diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/qa.yml b/.gitea/workflows/qa.yml
index b55b9e8..64d3b42 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/qa.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/qa.yml
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ jobs:
           done
           exit 1
       - run: npm run check:deploy
+      - name: Install PHP CLI
+        # The self-hosted act_runner image (unlike GitHub's ubuntu-latest)
+        # ships without PHP at all, so the lint/proxy steps below fail with
+        # "php: command not found" unless we install it first.
+        run: |
+          apt-get update -y
+          apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends php-cli
       - run: php -l public/api/index.php && php -l ops/timeweb/api-proxy.php
       - run: php tests/proxy-http.php app && php tests/proxy-http.php api
       - run: npx playwright install --with-deps chromium webkit