10639a5 100644
--- a/services/forgejo-nsc/internal/app/service.go
+++ b/services/forgejo-nsc/internal/app/service.go
@@ -94,6 +94,17 @@ type RunnerHandle struct {
 	Name string `json:"name"`
 }
 
+func launchContext(ttl time.Duration) (context.Context, context.CancelFunc) {
+	if ttl <= 0 {
+		return context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 2*time.Hour)
+	}
+	// Provisioning can legitimately take several minutes before the runner starts
+	// processing the actual Forgejo job. Keep the launch context independent from
+	// the caller's HTTP timeout so autoscaler/webhook requests don't kill active
+	// bootstraps mid-flight.
+	return context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), ttl+30*time.Minute)
+}
+
 func (s *Service) Dispatch(ctx context.Context, req DispatchRequest) (DispatchResponse, error) {
 	count := req.Count
 	if count <= 0 {
@@ -134,7 +145,10 @@ func (s *Service) Dispatch(ctx context.Context, req DispatchRequest) (DispatchRe
 				return fmt.Errorf("fetching registration token: %w", err)
 			}
 
-			name, err := s.dispatcher.LaunchRunner(egCtx, nsc.LaunchRequest{
+			launchCtx, cancel := launchContext(ttl)
+			defer cancel()
+
+			name, err := s.dispatcher.LaunchRunner(launchCtx, nsc.LaunchRequest{
 				Token:       token,
 				InstanceURL: s.instanceURL,
 				Labels:      labels,