diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
index ab28e4a3..9e6e4342 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
@@ -197,21 +197,22 @@ jobs:
             -p 8080:8080 \
             ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:${{ steps.tag.outputs.tag }}
 
-      # Step 4: Wait for it to start
-      - name: ⏳ Wait for container to be ready
-        run: sleep 10
-
-      # Step 5: Check if the health endpoint works
-      - name: 🏥 Test health endpoint
+      # Step 4/5: Wait and check health with retries
+      - name: 🏥 Test health endpoint (retries)
         run: |
-          response=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" http://localhost:8080/api/v1/health)
-          if [ $response -eq 200 ]; then
-            echo "✅ Health check passed!"
-          else
-            echo "❌ Health check failed with status $response"
-            docker logs test-container
-            exit 1
-          fi
+          set +e
+          for i in $(seq 1 30); do
+            code=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" http://localhost:8080/api/v1/health || echo "000")
+            if [ "$code" = "200" ]; then
+              echo "✅ Health check passed on attempt $i"
+              exit 0
+            fi
+            echo "Attempt $i/30: health not ready (code=$code); waiting..."
+            sleep 2
+          done
+          echo "❌ Health check failed after retries"
+          docker logs test-container || true
+          exit 1
 
       # Step 6: Check the logs for errors
       - name: 📋 Check container logs
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml b/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
index c368655c..07ef8523 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml
@@ -29,6 +29,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@08eba0b27e820071cde6df949e0beb9ba4906955 # v4
 
+      - name: Normalize image name
+        run: |
+          raw="${{ github.repository_owner }}/${{ github.event.repository.name }}"
+          echo "IMAGE_NAME=$(echo "$raw" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+
       - name: Set up Docker Buildx
         uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@e468171a9de216ec08956ac3ada2f0791b6bd435 # v3