diff --git a/.zuul.yaml b/.zuul.yaml
index bca0e9dcb9..d1a5699e9e 100644
--- a/.zuul.yaml
+++ b/.zuul.yaml
@@ -539,6 +539,7 @@
       - playbooks/zuul/templates/group_vars/gitea.yaml.j2
       - playbooks/zuul/templates/group_vars/gitea-lb.yaml.j2
       - playbooks/roles/gitea/
+      - playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/
       - playbooks/roles/haproxy/
       - testinfra/test_gitea.py
       - testinfra/test_gitea_lb.py
diff --git a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/tasks/setup-repo.yaml b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/tasks/setup-repo.yaml
index fd9a4812cb..14a3213c4a 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/tasks/setup-repo.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/tasks/setup-repo.yaml
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
       description: "{{ (project.description | default(''))[:255] }}"
       name: "{{ repo }}"
       private: false
+      readme: Default
   register: create_repo_result
 - name: Adjust repo settings
   when: gitea_always_update or project.project not in gitea_repos