diff --git a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/tasks/setup-repo.yaml b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/tasks/setup-repo.yaml
index fdeb65dbbb..fd9a4812cb 100644
--- a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/tasks/setup-repo.yaml
+++ b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/tasks/setup-repo.yaml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
     method: POST
     body_format: json
     body:
-      auto_init: false
+      auto_init: true
       description: "{{ (project.description | default(''))[:255] }}"
       name: "{{ repo }}"
       private: false
@@ -46,3 +46,18 @@
       external_tracker_url: "https://storyboard.openstack.org/#!/project/{{ org }}/{{ repo }}"
       tracker_url_format: https://storyboard.openstack.org/#!/story/{index}
       tracker_issue_style: numeric
+- name: Set default branch
+  when: gitea_always_update or project.project not in gitea_repos
+  uri:
+    url: "{{ gitea_url }}/{{ org }}/{{ repo }}/settings/branches"
+    validate_certs: false
+    user: root
+    password: "{{ gitea_root_password }}"
+    force_basic_auth: true
+    status_code: 302
+    method: POST
+    body_format: form-urlencoded
+    body:
+      _csrf: "{{ gitea_token }}"
+      action: default_branch
+      branch: master